Money

HMRC Redknapp blunder could cost £8m

Adrian Holliday — 2012-02-09T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News

The judgment of HMRC is under the spotlight after Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp was acquitted of cheating the public revenue, along with Milan Mandaric, the ex Portsmouth chairman.

HMRC's investigation lasted five years. It cost the taxpayer several millions. Yet HMRC remains defiant about the waste of public cash.

No regrets

"If you look at the logic of the case none of it made sense," Harry Redknapp's defence barrister John Kelsey-Fry, QC, told the Mail. "It's one of those things where if you sit down and think about it, you know there is something not right there."

It's difficult to know exactly how much the bungled HMRC allegations cost the taxpayer. The Crown Prosecution Service was involved - 'Fair, Fearless, effective' it claims - as was the City of London Police - and, of course, it clocked up thousands of HMRC hours. Police interviews; a dawn raid; many millions spent. But a jury threw the case out in just five hours.

What is breathtaking is that HMRC had no regrets about taking on Redknapp, whose own legal fees for the case have tipped £500,000. HMRC's Assistant Director of Criminal Investigations, Chris Martin, said it was "vitally important" that the facts of the case were presented to a public jury.

No arrests

"We accept the verdict of the jury but I would like to remind those who are evading tax by using offshore tax havens that it always makes sense to come forward and talk to us before we come to talk to you."

The FT claims HMRC has been given £900m to look more closely at tax avoidance and to step up the number of prosecutions, though clearly it will need to pick with more care in future, especially if targets are high profile.

The City of London Police haven't, like the HMRC, come out of this covered in much glory either. Despite a massive global banking seizure, the City of London police have yet to arrest one single banker for any offence. Yet much of the credit crisis deal-making was done in the City of London, right in its own back yard.

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Dog microchip plan: worth the cost?

Sarah Coles — 2012-02-09T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News

KATHY WILLENS/AP/Press Association Images

Recent reports of attacks by dangerous dogs have stepped up pressure from campaigners demanding that all Britain's 8.3 million dogs have a microchip fitted. Already more than half have a chip, which enables them to be tracked down if they run off or are involved in an incident.

However, there's a growing likelihood that chipping will be made compulsory as part of new dog laws. So what will it mean for you?

Risks

Dangerous dogs have always had a worrying place in this country, as status symbols and to give an air of menace. There have always been breeds which can turn and attack, and owners who are not responsible enough to keep them muzzled out of the house.

The muzzle laws and banning certain breeds (pit bull terriers, Japanese tosas, Dogo Argentinos and Fila Brasileiros) seem to have fallen far short, and the experts say there are more pit bulls around now than 20 years ago. Clearly more needs to be done.
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New laws

Lord Taylor of Holbeach yesterday told the House of Lords. "We are close to finalising a package of measures to tackle irresponsible dog owners. We see microchipping as part of the measures we can do to address an increasing problem."

Many of the experts are skeptical as to whether enough will be done. Some want to see dog licences for owners, so that they have to prove they are responsible enough to keep a dog. However, at the very least, we should see compulsory microchipping.

Savings

The good news is that microchipping doesn't have to be expensive. A chip can cost just £5, and can save you a small fortune when it comes to tracking down a lost pet, or replacing a family dog after a loss.

Not only that, but if it's easier to track down an owner, it could bring down the number of stray dogs - which cost charities and councils more than £57m a year, and mean around 6,000 healthy animals are put down each year.

It is hoped that by associating pets more with owners it will also ensure they take more care of their pet, and control them more effectively. This, in turn, will reduce costs. In England in 2008/09, there were over 5,000 hospital admissions resulting from being bitten or struck by a dog and in 2009, dog attacks on people in England cost the Health Service £3.3m.

It seems, therefore that we can't afford not to legislate on dangerous dogs. But what do you think should be done? Let us know in the comments.

10 most dangerous dog breeds

1. Pit bulls
2. Rottweilers
3. German Shepherds
4. Huskies
5. Alaskan Malamutes
6. Doberman Pinschers
7. Chow Chows
8. Presa Canarios
9. Boxers
10. Dalmatians

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One in six parents baffled by kids' tech

Guy Clapperton — 2012-02-09T07:57:00+00:00

Filed under: News

A survey out today tells us a lot about how parents view their kids' technology. One in six of us don't understand it at all and a high proportion allow their offspring to play age-inappropriate games, watch age-inappropriate content and are generally a lot more lax than you might think.
Of course this is a long-established tradition, as any fortysomething who remembers getting into "X" films (oldie-speak for an "18") during their early teens will tell you. But at least parents at the time understood the basics of cinema and how to get in.

