Archive for the ‘work at home’ Category

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Should we stretch for a mortgage?

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/10/property-mortgage-renting-self-employed

Q We are renting?a house, having sold our flat in December 2008. We have about £70,000 in the bank and would like to buy again. My partner has a permanent (and, we think, safe) job that he’s been in for 11 years. I have been self-employed on and off since 2006 (but I don’t have any ongoing accounts – I was claiming unemployment benefit for a couple of months in 2007 and have claimed state maternity allowance in the last two years, too) but I’m self-employed until the end of July 2009 (it will have been a job for one year).

I am looking to work again after this job ends (there is a chance it may continue, but nothing is definite). We have a toddler and would like another child relatively soon, but I’d also like to remain working.?

I earn a good income and we have lots of spare cash (I do save a bit), but when I’m not working?we can just about get by on my partner’s wages.?

I’m not sure whether to stick at the freelance work, or if I’d be best getting something permanent that will count towards a mortgage – but I know I’ll earn?less, possibly half my?freelance day.?

I guess my question is, how much should we stretch ourselves in terms of the mortgage? If we shop around for mortgage offers, then we will know our situation – I think it’s possible that my income could be taken into account (but it’s so uncertain). We are thinking about moving out of London to get a cheaper property. However, I am more likely to get work in London and I can’t see how we can both logistically commute with our small child (I don’t want to leave him too long). HW

A Being self-employed is not, in itself, a barrier to getting a mortgage but you do need to have at least two years’ evidence of income. This doesn’t necessarily need to be formal accounts, as lenders will happily take tax statements issued by HM Revenue & Customs as evidence. If you don’t have these, I would start to worry.

If you are self-employed and tax is not deducted from what you earn at source (which is unlikely), you are legally required to file a self-assessment tax return each year. If you haven’t been doing this, you face financial penalties and a big bill for unpaid tax.

But, assuming that you have been filing tax returns, you should also have tax statements which will provide the evidence of income that you will need to have your income taken into account when applying for a mortgage. So you don’t need to give up your freelance work just to get a mortgage.

As far as how much you should stretch yourselves, a lot depends on your future income. If you are planning to have another child, you need to take that into account when looking at the cost of mortgage repayments. And you also need to look carefully at the financial implications of moving out of London. Although you may be able to get a cheaper property, you have to factor in the cost of commuting – not to mention child care costs for the time you spend on your way to and from work.

  • Mortgages
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Lloyds to close C&G branches

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/09/lloyds-cheltenham-gloucester-close

• The latest round of cuts will see the demise of 1,600 jobs
• Unite condemns the move as ‘nothing short of disgraceful’

The entire Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network is to close by November, as Lloyds Banking Group cuts another 1,660 jobs after the merger with HBOS.

The bank, which yesterday began repaying its multibillion-pound loan from the taxpayer, confirmed this lunchtime that all 164 C&G branches will shut within five months. This will mean about 1,000 employees will lose their jobs.

Lloyds is also cutting 265 positions across its personal loans division, which will lead to job losses in Chester and Cardiff, with other jobs also going across its retail, personal finance and mortgage sales operations.

The Unite union attacked the move as “nothing short of disgraceful”. It will mean the end of the C&G name on the high street after more than 150 years, but the brand will continue to exist on mortgages sold through brokers.

News of the closures broke this morning, sending Lloyds scrambling to inform C&G staff of the plan and sparking fierce debate online.

One branch worker said that C&G customers should not panic, as “branches will not close for months”. From November, they will have to use one of Lloyds’ 1,800 remaining branches.

Lloyds said that compulsory redundancy would be “a last resort” if it could not find new roles for those affected.

“It is always difficult to make decisions about our business that affect our colleagues,” said Helen Weir, Lloyds’ group executive director for retail banking. “We will work through these changes carefully and sensitively and continue to consult closely with our unions throughout the process.

“Cheltenham & Gloucester is a very strong brand. The strategic focus for C&G from now on will be to further strengthen its intermediary and direct savings businesses. Another major priority for us is to ensure that we manage the closure of the C&G branch network so that it causes as little disruption as possible to our customers. We have a number of measures in place to achieve this.”

