To celebrate International Women’s Day, studies have been released with mixed news for women and finance. Women and Debt, a report by the Debt Advisory Centre, found that 1 in 10 women has at least £10,000 of debt. On average, women now have £4,235 of unsecured credit, with the highest levels of debt among those under 45.
But what about kids? Another report has discovered that women who become mothers before 33 earn 15 per cent less than their childless peers. But women who have their first child at 33 or older enjoy a wage bonus of 12 per cent compared with similar women who have not had children. This research was carried out for the TUC by the Institute for Public Policy Research.
In a move that shows the effect of consumer power, Npower announced today that it was shedding 2,400 jobs in the UK. The company – one of the ‘big six’ energy firms – lost more than 350,000 customers last year as they switched to cheaper providers. It has been deluged by customer complaints over billing. In December it received a record £26 million fine for those problems. Once, consumers would have to lump the bad service. Now, they can switch – and companies like nPower pay the price for bad service. And so, unfortunately, do their employees.
Following last week’s report by Which? which said that millions of people are paying ‘way over the odds’ for their energy, new research by Gocompare.com has found that more than 18 million households could save themselves the equivalent of almost six months’ worth of gas and electric bills when they switch away from expensive ‘standard’ tariffs to the cheapest dual fuel deal. As typical household’s energy bill could be reduced from £1,093 to £742, it found.
Meanwhile, it emerged today that nearly one in five workers aged over 50 have never checked how much money they have across all their pension pots. A report by Which? also found that 21 per cent wouldn’t know where to find details of all their different pensions savings from different employers.
In a damning indictment on adult numeracy, a study by YouGov for Oxford Open Learning found that one in five adults has forgotten how to work out either fractions or percentages, and even fewer remember how to calculate the mean, the median or the mode.
Finally, according to The Times, George Osborne has said in private that he is tempted to reduce the top rate of income tax from 45p to 40p after figures revealed that a previous cut had raised revenues.
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