In this edition of The Briefing from Informed Choice on Thursday 20th September 2018 – Equifax data fine, price inflation rise, climate change car ban, childcare voucher reminder, and austerity claims challenged.
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Equifax data fine
Credit rating giant Equifax has been fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office following a cyber attack last year. The £500,000 fine comes after Equifax failed to protect the personal information of 15m British customers. It was part of a wider cyberattack last year which exposed the personal data of 146m people to criminal hackers. According to the ICO, Equifax in the UK “failed to take appropriate steps” to protect data.
Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham said:
The loss of personal information, particularly where there is the potential for financial fraud, is not only upsetting to customers, it undermines consumer trust in digital commerce.
This is compounded when the company is a global firm whose business relies on personal data.
Price inflation rise
Price inflation rose unexpectedly in the year to August, reaching a six-month high. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of price inflation rose to 2.7%, up from 2.5% a month earlier. Inflation was pushed higher by larger than usual seasonal increases in sea and air fares. Economists had expected a fall in price inflation last month to 2.4%. Investec economist Victoria Clarke said:
Despite the overshoot, we are doubtful that we are likely to see any resulting shift in the mood music from those on the UK’s Monetary Policy Committee.
Climate change car ban
The European Union will need to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars before 2030 if climate change goals are to be met. This is according to analysis by the German Aerospace Centre, which also concluded forecourt plug-in hybrid sales must stop by 2035 at the latest. The ban on the sale of petrol, diesel and hybrid cars is needed to ensure car manufacturers play their part in holding global warming to the 1.5c goal agreed in Paris. Professor Horst Friedrich, DLR’s director, said:
Auto CO2-emissions need to peak as soon as possible. Looking at the dwindling carbon budget it is crucial to push low-emitting cars into the market, the earlier the better, to renew the fleet.
Childcare voucher reminder
The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is urging people who wish to claim childcare vouchers to act before 4th October 2018. This is the date the Government will withdraw the tax and national insurance relief associated with childcare vouchers for brand new applicants, with Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) providing help with childcare costs instead. For anyone who has not claimed childcare vouchers yet, it means they need to join in time for their employer to action their application and provide the voucher by their last payday before 4 October. If an employer has already finalised their payroll, it may be too late to join, but anyone who may be eligible should check now and take action.
LITRG Chair Anne Fairpo said:
Individuals need to check their own position carefully because whether they qualify for either the TFC or childcare vouchers scheme and how much help they can get, depends on a number of factors including hours worked, income, number of children and the amount of childcare costs.
We urge the Government to provide a telephone support service to help people make the right choice between all of the many childcare offerings and to make improvements to the current childcare calculator.
Austerity claims challenged
New analysis from NEF shows services with no current spending protections could see further real-terms cuts of 2.1% after 2020. Despite claims that austerity is coming to an end and the Chancellor stating that there is “light at the end of the tunnel”, new analysis from NEF reveals that services without spending protections could face further austerity after a decade of cuts. This includes vital areas of service provision that are now facing a continuation of cuts over the next five years (from 2019/20 to 2023/24). Prisons are facing cuts of £70 million per year by 2023/24, compared with 2019/20. Public health (which covers things like addiction services) could be cut by £80 million per year by 2023/24. Housing and planning (including schemes to incentivise building new homes and homelessness prevention) risk cuts of £30 million per year by 2023/24.
Alfie Stirling, Head of Economics at the New Economics Foundation, said:
The decade of austerity so far has arguably been the worst policy error in a generation. As a consequence, the economy has suffered substantially. If the chancellor fails to take the opportunity to learn from the lessons of the past by taking action at the Spending Review, we could be living with the consequences of deteriorating service quality and lost living standards for years if not decades to come.
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