Lloyds has already eliminated about 3,000 positions since finalising the takeover of HBOS. Last week it announced 510 job losses across its retail banking arm. It has also decided to drop the Clerical Medical name, which was part of HBOS, with the loss of 300 jobs.

Lloyds employs 140,000 people, and City experts believe 25,000 jobs could eventually go once HBOS is fully integrated.

Unite had already called on Lloyds to end the uncertainty hanging over its workers. Its general secretary, Derek Simpson, warned this morning that closing the C&G network would “rip the heart out of hundreds of local communities up and down the country”.

“Hundreds of staff who have worked hard for years to make the C&G brand a success will view this news as a kick in the teeth,” he said. “UK taxpayers have not poured billions of pounds into this organisation just to see it sack thousands of hard-working people.

“Front-line staff in banks across the country are blameless for the mistakes of management which have brought the important finance industry to the point of collapse. Yet these workers now face an uncertain future as Lloyds abandons C&G’s high street branches. This is truly a dark day for the financial services sector in this country.”

C&G was founded in 1850 in Cheltenham, and was acquired by Lloyds in 1995.

Industry experts had predicted several months ago that Lloyds might drop C&G in favour of Halifax, which is the UK’s biggest mortgage lender and is perceived to be a stronger brand.

Alex Potter, banking analyst at Collins Stewart, believes the closure of the C&G branch network could be an attempt to prevent the European Commission blocking the merger. Shares in Lloyds plunged by a third on 20 May after the bank warned shareholders that it may be forced to slim down its business to win state aid approval from the commission.

“There are still antitrust concerns about the Lloyds-HBOS merger at commission level,” Potter told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Perhaps this is a sop to the regulators.”

Lloyds launched its takeover of HBOS last autumn after the government said it would waive competition rules that would otherwise have made the deal impossible.

Cuts at RBS

Unite also said today that 500 staff at RBS have been told that they are at risk of redundancy.

“The closure of a cash centre in Glasgow impacting around 140 staff and 360 job losses throughout other UK locations will devastate staff. Unite is opposed to compulsory job losses and through continued consultation with the bank will seek to find suitable alternative employment for workers,” said Unite national officer Rob McGregor.

These cutbacks are part of the wide-ranging cutbacks announced in April by RBS, which plans to cut its UK workforce by 4,500.

  • Lloyds Banking Group
  • Banking
  • Job losses
  • Trade unions
  • Financial crisis
  • HBOS
  • Redundancy
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Lloyds to close C&G branches

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/09/lloyds-cheltenham-gloucester-close

• The latest round of cuts will see the demise of 1,600 jobs
• Unite condemns the move as ‘nothing short of disgraceful’

The entire Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network is to close by November, as Lloyds Banking Group cuts another 1,660 jobs after the merger with HBOS.

The bank, which yesterday began repaying its multibillion-pound loan from the taxpayer, confirmed this lunchtime that all 164 C&G branches will shut within five months. This will mean about 1,000 employees will lose their jobs.

Lloyds is also cutting 265 positions across its personal loans division, which will lead to job losses in Chester and Cardiff, with other jobs also going across its retail, personal finance and mortgage sales operations.

The Unite union attacked the move as “nothing short of disgraceful”. It will mean the end of the C&G name on the high street after more than 150 years, but the brand will continue to exist on mortgages sold through brokers.

News of the closures broke this morning, sending Lloyds scrambling to inform C&G staff of the plan and sparking fierce debate online.

One branch worker said that C&G customers should not panic, as “branches will not close for months”. From November, they will have to use one of Lloyds’ 1,800 remaining branches.

Lloyds said that compulsory redundancy would be “a last resort” if it could not find new roles for those affected.

“It is always difficult to make decisions about our business that affect our colleagues,” said Helen Weir, Lloyds’ group executive director for retail banking. “We will work through these changes carefully and sensitively and continue to consult closely with our unions throughout the process.