Growing up quickly

The report, from Mumsnet and Netmums, took in 1800 respondents so probably means something. It seems 40% of parents have let their kids watch movies with a certificate above their actual age and 25% have let kids play games rated above their age.

This could of course mean letting an 11 year old watch a 12 movie when they're so close to that age it makes no difference. The more telling point is the technology - if you don't know how to operate a machine you can't manage its use.

There was positive news as well. 77% of parents said they knew which websites their kids visited, and over half thought DVDs and movies had a positive impact on their children's lives.

That total shrinks to just under half - 48% - believing the Internet was a positive force in their child's life. No doubt these people haven't come across homework yet - researching that without the Internet in the modern age is all but impossible.

The report was aiming to promote parentport.org.uk, a portal that aims to make it easier for parents to complain about inappropriate material being shown to their children. No doubt the ones who let their kids watch age-inappropriate stuff will be encouraged to complain to themselves.

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Real Madrid top football rich list

Jo Robinson — 2012-02-09T07:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News

AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez

For the seventh year in a row, Real Madrid has topped the Deloitte league table of the world's richest football clubs.

Deloitte's Football Money League, which is based on data for season 2010/11, places Real at the top with revenues of €438m, while their arch-rivals Barcelona are in second place, and Premier League giants Manchester United are third.

Real's annual revenues have increased by a whopping €200m over the last five years and although rivals Barcelona have closed the revenue gap, Real still has a €28.8m advantage, and the club will match Manchester United's eight-year record if it stays top next year.

Both Spanish clubs are approaching record revenue levels of €500m and may top this in the next few years, says the report.
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Broadcast revenue accounts for the largest proportion (38%) of Real Madrid's annual revenue, and is due in large part to the club's return to form in the UEFA Champions League.

Spanish rivals Barcelona, who beat Real to both the Champions League and La Liga titles remain second in the table, and saw matchday revenue exceed €100m for the first time.

The top seven clubs on the table remained in exactly the same position as in the previous year, while German side Schalke leapt six places to make the 10th spot after a strong performance in last year's season, which took the club to the semi-final in the UEFA Champions League.

However, the report predicts that Manchester City's heavy financial support from Abu Dhabi investors and the club's participation in 2011/2012 Champions League will see it edge Schalke out of the top 10 in next year's Football Money League.

Aston Villa fell out of the league entirely, failing to hold on to its 20th position from last year and leaving English clubs holding just six places out of the top 20.

Together, the top 20 clubs earned €4.4bn, a rise of 3% on the previous year.

Broadband services must be overhauled, says Ofcom

Elliot Lane — 2012-02-09T06:11:00+00:00

Filed under: TV, Phone & Broadband

Over 500,000 households had their broadband services switched without their knowledge during the past 12 months, according to Ofcom.In a sweeping report, the telecommunications watchdog says consumers face a myriad of issues with the present broadband and landline suppliers over reliability and transparency.

The report found one in five broadband users lost their service for over a week when they swapped service providers. It also found around 130,000 households have faced problems over the past 12 months with the wrong telephone line being installed during the switch over process or when customers moved house.

Ofcom CEO, Ed Richards, said: "Smooth switching processes are essential to ensure that consumers can change providers with confidence. Many people think that the current systems are too difficult and unreliable which is why we have made it one of our priorities to tackle this problem."

Broadband services will be overhauled under the Ofcom proposals, which would see an independent third party "verify" any future switches between old and new supplier so to protect consumers from 'slamming', the term used when customers are switched without consent. Simplification of the process is needed and more accurate data and transparency from providers should be implemented, the regulator added.

Adam Scorer, Director of Policy at Consumer Focus said: "According to Ofcom's own figures households switching broadband supplier is relatively low, often a sign of weak competition in a market. Hopefully these measures will lead higher numbers of people moving to better deals.

"We strongly support the plan to move towards gaining provider led switching processes. When you switch to a new supplier, it should be responsible for making the process quick and simple - the company losing the business has few incentives to do this. When the new company handles the move it tends to bring down costs, limit disruption and encourage quick completion; all of which is good news for consumers."

A spokesman for Virgin Media said: "Essentially [these proposals] apply to DSL for the time being rather than cable so it's not a big impact on our business. Anything that helps consumers is clearly a good thing providing it's not so costly that it ends up being passed onto consumers."

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40,000 join Which? bulk-buy energy

Adrian Holliday — 2012-02-09T06:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Utilities

Fed up with over-paying for your energy bills? So are a good 40,000 other British consumers. And that's just the number of people who've signed up to the Which? collective bulk-buying campaign in the last 24 hours.

Which? claims the move could be a game-changer for the UK energy industry. Worth a look, then?

