Money blog: House prices rising at fastest pace since 2022 - with these regions growing most (2025)

The number of simple tax assessments has reached a record high, HMRC data shows, as government policy drags more people into paying tax.

A total of 1.32 million assessments were issued to people in the last tax year, up 74% from 757,745.

Financial advisory firm Quilter said this marks the highest number ever and is almost triple the number sent out by HMRC five years ago.

What is a simple assessment?

A simple assessment is used to collect tax without the taxpayer completing a self-assessment return.

Instead, HMRC issues the tax bill directly. They are typically used for pensioners or employees who underpay tax due to changes in income that have not been fully accounted for during the year.

What's behind the rise?

HMRC cited three main reasons for the increase in the number of simple assessments.

The first was a rise in the number of state pensioners who also have other income in retirement which they need to pay tax on.

Frozen tax thresholds until 2028 is another key driver. This means that as incomes rise with inflation, more people are pushed over the personal allowance and become liable for income tax.

The triple lock, which makes sure the state pension increases each year in line with the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5%, is also playing a role.

With inflation having surged, the state pension has seen unusually large increases, which again pushes more pensioners over the tax threshold.

What can you do?

"While simple assessments are meant to simplify tax collection, they can catch people off guard, especially pensioners who don't complete a tax return and assume their income is below the tax-free threshold," said Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter.

"If you get one and don't know what to do, the best course of action is to call HMRC to discuss your options. Do not bury your head in the sand."

People spend an average of £1,956 to attend a wedding abroad, a survey has found.

More than 30% of guests rely on credit cards to cover the costs, while others turn to buy now, pay later products, credit information firm Experian found.

Such a high price tag has left nearly three in 10 people declining invites to destination weddings.

Some said they turned down the invite because they could not afford to take time off work, the journey was too far or that they were unable to afford the transport and accommodation costs.

Others said they did not know the couple well enough to justify the cost.

Parents of children under the age of five can now apply for 30 hours of free childcare a week in an expansion of the government scheme.

This final phase of the programme, which was unveiled in 2023, will allow working parents to claim the benefit from September.

Here's what you need to know...

Who is eligible for the scheme?

At present, working parents are eligible for 15 free hours of childcare for children between nine months and two years and 30 hours for three to four-year-olds.

From September, this is extended to 30 hours for all children under school age.

Parents working at least 16 hours a week may be eligible and their children must be at least nine months old on or before 31 August.

Places are funded from the term after your child turns nine months old until they start reception at the age of two.

If you are not eligible for 30 hours of funded childcare, your child may be eligible for 15 hours instead.

All parents of children aged three to four in England can access 15 hours of free early education - it doesn't matter how much you earn or how many hours you work. 

Parents of two-year-olds can also access 15 hours a week of free early education and childcare if they receive additional forms of support such as universal credit.

For all these schemes, the childcare provider must be approved - so informal providers such as grandparents don't count.

How do you apply?

To receive the free childcare, you have to apply for it through the government website here.

If you want to get 30 hours from September 2025, then you will need to apply by 31 August.

To complete the application, you will need your national insurance number, or taxpayer reference if you are self-employed.

You will need to detail the date you started or are due to start working, and any government support you receive.

After you have applied, you will get a code to give to your approved childcare provider.

If you're already claiming 15 hours of free childcare and you work at least 16 hours a week, you can keep reconfirming as normal and if you're still eligible, it will automatically be updated to 30 hours.

Gymshark has launched a loyalty scheme that rewards customers for working out.

Shoppers will be able to collect experience points when they make a purchase on the fitness brand's website or complete a training programme through its app.

For every £1 spent, users will receive 10 experience points.

They earn the same amount of points when they complete a workout in the training app.

As customers earn more experience points, they move through the scheme's four tiers.

In each tier, users can unlock rewards such as early access to events, product launches, discounts and vouchers towards their next purchase.

You can read all the terms and conditions here.

The government's plan to expand winter fuel payments to pensioners has been welcomed by campaign groups (read more on the prime minister's U-turn in 12.22 post), but one says there are three tests that need to apply to make it worth it.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition, a group of campaigners, charities and local authorities, said more details were needed and the following questions need to be answered:

1. Thresholds: Will the pension credit threshold increase?
2. Taper: How will the cliff edge of the threshold be averted?
3. Target: How can those pensioners on non-means tested benefits be supported?

Simon Francis, coordinator of the group, said these important details were needed, especially if winter fuel payments are not restored to all pensioners.

"We need to see the pension credit threshold raised significantly, a taper system introduced to stop people missing out on winter fuel payments for being just £1 over the line, and wider targeting of this support, including for those on non-means tested disability benefits or carer's allowance," he told Money.

"Above all, ministers must learn lessons from this scandalous decision."

Age UK warned that "devil was always in the detail" and it would "postpone judgement" until it heard more from the government.

"Means-testing winter fuel payment in the way the government announced last summer resulted in many pensioners on low incomes missing out on money they simply couldn't afford to lose,"Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said.

"If nothing changes, next winter threatens to be just as bad, so we welcome the government's acknowledgement that it would be unacceptable to repeat such a situation ever again."

House prices are rising at their fastest rate since the end of 2022, official data shows.

The average cost of a house increased by 6.4% annually in March, up from 5.5% in February, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures.

A typical UK property now costs £271,000.

The biggest rise was in the North East of England, with house prices increasing by 14.3% since March last year.

Here's the full regional breakdown:

The amount spent on rent has also increased, rising by 7.4% to £1,335.

Unsurprisingly, London is the most expensive place to rent, followed by the South East.