“Cheltenham & Gloucester is a very strong brand. The strategic focus for C&G from now on will be to further strengthen its intermediary and direct savings businesses. Another major priority for us is to ensure that we manage the closure of the C&G branch network so that it causes as little disruption as possible to our customers. We have a number of measures in place to achieve this.”

Lloyds has already eliminated about 3,000 positions since finalising the takeover of HBOS. Last week it announced 510 job losses across its retail banking arm. It has also decided to drop the Clerical Medical name, which was part of HBOS, with the loss of 300 jobs.

Lloyds employs 140,000 people, and City experts believe 25,000 jobs could eventually go once HBOS is fully integrated.

Unite had already called on Lloyds to end the uncertainty hanging over its workers. Its general secretary, Derek Simpson, warned this morning that closing the C&G network would “rip the heart out of hundreds of local communities up and down the country”.

“Hundreds of staff who have worked hard for years to make the C&G brand a success will view this news as a kick in the teeth,” he said. “UK taxpayers have not poured billions of pounds into this organisation just to see it sack thousands of hard-working people.

“Front-line staff in banks across the country are blameless for the mistakes of management which have brought the important finance industry to the point of collapse. Yet these workers now face an uncertain future as Lloyds abandons C&G’s high street branches. This is truly a dark day for the financial services sector in this country.”

C&G was founded in 1850 in Cheltenham, and was acquired by Lloyds in 1995.

Industry experts had predicted several months ago that Lloyds might drop C&G in favour of Halifax, which is the UK’s biggest mortgage lender and is perceived to be a stronger brand.

Alex Potter, banking analyst at Collins Stewart, believes the closure of the C&G branch network could be an attempt to prevent the European Commission blocking the merger. Shares in Lloyds plunged by a third on 20 May after the bank warned shareholders that it may be forced to slim down its business to win state aid approval from the commission.

“There are still antitrust concerns about the Lloyds-HBOS merger at commission level,” Potter told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Perhaps this is a sop to the regulators.”

Lloyds launched its takeover of HBOS last autumn after the government said it would waive competition rules that would otherwise have made the deal impossible.

Cuts at RBS

Unite also said today that 500 staff at RBS have been told that they are at risk of redundancy.

“The closure of a cash centre in Glasgow impacting around 140 staff and 360 job losses throughout other UK locations will devastate staff. Unite is opposed to compulsory job losses and through continued consultation with the bank will seek to find suitable alternative employment for workers,” said Unite national officer Rob McGregor.

These cutbacks are part of the wide-ranging cutbacks announced in April by RBS, which plans to cut its UK workforce by 4,500.

  • Lloyds Banking Group
  • Banking
  • Job losses
  • Trade unions
  • Financial crisis
  • HBOS
  • Redundancy
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House prices buoyed by property shortage

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/09/rics-house-prices

A combination of rising buyer inquiries and a shortage of homes for sale is supporting house prices, Rics says

Increasing interest from new buyers plus a shortage of properties for sale is helping to stabilise house prices, according to the latest housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Rics’s members said buyer inquiries increased for the seventh month in a row in May, and at the fastest rate since 1999. Estate agents also saw a rise in sales, albeit from very depressed levels. The average number of properties sold over the past three months rose to 11.8, up from 10.6. Fewer surveyors also reported a fall in house prices.

At the same time new instructions have continued to fall: the average number of properties on estate agents’ books has dropped in the past month to 58.4 from 69.4, and by more than a third over the past year.

Rics said the lack of new supply coupled with the increase in activity is providing some support for house prices, but warned there could be further price falls to come. Spokesman Ian Perry said: “The housing market does appear to be close to bottoming out with activity picking up in a material way and prices at last stabilising.

“However, it is important to remember that the lack of supply has been as important in underpinning prices as the rise in demand. Moreover, with the economic backdrop still quite uncertain, unemployment set to continue increasing sharply and finance for first-time buyers still in short supply, there are a number of significant obstacles for the market to overcome over the coming months.”

The findings from Rics were supported by house price figures published today by the government’s communities department , which showed prices rose by 1.1% month-on-month in April, after dropping 1.3% in March. This means the year-on-year fall in house prices narrowed to 13% in April from 13.6% in March.

