More people have been turning to tools that block them from gambling amid the cost of living crisis.
Online bank Monzo revealed that it has seen 50,000 of its customers make use of its gambling block tool for the first time over the past six months.
This is a third more than the number of people who started using it in the previous six months.
The lender also blocked 20% more transactions than it did in the prior period, it said.
It added that half a million of its nearly seven million customers have used the gambling block since it launched in June 2018.
The optional tool helps people to curb a gambling addiction by blocking transactions to a betting company through their current account.
And amid growing cost pressures, rising inflation, and shrinking household budgets, it seems more people are turning to the tool.
Once switched on, customers can only deactivate the block by contacting the customer support team and then waiting 48 hours to disable it in the app. This is done to prevent people from acting compulsively.
Online gambling has moved at a dizzying pace into the online era – with casinos and betting shops replaced by smartphones and apps.
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52:41
Financial Crisis: Explained
Rise in harmful gambling
Charities have highlighted a rise in harmful gambling in line with cost of living pressures worsening in the UK.
GambleAware recently said it had serious concerns that people, particularly women, expect to gamble more in the coming months in an attempt to supplement their household income.
It also warned that December could see a “perfect storm” of the cost of living crisis, the run-up to Christmas, and the football World Cup pushing more people to resort to betting to cope.
Read more: Man lost £1m in football bets Mothers say ‘gambling kills’ should be on every advert
Other big banks have followed Monzo’s lead, with the likes of Lloyds Bank, NatWest and Chase introducing similar features on their mobile apps.
Last month, Lloyds Bank also introduced personalised gambling spend limits for its customers, which it said was the first of its kind for a UK high-street bank.
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Since the government announced plans to reform gambling laws in 2019, there have been constant delays to the white paper.
The former children’s commissioner for England has warned of families across the country facing “awful conditions” in their social housing, following the death of Awaab Ishak.
The two-year-old died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his home, managed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH).
There has been an outpouring of emotion after the toddler’s death, and anger from many quarters over the poor state of the home he and his family were forced to live in – leading to RBH’s chief executive being sacked.
But Anne Longfield, who until 2021 worked as the commissioner with the role of protecting the rights of children, said it was “undoubtedly the case” that other children would find themselves in the same situation.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme, she said: “I think we should be shocked by this but we should be really angry too.
“These are absolutely pointless harms and needless harms, they can be prevented, that needs to be the focus now.”
She said she had spoken to families in similar circumstances, adding: “We are talking about cramped conditions but [also] cold, mould, rat infestations, places which, as the coroner said in Awaab’s case, really are not fit for human habitation.”
Ms Longfield praised Housing Secretary Michael Gove for his willingness to focus on the issue, after he wrote to every English council leader and social housing provider to put them “on notice” over the “abhorrent” conditions that killed Awaab.
Image: Awaab Ishak died in 2020 because of the mould in his social housing
But she said: “My message to him would be to make this a mission. It is in plain view, it is in front of us, it is one of those things that compounds so many social problems around children growing up in poverty.
“But it needs that determination and leadership [to fix it].”
What started as a few football bets left one man a million pounds in the red, facing jail time and contemplating taking his own life.
And he is not the only one.
With the World Cup kicking off in just five days’ time, more than a quarter of football fans say they feel anxious about how much they might lose while betting during the tournament, a new survey has found.
Financial pressures and the rising cost of living may also drive some to gamble more than they intend.
Meanwhile, six in 10 said they agreed there are too many gambling adverts during international tournaments, the research for charity GambleAware said.
Chris (not his real name) began gambling aged 16 – below the legal age – and for the next two decades focussed almost entirely on football betting.
After a few years, the habit became “more progressive and more destructive”.
He progressed to a career where he earned more money – with “access to wealthy people” – and it reached the point where he couldn’t watch a football game without place a bet of between £500 and £1,000.
At one point, he said he “owed just over a million pounds to gambling”.
“I had this relationship with football where I felt I knew about football,” he told Sky News.
“But as the gambling progressed, understanding goes out the window and gambling is erratic and it doesn’t become about the knowledge anymore.”
Gambling ‘as much money as I could get hold of’
While Chris was visiting betting shops up to three times a day, smartphone apps now mean people can gamble from the comfort of their own homes – and with that ease can come devastating losses.