Power to the people

Definitely. What Which? is doing is inviting the UK's top energy companies to bid for their business. The lowest tariff offered gets the deal. Signing up to the Which? campaign won't oblige you to switch your energy bills to Which?. It simply gives you the option of joining (click to register) at a later date.
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The bigger the group, the stronger their bargaining power will be. Collective purchasing hasn't been used widely in the UK before - it's much more commonly used in Europe - though companies like Groupon are increasingly pushing the practice. Encouragingly, the Which? move has also been endorsed by both the government and the Labour party.

Fed up

"We are urging anyone who is angry about the state of the energy market to sign up," says Richard Lloyd, Which? exec director. "The Big Switch is the first chance to do this in the UK, and an opportunity for the energy suppliers to demonstrate that they're serious about changing their ways and putting consumers first."

If thousands of customers band together, they'll have the bargaining power to do something about it, adds David Babbs of 38 Degrees, an online campaigning organisation supporting the Which? move. "The big energy companies act like they're untouchable, but this people powered campaign can turn the tables and bring down prices for everyone."

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Thinktank proposes loans for childcare

Sarah Coles — 2012-02-09T05:42:00+00:00

Filed under: Debt

Owen Humphreys/PA Archive/Press Association Images

The Social Market Foundation has suggested a new system of loans to help parents pay for childcare. The National Childcare Contribution Scheme would allow parents to borrow up to £10,000 a year to pay for childcare. This would then be paid back through automatic deductions from their wages - in much the same way as student loans.

It has said it will help parents juggle the impossible costs of childcare, which are among the highest in Europe. However, experts are warning that it would constitute a massive mistake for hundreds of thousands of people.

The proposal

The report, A Better Beginning: Easing the cost of childcare, claimed that a system of loans would enable families to spread the cost of good quality childcare, to enable them to go to back to work, without creating a burden for the government.

It argued: "For many parents, mothers in particular, the cost of childcare is too high and often makes paid employment financially unviable." It pointed out that with cuts to the childcare element of the working tax credit many parents had to give up work to look after young children.

The scheme would provide the funding for parents with pre-school children, in the form of vouchers. The loan would attract interest at inflation (currently 4.8%) plus 3%. The breadwinner of the family would then be required to pay at 6% above the personal allowance rate. So, for example, someone making £20,000 a year would pay £60 a month. This would be spread over 20 years of repayments.

Benefits

There are some clear advantages. Studies have shown that an element of formal childcare for older pre-school children is vital for their development in preparation for school. At the same time, it would enable mothers to return to work, and ensure their career didn't suffer unduly from an extended break.

Plus it takes away the massive and horrifying cost of childcare in the early years. Many parents are forced to pay £10,000 or more a year for childcare. It's like suddenly having two mortgages to pay: who can afford that?

Problems

However, it isn't a foolproof solution. Children aren't just expensive during the pre-school years. Repaying a loan for the whole of their childhood would effectively cripple many household budgets.

There's an argument that getting it all over in four years of penury is better than struggling for 20 years. Once the children get to 18, there is then the issue of university fees. Somehow they have to find the money to send their children into higher education, while they are still paying off the cost of their pre-school years.

Alternatives

Iain McMath, managing director of childcare voucher company Sodexo Motivation Solutions, points out this falls short on a number of levels. For a start the loan isn't enough: "£10,000 per year doesn't even cover half the yearly costs of some full-time, London based nursery schools."

In addition, the interest payments and inflation would scupper many families entirely. He said: "Rather than encouraging parents to take a loan, the government should be looking to help parents in other ways such as promoting the use of childcare vouchers or extending childcare vouchers to the self-employed. These tax free schemes are available to working mothers and fathers and are a great way of subsidising childcare costs, especially when both parents are working."

Meanwhile, the Department for Education is looking for ways to help with the cost of childcare through tax credits.

But what do you think? Are any of these options a real solution? let us know in the comments.

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Recruiters favour white candidates

Elliot Lane — 2012-02-09T05:20:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Employment recruiters are offering preferential treatment to white job candidates over black and asian job seekers, according to a report.
The report, commissioned by the business group Race for Opportunity (RfO), said that of those surveyed, 29% of ethnic minority applicants were offered a job against 44% of white candidates who were successfully employed.

However industry body the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) questioned the results. It said the study assessed over 2,000 job applicants in the past year at a time when employers were looking for experience over age. Many of the black and asian candidates were young and looking for a first job.

Tom Hadley, the REC's Director of Policy and Professional Services said "The role of recruitment agencies is to match candidates to roles on the basis of their skills, experience and suitability for the job, with the employer making the final decision on who to pre-select for interview and who to offer the job to. There is absolutely no reason for recruiters to do anything other than put together the best possible short-list.