In London, the improving market is being driven by first-time buyers who have built up equity over the past two years, or who have been lent deposits by their parents, taking advantage of lower prices, according to estate agent Ludlow Thompson.

Director, Stephen Ludlow, said: “Sentiment has changed considerably – at the end of last year nobody could see a floor for prices. Whilst prices may not have reached the very bottom buyers are no longer worried that the market is still in meltdown mode.

“The pickup in demand in May was so sudden that it has been the lack of supply of properties actually on the market that caused the bounce in prices. We’ve had to move lettings staff on to sales to deal with the surge in activity.”

However, Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, said he remained sceptical that house prices had bottomed out.

“It is not uncommon for there to be months of rising prices when house prices are still trending down. Most recently, the Halifax reported that house prices rose by 2% month-on-month in January but then fell sharply during February-April before rising again in May.

“Housing market activity is still very low by past norms and at a level consistent with falling house prices, and despite markedly rising buyer interest we believe that the pickup in actual house purchases is likely to be gradual and fitful for some time to come.”

  • House prices
  • Property
  • First-time buyers
  • Housing market
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House prices buoyed by property shortage

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/09/rics-house-prices

A combination of rising buyer inquiries and a shortage of homes for sale is supporting house prices, Rics says

Increasing interest from new buyers plus a shortage of properties for sale is helping to stabilise house prices, according to the latest housing market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Rics’s members said buyer inquiries increased for the seventh month in a row in May, and at the fastest rate since 1999. Estate agents also saw a rise in sales, albeit from very depressed levels. The average number of properties sold over the past three months rose to 11.8, up from 10.6. Fewer surveyors also reported a fall in house prices.

At the same time new instructions have continued to fall: the average number of properties on estate agents’ books has dropped in the past month to 58.4 from 69.4, and by more than a third over the past year.

Rics said the lack of new supply coupled with the increase in activity is providing some support for house prices, but warned there could be further price falls to come. Spokesman Ian Perry said: “The housing market does appear to be close to bottoming out with activity picking up in a material way and prices at last stabilising.

“However, it is important to remember that the lack of supply has been as important in underpinning prices as the rise in demand. Moreover, with the economic backdrop still quite uncertain, unemployment set to continue increasing sharply and finance for first-time buyers still in short supply, there are a number of significant obstacles for the market to overcome over the coming months.”

The findings from Rics were supported by house price figures published today by the government’s communities department , which showed prices rose by 1.1% month-on-month in April, after dropping 1.3% in March. This means the year-on-year fall in house prices narrowed to 13% in April from 13.6% in March.

In London, the improving market is being driven by first-time buyers who have built up equity over the past two years, or who have been lent deposits by their parents, taking advantage of lower prices, according to estate agent Ludlow Thompson.

Director, Stephen Ludlow, said: “Sentiment has changed considerably – at the end of last year nobody could see a floor for prices. Whilst prices may not have reached the very bottom buyers are no longer worried that the market is still in meltdown mode.

“The pickup in demand in May was so sudden that it has been the lack of supply of properties actually on the market that caused the bounce in prices. We’ve had to move lettings staff on to sales to deal with the surge in activity.”

However, Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, said he remained sceptical that house prices had bottomed out.

“It is not uncommon for there to be months of rising prices when house prices are still trending down. Most recently, the Halifax reported that house prices rose by 2% month-on-month in January but then fell sharply during February-April before rising again in May.

“Housing market activity is still very low by past norms and at a level consistent with falling house prices, and despite markedly rising buyer interest we believe that the pickup in actual house purchases is likely to be gradual and fitful for some time to come.”

  • House prices
  • Property
  • First-time buyers
  • Housing market
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Keydata Investment Services goes into administration

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/08/keydata-investment-administration

Administrators freeze £3bn of Keydata funds

Keydata Investment Services, which specialised in creating “innovative” high income products, went into administration today, leaving a huge question mark over the future of the £3bn in investments it controlled.

The Financial Services Authority said the group was insolvent, following an application to the courts last week. It is unable to say whether investments are safe.