GambleAware said 43% of football fans plan to bet during this year’s World Cup and among those, 39% admitted that financial pressures might drive them to gamble more than intended.
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“My bets would become very heavy around the World Cup and the Euros,” Chris said, adding that the tournament would “consume” him.
“My traditional bets for a normal Saturday would be around a £500 treble, and in the World Cup it would go into the thousands.”
He would place bets with as “much money as I could get hold of”.
When he couldn’t afford to place any more bets, he started stealing from his employer – and was eventually convicted of fraud and handed a 24-month suspended sentence.
The shame and the guilt around gambling led Chris to try to take his own life, and he was placed in psychiatric care.
Attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings led him to work as a peer supporter for Betknowmore UK’s Peer Aid program, and he now works with others facing addiction.
Read more: Footballers and celebs to be banned from gambling adverts
Campaign backed by ex-players
GambleAware has launched a new campaign to help fans who gamble to avoid what they called “Bet Regret” in the coming weeks as betting promotions on social media and TV ramp up.
The campaign, backed by the Football Supporters Association (FSA) and former players including Peter Shilton, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Lee Hendrie, encourages people who bet to manage their behaviour by deleting apps and setting a spending limit.
Ex-England goalkeeper Shilton struggled with gambling addiction for 45 years.
He said it took a “massive toll” financially and on his mental health, and credited his wife for her support throughout the ordeal.
Urging others to ask for help if they need it, he said: “I’ve seen first-hand how easy it can be to get carried away and place an impulsive bet, especially when betting promotions are all around you.
“I’d urge everyone to stop and think, is my gambling out of control? If so, reach out for support.”
Image: Peter Shilton
Universal ‘sinking feeling’
More than half of people (56%) said it is easy to lose more money than expected, the survey of 2,000 fans by Opinium showed.
The results suggested that 28% of supporters said they felt anxious about how much they might lose in bets during the tournament, which begins in Qatar on Sunday.
GambleAware defined “Bet Regret” as the universal “sinking feeling” that people can experience after making an impulsive bet, often when drunk, bored or chasing losses.
Zoe Osmond, the charity’s chief executive, warned that cost of living pressures as Christmas approaches could lead to the “perfect storm” as people are tempted to gamble more.
Read more: Beckham’s ultimatum over World Cup deal World Cup Squad revealed Away from the glitz, a family grieves
She said: “This should be an enjoyable time for all football fans, but with the sheer volume of football and the amount of betting ads, it can be easy to get carried away with betting – and we can see that many fans are already feeling anxious about this.
“As the cost of living crisis bites and people feel the pinch in the run-up to Christmas, this could create a perfect storm where fans resort to gambling as a way to cope.
“This can have the opposite effect, both financially and in terms of mental health.”
Image: Qatar’s Hamad international airport ahead of the World Cup
Gambling minister Paul Scully welcomed the campaign “to help raise awareness of practical actions people can take to avoid gambling-related harms”.
He said the government is undertaking a “comprehensive review” of current gambling laws “to ensure they are fit for the digital age, including considering the evidence on gambling advertising and marketing”.
Anyone concerned about their gambling, or that of a loved one, can visit BeGambleAware.org for free, confidential advice and support, or The National Gambling Helpline is available on 0808 8020 133 and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will announce a rise in the national living wage this week, Sky News understands.
Mr Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will accept an official recommendation to increase the living wage from £9.50 an hour to about £10.40 an hour, according to news first reported in The Times.
The rise of nearly 10% would benefit around 2.5 million people, the newspaper said.
Among the other measures reportedly being considered are:
• Cost of living payments for eight million households worth up to £1,100 • Payments of £650 for those on means-tested benefits such as universal credit, £150 for disability benefit recipients, and £300 for pensioner households • Freezing of thresholds for income tax, national insurance, VAT, inheritance tax and pensions savings • Removing the requirement for local authorities to hold a referendum before increasing council tax by more than 2.99%, allowing them to raise significantly more money. The new threshold could be 5%, The Daily Telegraph reported
The moves are part of plans to cut spending by £33bn and raise taxes by £22bn to plug a black hole in the country’s finances.