The North East is the cheapest place to rent, but prices have increased the most here, going up by 9.4% in the past year.

More pensioners will qualify for winter fuel payments, the prime minister has announced in a U-turn on one of the government's most heavily criticised policies.

Facing MPs at PMQs, Sir Keir Starmer said the government wanted to make the payments available to more people after cutting the number of pensioners that are eligible for them last year.

"As the economy improves, we want to make sure people feel those improvements in their days as their lives go forward. That is why we want to ensure that as we go forward more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments," he said.

"As you would expect Mr Speaker, we will only make decisions we can afford, that is why we will look at that as part of a fiscal event."

Winter fuel payments help pensioners pay for higher fuel bills during the colder months.

The payments were available to everyone above state pension age before they were scrapped for millions under government changes in July.

This meant the number of eligible pensioners dropped from 11.4 million to 1.5 million.

The government said the unpopular cut was part of a raft of measures aimed at filling a £22bn hole in public finances, but Starmer faced a rebellion from his own MPs, criticism from charities and a backlash from voters.

Read more reaction to the reversal in the Politics Hub:

For this week's guide, Anna Bowes, personal finance expert fromThe Private Office,digs into whether the high street is the best place to look for a savings account...

Several banks have announced rate reductions on their savings accounts since 8 May when the Bank of England cut the base rate to 4.25%.

HSBC, for example, will cut the rate on its flexible saver account from 1.35% to 1.30% AER on 21 July, while Barclays will cut the rate on its everyday saver from 1.16% to 1.11% AER on 4 August.

It's not only high-street providers that have cut rates. At the beginning of the year, before the Bank of England made its first rate cut in February, the top unrestricted easy access account available was with Gatehouse Bank and was paying 4.75%.

Today, after two base rate cuts amounting to 0.5%, this account is now paying 4.15% - so has fallen at the same rate.

"The difference, of course, is that the Gatehouse account is still fairly competitive - paying just a little less than base rate - and importantly more than CPI inflation," says Bowes.

So, although high street banks are cutting rates by a smaller amount, they are still very uncompetitive.

For those who are willing to shop around, there are still good rates to be found, with the top easy access accounts changing very little since January.

"At the beginning of the year, the average of the top five easy access accounts was 4.79% - at the time of writing it's 4.66% with the top rate from Chip paying 4.77% AER," Bowes adds.

"So, for those with cash in their high street bank's easy access account, don't wait for the rates to be cut - you are likely to already be getting a raw deal, so switch today to get your cash working harder."

Here's how the high street banks compare to the best easy access rates for a balance of £10,000...

And for a £50,000 balance...

Taking a wider look at the savings market, we saw the average rate for one-year and two-year bonds fall slightly.

But those willing to lock their cash away for three or five years could benefit more as the average rates on these accounts increased.

"This now means that the rates for all terms are very similar, which could mean that locking in for the longer term is more appealing to those people who were put off by the fact that the rates were much lower in the past," Bowes says.

"Of course, there is a possibility that with inflation expected to increase again, certainly in the short term, further rate cuts may not happen immediately, but the trajectory is still downwards.

"Therefore, if you're locking some of your cash up for the long-term you might be pleased you have done so in one or two years' time when your bond comes up from maturity, if the rates available then are lower."

Here's a look at the best rates available...

We saw similar movement in fixed-rate ISAs, which have been very resistant to the recent base rate cut.

The top one-year rate is slightly higher than it was a week ago, as is the five-year rate.

"Remember, although the ISA rates look like they're lower than that of the equivalent fixed-term bonds, after tax is deducted from the bond often a cash ISA will provide a better return to those people who are paying tax on their savings now," Bowes points out.

"Of course, it's also important to shop around to earn as much interest as you can."

Here's a look at the best rates available...

More than one million pensioners are paying income tax at rates of 40% or more, figures from HM Revenue & Customs show.

Since 2021-22, the number of people of state pension age or older falling into the tax bracket has doubled from 494,000 to 1,028,000.

In all around 8.8 million pensioners are paying income tax, up from 6.7 million in 2021-22.

Part of the reason for the jump is frozen tax thresholds. As pensions increase, more people are pulled into higher tax brackets, meaning they have to pay more - a process known as fiscal drag.

Sir Steve Webb, former pensions minister and partner at consultancy firm LCP, said being a higher-rate taxpayer could increase costs elsewhere.

For example, basic rate taxpayers can receive up to £1,000 of interest on savings and not have to pay tax on it, higher-rate taxpayers have a £500 personal savings allowance and for additional rate taxpayers it is zero.

"Not only does this mean more tax on things like income from state and company pensions, it also means these pensioners are paying more tax on their savings, as their personal savings allowance is cut, and a higher rate of capital gains tax - a triple whammy," he said.

"The higher rate threshold has become a real cliff-edge over which growing numbers of pensioners are falling."

An advert for nutrition brand Zoe has been banned for claiming that a supplement didn't contain any ultra-processed ingredients.

The Advertising Standards Authority found the company's Daily30+ contained at least two ingredients - chicory root inulin and nutritional yeast flakes - that had been through more than a minimal level of processing.

It said a Facebook ad, which featured a quote from Dragons' Den star and Zoe investor Steven Bartlett, was therefore likely to mislead consumers.

Zoe strongly refuted the ruling and has said it is appealing against it.

Zoe co-founder Professor Tim Spector said: "We categorically reject the idea that this advert is misleading, or that Daily30+ - or any of its ingredients - could be classed as ultra-processed.

"To go after a product that is designed to improve health while doing very little about the harmful marketing and advertising of unhealthy junk food to children and vulnerable individuals is nothing short of disgraceful."