Dan Schwarzmann and Mark Batten of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) have been appointed as joint administrators.

PWC told the Guardian that it had frozen the funds to protect investors but it did not yet know what funds might be at risk or whether investors had lost their money. But it added that Keydata funds based on easily valued investments such as portfolios of Alternative Investment Market shares in venture capital trusts would continue to be traded.

Keydata promised “investment solutions for the 21st Century” – these were mostly “structured products” which relied on complex derivatives of the type which ruined Lehman Brothers.

Some were “exotic”. The “Defined Income Plan”, based on “portfolios of US life insurance contracts” paid out around 7.5% for five years but did not guarantee investors would get their capital back at the end of that period. This depended on enough US policyholders dying early.

Keydata previously told the Guardian that these life contracts had never failed to produce income but admitted they were difficult to trade.

Others products depended on creating complex structures with swaps and other derivatives on stock market indices – again to create a higher income but with a risk of investors losing their savings.

One bond claimed to magnify any growth in the FTSE 100 index by a factor of 10 times. Keydata had continually to fend off accusations that its funds were similar to the now disgraced precipice bonds, sold heavily a decade ago, that left many investors penniless.

The plans were heavily promoted to independent financial advisers who earned 3% commission on sales.

Keydata was set up by Stewart Ford, now a Geneva resident according to records at Companies House. He founded the first Keydata companies in 1997, providing investment fund information to IFAs. But his big move forward was with the formation of Keydata Investment Services in 2001. He appears to own the majority of the shares.

Dan Schwarzmann said: Our focus is the consumers. This is a complex situation and we know many investors will have serious concerns. We will do all we can to get a clear understanding of the position as soon as possible. We will keep in regular contact.”

For more information, check PWC’s website or phone 020 7804 4424.

  • Investments
  • Investment funds
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If you do one thing this week … car share

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Sharing a lift on the way to work not only spreads the cost of petrol, it will give you and your company a green glow, says Adharanand Finn

In these days of mobile phones and iPods, we’re uncomfortable letting strangers into our personal space. Only small children and old ladies would risk smiling at someone on a city bus. So why would you want to let someone into the cosy confines of your car, particularly in the fragile early morning hours before the start of the working day?

Advocates of lift sharing have a host of sound reasons. The most compelling are that it saves you money and reduces car emissions – this is simple maths: two people driving together in one car produce roughly half the emissions of two people travelling in two cars. They can also split the cost of petrol.

More questionable is the assertion, on the leading lift sharing website, liftshare.com, that it is more fun. You can make new friends, it cheerfully suggests. A nice idea, but in practice – at least when I tried it years ago – just as you come to arrange a lift you begin worrying about the possibility that your potential sharer will be a mass murderer or something.

At best your lift sharer will be a terrible bore or have poor personal hygiene (or both), and you’ll be stuck together, for hours, just the two of you, side by side, staring at the road ahead. For the sake of a few pounds and some petrol emissions wouldn’t it be easier to not bother?

This uneasiness we feel about sharing a car with a stranger has not only contributed to the slow death of hitchhiking in recent years (in the UK at least), but is prohibiting the uptake of lift sharing.

Liftshare.com is now more than 10 years old, and although it has more than 300,000 registered users, many, I suspect, are like me – people who signed up a long time ago but have never actually arranged a lift, while others may not be able to match their requirements with a person who can help out. Artist Melissa Beagley recently tried to arrange a lift from London to Devon on a Friday night, but couldn’t find a single person going her way.

But with the recession in full swing and the planet getting ever hotter, this is a good moment to reassert your faith in your fellow humans and do something to help this noble lift sharing idea on its way. With tomorrow designated National liftshare day there is no better time to start.

The uncertainty of potential sharers can be reduced to some extent by setting up a lift sharing group within your workplace. You can do this with a basic noticeboard in the office on which people can list their journeys, or on the office intranet or online – liftshare.com will organise a page for your company on its website.

An office-based scheme will also give you a chance to get to know your colleagues better, and it should be easier to arrange a lift as you’re all heading the same way – to work.