The government has already said that the poorest households will be prioritised, leaving wealthy and middle-income households to bear the greatest burden from tax rises.
One of the main focuses will be energy costs, with changes to be made to the price guarantee announced in September by Mr Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss.
Read more: Rishi Sunak ducks 3% defence spending commitment – but points to ‘track record’ on investment G20 is Rishi Sunak’s first big moment on the world state – but this isn’t his real test
The price guarantee meant that a typical household would face energy bills of no more than £2,500 a year, but this could rise to as much as £3,100 from April – and even this would still leave taxpayers with a large bill.
There have also been hints that the autumn statement on Thursday could include benefits and pensions being increased in line with inflation – a move that will cost around £11bn.
The triple lock on state pensions – which guarantees an increase in line with average earnings, inflation, or 2.5%, whichever is higher – was part of the Conservatives’ manifesto in 2019.
But, as inflation soars past 10%, it has become increasingly expensive.
Read more: Ed Conway: The UK has one foot in a recession but it’s worth being wary of forecasts during uncertain times Jeremy Hunt says everyone will have to pay higher taxes – but richest will make larger sacrifices
Speaking to reporters accompanying him on his trip to the G20 summit in Bali, Mr Sunak said: “My track record as chancellor shows I care very much about those pensioners, particularly when it comes to things like energy and heating because they are especially vulnerable to cold weather.
“That’s why when I announced support earlier this year as chancellor we made extra provision for pensioners to receive up to £300 alongside their winter fuel payments to help them cope with energy bills over the winter.
“So I am someone who understands the particular challenge of pensioners.
“They will always be at the forefront of my mind.”
Charities are warning of a “human catastrophe” as more people turn to drugs and alcohol to “cope” with the cost of living crisis.
New research, commissioned by The Forward Trust, revealed 32% of people said either they, or someone close to them, had relapsed into substance use over the past eight months.
Overall 2.1 million said they had increased alcohol use, while 61% of those said stress over rising prices was the most significant trigger.
Tom, 57, has been in recovery from heroin use for the past eight years.
He began taking drugs when he was 16 and told Sky News that anxiety over how to afford food and heating has made him vulnerable to a relapse.
“My health is going downhill because I do get really stressed out,” Tom says.
“I couldn’t cope with things, and I just didn’t know how to escape it. That’s why I started the drug abuse.”
He adds: “If it weren’t for my dog and my friend, helping me to get out of my mood swings, I’d have been dead by now, through either drug abuse or overdose.”
Sian Reed-Collins, a recovery worker at charity Turning Point, said it was “scary” for people in recovery who used substances to “numb” stress.
“Unfortunately, things like the cost of living crisis mean people are going to go back to substance use,” she told Sky News.
“It’s a way of coping with this – helping with their stress levels, helping with their anxiety. And it’s a scary time out there for people.”
Read more: Princess of Wales tells addicts ‘recovery is possible’ in message of hope and support Can the government’s drug strategy be tough on addiction as well as crime?
Last year, the government pledged nearly £800m in a landmark 10-year drug recovery strategy.
But with the autumn budget approaching and suggestions of economies to come, campaign groups are calling for that funding to be secure, as needs rise.
“This is a human catastrophe that we’re facing and people need help,” Matt Thomas, spokesperson for Forward Trust said.
“They need help urgently and they need help now because addiction is, at its worst, a killer condition.”
The Bank of England is expected to unveil the biggest interest rate rise since the 1980s today.
A hike of 0.75 percentage points is anticipated – pushing the base rate to 3%, levels that have not been seen since 2008.
If confirmed, this could push up mortgage bills for millions of people in the coming months.
Supermarket offers 1p ready meals – cost of living latest
This would also be the eighth time in a row that the Bank of England has hiked interest rates. Less than a year ago, the base rate was just 0.1%.
Earlier this month, the markets had predicted that today’s increase could be one whole percentage point – but sentiment has calmed since the mini-budget was reversed and Liz Truss resigned as prime minister.
The Bank of England is also set to release long-term inflation forecasts, which are expected to show that the cost of living next year will be much higher than its target of 2%.
Official figures released in September showed inflation hit 10.1% – matching a 40-year high seen in July – with much of this increase driven by rising food costs.