"Of course, there is always more that can be done to champion and improve diversity. This is something the REC and the Institute of Recruitment Professionals (IRP) will continue to drive through research, qualifications and training."

The report recommends recruiters train staff to address 'unconscious bias' when reviewing an ethnic and migrant workers' skills and training. Questions focused on culture and religion should be avoided and migrant workers may need help filling in applications if English is not their first language.

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Gang accused of £46,000 Boris Bike scam

Jo Robinson — 2012-02-09T05:08:00+00:00

Filed under: Scams & Fraud

Matt Crossick/EMPICS Entertainment

A gang of fraudsters may have swindled more than £46,000 from the Barclays London Cycle Hire scheme by making scores of bogus refund payments to their friends, Southwark Crown Court heard yesterday.

Nana Boateng, 26, and Jose Dias, 27, allegedly organised sham repayments while working for SERCO, the company that organises the London Cycle Hire programme.

The two men, who worked at the firm's Enfield offices, are accused of dishonestly arranging for refunds from the bike scheme to be channeled into the accounts of six of their friends between 21 September to 16 December 2010.

They are jointly charged alongside another former colleague Devina Joseph-Albert, 22, with one count of conspiracy to defraud.
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Prosecutors claimed the three channeled repayments through the accounts of George Hayden, 29, Zakir Bhad, 24, Darnel Joseph-Albert, 20, Samuel Njie, 26, Elizabeth Spencer, 36, and Sakinah MacAulay, 24.

Hayden, Bhad, Njie, Spencer and MacAulay have admitted entering into an arrangement and will be sentenced later this year.

Dias and Devina Joseph-Albert, both of Clapton, east London, appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court yesterday for a plea and case management hearing.

Darnel Joseph-Albert, also of Clapton, east London, pleaded not guilty to a single count of entering into an arrangement and will stand trial later this year.

Boateng, of Enfield, north London, was not present for the brief hearing as the court heard he was having 'transport difficulties.' The three men did not enter pleas.

Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail state that the group "conspired with together and with others unknown to defraud Transport for London by dishonestly arranging for the payment of refunds relating to the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme to which the recipients were not lawfully entitled."

Each defendant "entered into or became concerned in an arrangement which they knew or suspected facilitated, by whatever means, the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by or on behalf of another person."

Judge Stephen Robbins adjourned the hearing until 7 March and fixed a trial date for 24 September.

The Barclays London Cycle Hire Scheme launched back June 2010 amidst much controversy, and there are currently more than 6,000 bikes and 400 docking stations around the capital.

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Further QE 'bad news' for retirees

Press Association — 2012-02-09T03:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Pensions

Further quantitative easing (QE) is likely to spell bad news for people set to retire this year, analysts have warned.

Those planning to buy an annuity, which sets the size of their pension for life, were advised to "get on with it", with downward pressures on rates expected to continue in 2012.

Annuity investors have seen rates plummet in recent years, as pensioners have faced a "perfect storm" of high living costs and low returns on their savings.

Research from financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown found that a 65-year-old man with £100,000 could have bought a level income of £7,855 in July 2008, but someone in the same situation today would only receive an income of £5,923, a drop of just under 25%.
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A recent study from Prudential also found that the typical retirement income anticipated for 2012 had hit a five-year low of £15,500, while one in five of those retiring this year expected to have to get by on less than £10,000.

A key factor in the drop was the continued fall in the value of the annual pension that could be bought by a lump sum saved in a private pension fund, or the annuity rate.

This has been put down to people living longer, as well as reductions in the return, or yield, available from buying the government and company bonds needed to provide a guaranteed income in retirement.

QE makes it cheaper for companies to borrow by pushing down the yield on government bonds, but annuity incomes are also based on these yields, meaning new pensioners see their incomes reduced. The policy also impacts on inflation, meaning pensioners can also face higher living costs.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown said any announcement of further QE was "likely to be bad news" for investors reaching retirement in 2012.

He said: "If you are planning to buy an annuity this year then it may well make sense to get on with it as all the immediate pressure on rates is downward."

Related stories:

We're living longer on less
4.5m elderly forced to 'make do'

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Money

HMRC Redknapp blunder could cost £8m

No regrets

No arrests

Dog microchip plan: worth the cost?

Risks

New laws

Savings

10 most dangerous dog breeds

One in six parents baffled by kids' tech

Growing up quickly

Real Madrid top football rich list

More stories

Broadband services must be overhauled, says Ofcom

40,000 join Which? bulk-buy energy

Power to the people

Fed up

Thinktank proposes loans for childcare

The proposal

Benefits

Problems

Alternatives

Recruiters favour white candidates

Gang accused of £46,000 Boris Bike scam

Further QE 'bad news' for retirees