Money digest: today’s need-to-know financial news | 1 April 2016

It’s April Fools’ Day but a raft of price hikes due to come into force today are no laughing matter. As workers welcome the introduction of the new mandatory National Living Wage (NLW), a slew of changes to taxes and household charges will mean fewer pounds in people’s pockets. Among the cost increases are water bills, up by £2 a year in England and Wales. Air Passenger Duty rises by almost 3 per cent on long-haul flights to £73, and prescription charges increase to £8.40 in England. Meanwhile, the cost of an NHS dental check-up goes up 5 per cent to £19.70, and some mobile phone customers of Three, O2 and EE will see higher bills for monthly contracts. As for stamp duty, landlords and buyer and second homes will pay a 3 per cent surcharge from today. These changes appear to have bolstered the UK’s house price growth in March – with the annual rate accelerating to 5.7 per cent – up from 4.8 per cent the previous month. According to the Nationwide House Price index, this increase is at least in part a result of buy-to-let investors getting in before the new stamp duty tax comes into play. It means the average home is now worth more than £200,000. Central London was the second-fastest growing region in the country after the outer metropolitan area.

Back to the NLW. Employers are now required to pay workers aged 25 and over at least £7.20 an hour. The move, announced in last summer’s Budget, is expected to give 1.3 million workers an immediate pay rise. Workers aged 21 to 24 will continue to be entitled to the NMW of £6.70 an hour. The intention is for the NLW to rise to more than £9 an hour by 2020.

The Telegraph reports that households are saving less than ever before, prompting warnings that families are facing a financial ‘ticking time-bomb’ despite continued economic growth. According to the Office for National Statistics, households collectively held back just 3.8 per cent of their disposable income in the final quarter of last year – well under half the share they were leaving aside as recently as 2012. The so-called savings ratio – the share of households’ and related institutions’ disposable income left over after spending – for both the final quarter and the full year 2015 were the lowest since records began more than 50 years ago.

And let’s not forget April Fools’ Day. A press release from SunLife Pet Insurance caught the eye of Spectator Money this morning. According to the company, it is launching the Courtesy Pet. This new benefit means that whenever your pet is ill or injured and away having veterinary care, you get a courtesy pet replacement. ‘While your pet’s in for repair, don’t despair’ says the insurer, assuring customers that the courtesy pet matches the original in some important way – perhaps because it has the same intelligence, the same number of legs or the same tendency to bite strangers. Is it just us, or is that an appealing prospect?