Through these rate hikes, the Bank of England is trying to bring core inflation under control, which excludes more volatile elements such as petrol and energy prices.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank have warned they expect the BoE’s forecasts to show “the economic outlook has deteriorated further”, adding: “Conditioned on market pricing, the UK economy will likely fall into a deeper and more prolonged recession.”
Read more: Heating off, buying food with credit cards – the impact of rising prices Thousands too ashamed to go to work because they can’t afford soap Low-cost grocery prices rocket – which ones have gone up most
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2:22
‘Black hole’ in finances explained
Firms face ‘desperately difficult decisions,’ Labour warns
This afternoon, Labour’s shadow chancellor will warn that the latest interest rate rise will have a huge impact on consumers and companies alike.
Speaking at the Anthropy conference in Cornwall, Rachel Reeves will say: “Rising interest rates will mean families with already stretched budgets will be hit by higher mortgage payments. It will mean higher financing costs for businesses.
“For many firms who have had a tough couple of years, this will mean desperately difficult decisions about whether to carry on.
“And it will mean profound implications for growth as demand is sucked out of the economy – and even those firms that are keeping their head above water face difficult decisions about whether to invest or expand.”
Yesterday, a new poll carried about by Ipsos for Sky News revealed that more than a quarter of people have started using their credit cards to buy food – and a fifth have borrowed money to adjust to rising prices this year.
Read more: Almost half of adults finding it difficult to afford their bills Tesco raises meal deal price for first time in a decade The very real costs of having a premature baby
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2:21
People putting food bills on credit
US also increases interest rates
The Bank of England’s decision will come a day after America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, also confirmed that it will increase interest rates by 0.75 percentage points.
Wall Street fell sharply when Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested the US base rate may need to go even higher than previously thought to tackle the worst inflation seen in decades.
He warned: “It’s very premature, in my view, to think about or to be talking about pausing our rate hikes. We have a ways to go.”
Mr Powell also said that the Federal Reserve would rather make a mistake of taking interest rates too high than easing too quickly, amid fears that a premature pullback could cause inflation to remain.
More than five million households could see their annual mortgage payments rise by an average of £5,100 between now and the end of 2024, a leading think tank has warned.
In total, mortgage payments are set to rise annually by £26bn over the next two years, according to the Resolution Foundation.
Affected households in London will see the biggest increase, with average payments projected to rise by £8,000 over this period – more than twice the level of the £3,400 increase experienced by households in Wales.
The impact in London will be concentrated, however, as less than a fifth (19%) of households there have a mortgage.
“Households across Britain are currently living through an inflation-driven cost-of-living crisis as pay packets shrink and energy bills rise,” said Lindsay Judge, research director at the Resolution Foundation.
“With almost half of all mortgagor households on course to see their family budgets fall by at least 5% from higher payments, the living standards pain from rising interest rates will be widespread.”
While some homeowners on variable rate deals will see their costs increase immediately, the impact on the majority of mortgaged homeowners, who are on fixed-rate mortgages, will build over the coming years as they move off lower rates on to new deals, the think tank added.
Mortgages have been one of the many areas thrown into chaos following the government’s mini-budget at the end of September.
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2:05
Mortgage burden to hit 80s levels
Average two-year fixed mortgage rate now at highest level since 2008
The number of deals on the market nosedived after former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced his fiscal policy in the House of Commons.
Lenders have gradually been bringing back new deals, but have increased their rates in doing so, with the average two and five-year fixed mortgage rates at their highest levels since 2008, standing at 6.47% and 6.29% respectively.
Read more:Markets react negatively to Truss speech spelling out corporation tax U-turn
On Friday, 3,112 mortgage products were on the market, compared with 3,961 on the day of the mini-budget, according to Moneyfacts.co.uk.
The Resolution Foundation explained that by early 2025, half of all mortgaged households will have seen higher mortgage costs absorb at least 5% of their net income, according to its current projections.
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21:40
Mortgages: Your questions answered
Higher interest rates will create ‘winners’ and ‘losers’
Higher income households will face the biggest increases in mortgage costs in cash terms on average, it added, but warned that lower income families will face the biggest rise as a share of their income.
