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Energy firms overcharged one million switching customers

Energy firms overcharged one million switching customers

Business
Getty ImagesMore than one million people were overcharged by energy firms during the process of switching suppliers, the regulator Ofgem has said.When a customer decides to switch, the rules state they should be protected from price rises while moving - which could take up to three weeks.Eighteen suppliers made errors leading to overcharging of £7.2m.They are refunding the money and making extra payments in some cases, taking the compensation total to £10.4m.The biggest names in the sector - including British Gas, E.On, EDF, Npower, Scottish Power, SSE and Octopus - made the mistakes.They failed to protect customers who switched tariffs or suppliers after price rises were set between 2013 and 2020.Although the average amount overcharged was only £6.27, the sums would be higher for those wi...
Covid-19: Fewest firms planning job cuts since pandemic began

Covid-19: Fewest firms planning job cuts since pandemic began

Business
Getty ImagesSome 292 British employers made plans to cut jobs in January, the lowest figure since the pandemic began.A total of 32,000 redundancies were proposed, up 9% on last January, despite new lockdown rules closing businesses across most of the UK. The figures suggest that the decision to extend the furlough scheme has helped to prevent wider job losses.The numbers were released by the Insolvency Service in response to a BBC Freedom of Information request.Employers planning 20 or more redundancies are obliged to notify the Insolvency Service at the start of the process by filing a form called an HR1 Advance Notice of Redundancy.This gives an early indication of the state of the labour market ahead of the redundancy statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), whi...
Rishi Sunak offers more help to 1.4m firms repaying Covid loans

Rishi Sunak offers more help to 1.4m firms repaying Covid loans

Business
ReutersSmall firms are to get more time to repay state-backed loans taken out to help survive the coronavirus lockdown.The changes include giving companies an option to extend the length of the loan from six to ten years under a "pay-as-you-grow" initiative.Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the move was to give companies "breathing space to get back on their feet".He has been under pressure to act amid fears the continuing lockdown will spark a wave of company closures.About £45bn has been borrowed by more than 1.4 million small firms under the Bounce Back Loan scheme, which offers cheap loans of up to £50,000. Under the existing scheme, firms get interest-free loans for the first year. But many will start repaying the money in May, when economic recovery is still expected to be weak.Under the n...
Bank of England criticised for financing carbon-intensive firms

Bank of England criticised for financing carbon-intensive firms

Science
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Insurers must pay small firms for Covid lockdown losses

Insurers must pay small firms for Covid lockdown losses

Business
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