The only downside, according to Amy Bunting, who lift shared when she worked for Barclaycard in Northampton, is people being late for the pickup.

“One man I shared with was absolutely terrible at getting up and he ended up getting dressed in my car on the way to work most mornings,” she says. “That looked great when we arrived at work and he was doing up his belt and tucking his shirt in as we got out of the car.”

If you ask nicely, your company may stump up some incentives to get the scheme started – and encourage people to be on time, such as vouchers for the canteen. In return it gets a positive boost to its eco-status and, if the scheme takes off, the need for fewer parking spaces.

For maximum green bonus points it could even turn a few of the redundant spaces into an office allotment – or is that going a bit too far?

  • Saving money
  • Work & careers
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Drop in childminders prompts fears of holiday crisis

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

• Lib Dems blame ‘toddler curriculum’ for decline
• One in seven leave sector?over six years

Parents could be faced with a childcare shortage this summer, according to figures that reveal there are 10,000 fewer registered childminders than six years ago, with the numbers still rapidly declining.

At the very least, one in seven childminders has left the job since 2003, and the most dramatic reductions have come in the last year with the government’s introduction of its controversial “toddlers’ curriculum”.

The figures, released in parliament to the Liberal Democrats, reveal a six-year decline in the number of carers looking after under-eights, with the level dropping from 70,000 in 2003 to 60,900 in March this year. In the last 12 months there has been a more dramatic decline, with a loss of 4,000 childminders.

Annette Brooke, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, warned of a crisis in the summer holidays, a time when parents often need extra childcare, and blamed the introduction of the Early Year’s Foundation Stage (EYFS), which has been dubbed a curriculum for toddlers. “The government’s overly prescriptive and bureaucratic approach to pre-school care is causing childminders to turn away from the profession,” she said.

The shortages are likely to be exacerbated by a baby boom in some areas of the country, which is also causing a shortfall in primary school places.

Childminders typically look after small numbers of youngsters in the carer’s own home; while nannies provide childcare in the child’s home.

The controversial EYFS was introduced last September. It sets 69 “early learning goals” for five-year-olds, and specialists in early child education have labelled it too prescriptive. Among the goals, children are required to “use their phonic knowledge to write simple regular words and make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words”, and to “write their own names and other things such as labels and captions, and begin to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation”.

Childminders have to record children’s progress through the goals and their paperwork can be inspected by Ofsted.

Andy Fletcher, joint chief executive of the National Childminding Association, said there were several reasons behind the steady fall in childminders: the economy had played a part, with job losses leading families to need fewer childminders, but the EYFS had “definitely” had a role.

“We know, anecdotally, of childminders giving up because of increasing regulation and a lack of training to help them,” he said. “Parents need genuine choice in childcare and there needs to be different types of childcare available. In some areas there are shortages and parents don’t have that choice. It affects both urban areas with high rates of working families and some rural areas as well.”

Brooke added: “As we approach the long school holiday it is going to be a real struggle for hard-pressed parents to find quality and affordable childcare. Childcare costs have spiralled over recent years and there is clearly a risk that the drop in the number of childminders is going to drive up costs even further.

“We already have the farcical situation where some parents find they are better-off giving up work rather than forking out for expensive childcare.”

Emma Knights, joint chief executive of the Daycare Trust, said the drop could partly be due to more parents opting for nurseries. “We need to look at the whole childcare sector across the piste. Taking all childcare into account there are a lot of places available to families. Nursery places and playgroups have risen at the same time as the decline in childminders.”

Sarah McCarthy-Fry, the schools minister, said: “It is nonsense to suggest that childminders are leaving the profession in droves as a result of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The EYFS is not a burden on childminders and most of them will be familiar with it because it’s what they are already doing – helping children learn and develop through play.

“The number of registered childminders has always varied over time, for a number of reasons. For example, before the introduction of their new registers Ofsted undertook an exercise to remove childminders who were no longer actively looking after children.”

  • Childcare
  • Children
  • Family
  • Education policy
  • Liberal Democrats
  • Family finances
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Snooping around

Friday, June 5th, 2009

From a Chelsea wreck to a dream home in Cornwall

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