Some households may be able to avoid higher costs by using savings to reduce their mortgage balance, or by downsizing to a less expensive home.
Read more: Mortgages – What’s the best way to plan? How rising costs will affect you What’s happened to UK mortgage rates?
The think tank also noted that a period of higher interest rates will create “winners” and “losers”, with some people able to benefit from the increased rates, such as retired savers or those who are saving up to buy their first home.
“Regardless of how the future unfolds, it is fair to assume that higher interest rates will cause not only (often serious) problems for a very large number of households, but have significant political ramifications as well,” the foundation stated.
One in five residential care workers in the UK were living in poverty before the cost of living crisis, according to new research.
Care home and assisted living staff are also far more likely to live in poverty than the average UK worker, according to analysis by the Health Foundation.
It said low pay is a “political choice” and warned that for many providing care, “work is not a reliable route out of poverty”.
The revelation comes as people across the country grapple with the cost of living crisis and surging inflation.
The think tank pooled data over three years from two government surveys on the incomes and living circumstances of households and families in the UK.
Health Foundation director of policy, Hugh Alderwick, said: “Social care workers – who are mostly women – play a vital role in society but are among the lowest paid workers in the UK, and experience shocking levels of poverty and deprivation.
“Many cannot afford enough food, shelter, clothing and other essentials, putting their health at risk.
“Sustained underfunding of social care has contributed to unacceptable pay and conditions for staff and major workforce shortages, with vacancies in England rising by 52% last year.
“This reflects political choices. If government values people using and providing social care, it must act to tackle low pay and insecure employment conditions in the sector.”
The sample size over three years was 1,488 care staff aged 16 and over working in nursing homes, care homes and assisted-living housing for older and disabled people.
Read more: Winter power blackouts ‘extremely unlikely’ but UK must ‘plan for every scenario’ Graduates want higher starting salaries – and many would take up side hustles
Poverty was defined as having a household income below 60% of the median household income after housing costs.
Around one in five residential care workers (18.5%) were living in poverty in between April 2017 and April 2020, the analysis found.
This compares to 12.5% of all workers, and 8.5% of health workers, with “limited change” since 2012, which suggests “persistently high levels of poverty”.
The analysis found a further 8.5% of care workers were living just above the poverty line, meaning in total more than a quarter were living in or on the brink of poverty.
The workforce was also twice as likely to receive Universal Credit and benefits from the old system than general workers (19.6% versus 9.8%), the report said.
University graduates across the UK want to see higher starting salaries for first jobs amidst the cost of living crisis.
New research by careers platform Bright Network, shared with Sky News, reveals students expect starting salaries to be over £30,000 – 25% more than the current national average starting salary.
Due to the impact and stress because of the rising cost of living, the undergraduate students surveyed expressed “genuine concerns around the economic climate, their careers and future working life”.
The financial challenges are forcing young people to find ways to supplement their main source of income. Almost eight in 10 of the students surveyed said they’d consider taking up a personal ‘side hustle’ to bring in extra cash.
Like tens of thousands of university students Alex Johnson is back on campus for his final year and life in a working world is becoming very real for him. But with the financial future looking bleak, finding a job which pays enough is proving difficult.
He told Sky News: “A lot of them just say the salary is competitive and it’s hard to get a good grasp on what that actually means. But the ones I do see, they range between 20k to 30k, which is alright, but as a student in the cost of living crisis, I’m really looking to get more than that and get paid for what I’m worth.”
So to help him during his final year and when he enters the world of work he’s taken on a side hustle which is already bringing in additional funds. From his accommodation at the University of Leeds, Alex runs a blog about Lego. His passion for building Lego means he can use it to earn extra money which helps him now as a student and will top-up his graduate job salary.
Image: Alex runs a blog about Lego
He said: “It supports me and allows me to do other things. I was able to go on a holiday this summer which as a student, when money is tight, I might not have been able to do otherwise. It will just help me boost that income since unfortunately it’s a struggle to find those good salaries out there.”
Image: Working part-time in a marketing job doesn’t provide enough money for Natasha Birk
Working part-time in a marketing job doesn’t provide enough money for Natasha Birk who graduated from the University of Bath. She’s back living at home with her parents as her salary doesn’t allow her to be fully independent and self-sufficient. But the success from her eco-eyelashes business, on the side, means she can get there quicker.
Speaking to Sky News, she said: “When you’re doing that job search you find jobs that really appeal to you and the criteria will be really exciting but then you look at the salary and it can be a bit deflating. You have to be realistic though and think how would I actually be able to afford to live off that wage, even though it’s a job I love doing.”
Image: Natasha runs an eco-eyelashes business
But for businesses, boosting salaries by thousands of pounds is not a viable option, says Alison Edgar MBE, who advises small and big businesses on how to become successful.
She told Sky News: “If you look at the national living wage people are getting out of bed for a lot less than £30,000. A degree may give you an academic background, but it doesn’t actually give you the skills that you might need in that role. So if graduates want to have a side hustle to bring in that money, that’s great, but they should not be expecting an employer to pay that salary because they’d lose out on margins.”
She added: “25% on top of current salaries doesn’t fit into the current economics. A lot of graduates are new to the workplace, so they’ll need training and understand the business side of things. If they get that increase you’d have to increase the salaries of all the employees that were and that is not going to work for businesses economically. It’s not a sustainable model.”
British society is divided on many social issues but the majority reject the government’s policy of tax cuts, according to a survey.
Britons disagree on issues from Scottish independence to proportional representation in elections but most agree that higher taxes should fund extra help for households through the cost of living crisis.
The National Centre of Social Research (NatCen) interviewed 6,250 people in Britain between September and October last year for its 39th annual British Social Attitudes report.
It showed 52% were behind raising taxes and spending more on health, education and social benefits.
As many as 46% of Conservative voters and 61% of Labour supported tax hikes.
And the majority would back government intervention similar to that seen during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect the economy, as concerns mount over social inequality.
The survey pointed to fears over inequality increasing since the pandemic – with almost half (49%) calling for money to be redistributed to those who are less wealthy, a figure up 10% since 2019.
There were relatively few differences in economic values between northern and southern England – despite the government’s levelling up agenda highlighting regional inequalities.
But the attitude of people outside London is in marked contrast with those living in the capital, who are more pro-welfare and socially liberal.
Some 37% of people in the north expressed pro-welfare views compared to 35% in the south.
In London, this figure rose to 47% – against 30-37% elsewhere.
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1:18
The Truss plan: Economy, energy and NHS
Constitutional challenges
Participants were also quizzed about their views on Scottish independence – with the results showing Britain is more polarised than ever.
Some 52% of Scots are in favour of leaving the UK, up from 23% in 2012.
But the figure remains unchanged in England since 2012, with only one in four backing Scottish independence.
For the first time in the survey’s history, more people (51%) favour bringing in proportional representation for elections rather than the traditional first past the post system.
Support in Northern Ireland to stay part of the UK has slipped to below half (49%) for the first time, the research showed.
Culture wars including the issues of identity, immigration and equality could re-ignite the Brexit divide which saw Remain and Leave voters holding radically opposing views – but the balance of public opinion is mostly tipped towards socially liberal beliefs, according to the survey.
Under-pressure health service
Meanwhile satisfaction with the NHS plunged to its lowest level in 25 years, with long waiting lists described as a major barrier to receiving care.
Two thirds of people blamed long delays to get a GP or hospital appointment for being dissatisfied with the beleaguered health service.
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3:11
Record ambulance wait times in July
But more than half of people in England and Scotland said they would pay higher taxes to improve the level of healthcare for everyone.
Three quarters surveyed said the NHS should “definitely” be free of charge and available to everyone.
NatCen senior research fellow, Sir John Curtice, said: “The findings of our survey certainly suggest why Britain might appear divided, buffeted, and ‘broken’.
“The health service is widely thought not to be providing the timely service that people need and expect. Support for leaving the UK has grown in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and how Britain should be governed has become much more of a divisive issue.
“A new gap on attitudes to welfare and social issues has opened between the capital and the rest of the country. And divisions over ‘culture war’ issues could potentially become part of our politics, thereby helping to perpetuate the Brexit divide.
“True, the gap in attitudes between the North and the South of England appears to have narrowed, while people still have faith in having a tax-funded NHS that is free at the point of use.
“But the new government faces a particularly formidable challenge in bringing Britain together.”
