Home News

The government is ending a contract worth billions of pounds a year with one of the largest providers of accommodation for asylum seekers.Stay Belvedere Hotels (SBHL) houses people waiting for asylum decisions in 51 hotels in England and Wales, as well as the Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, which is due to close and be returned to the Ministry of Defence in September.The Home Office confirmed the cancellation of the contract, which is worth around £2billion per year, after a review raised concerns about the company’s performance and behaviour.In a statement issued on Tuesday, it said the contract, which was awarded in 2019, will end at the earliest opportunity in September 2026 after the review of all contracts to provide asylum accommodation.Minister for border security and asylum Angela Eagle said: “Since July, we have improved contract management and added more oversight of our suppliers of asylum accommodation.Stay Belvedere Hotels (SBHL) houses people waiting for asylum decisions in the Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, which is due to close and be returned to the Ministry of Defence in September More

Money expert Martin Lewis has shared his initial analysis of Labour’s newly announced changes to the welfare system, calling them “fraught with challenges”.The reforms were announced by work and pensions secretary on Tuesday, with the measures amounting to £5 billion in cuts to welfare. This was mostly concentrated on scaling back health and disability-related benefits as part of Labour’s ‘Pathways to Work’ Green Paper.Writing on social media platform X in a rare intervention, Mr Lewis said: “PIP (Personal Independence Payment) is often an individual’s lifeline, the difference between an unsustainable life and a manageable one. The govt says those in ‘genuine need’ will be protected, yet that all boils down to matter of definition.”The changes to PIP are understood to form the bulk of the government’s £5 billion in cuts, although this won’t be clarified until Labour releases more costing details next week. Ms Kendall confirmed the eligibility for the the benefit – which is designed to help with costs incurred by health issues – will be effectively tightened, resulting in fewer claimants being found eligible.The Money Saving Expert founder has in the past expressed a reluctance to weigh in on politics, instead preferring to focus on financial advice.Martin Lewis appeared before the Treasury Committee to give evidence on Lifetime Isas in February More

Millions of benefit recipients are set to see their incomes cut or their entitlements taken away following Labour’s decision to slash £5 billion from the welfare spending bill.A slate of reforms were announced by Liz Kendall on Tuesday, as expected focusing on health and disability-related benefits. The two most commonly claimed – the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the health element of Universal Credit – are both set to see major changes.The work and pensions secretary said: “There’s clear evidence that shows good work is good for health and plays a vital role in recovery. Too many disabled people and people with health conditions want to work but are denied the right support to do so.“Tackling this is central to our commitment to spread opportunity and improve the health of the nation.”Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the current social security system was ‘failing the very people it is supposed to help’ (James Manning/PA) More

Billions in rumoured welfare cuts are set to be announced by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall today as ministers reportedly look to shave £6 billion from Britain’s benefits bill.Changes to health and disability benefits are understood to make the bulk of the reforms, with claimants and campaigners fearing that millions may soon find it harder to qualify for the welfare they are entitled to.The cost of health-related benefits for the Treasury has grown in recent years, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projecting the total state spend will increase from £48.5 billion in 2023/24 to £75.7 billion in 2029/30.Work and pensions secretary is expected to make a major announcement today (Lucy North/PA) More

Billions in rumoured welfare cuts are set to be announced by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall this week as ministers reportedly look to shave £6 billion from Britain’s benefits bill.Changes to health and disability benefits are understood to make the bulk of the reforms, with claimants and campaigners fearing that millions may soon find it harder to qualify for the welfare they are entitled to.The cost of health-related benefits for the Treasury has grown in recent years, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projecting the total state spend will increase from £48.5 billion in 2023/24 to £75.7 billion in 2029/30.Work and pensions secretary is expected to make a major announcement this week (Lucy North/PA) More

A coalition of leading charities has urged Labour to introduce new rental laws which will ensure poorer tenants are not “filtered out” of the housing market. Unfair guarantor rules are allowing landlords to discriminate against “undesirable” tenants, they say, and should be changed as part of Labour’s forthcoming renters bill.Research from Shelter has found that one in three renters who are asked for a guarantor struggles to provide one, meaning around 600,000 renters have struggled to secure a home in recent years.In an open letter to housing secretary Angela Rayner, 28 organisations including Shelter and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation say that this issue will only grow worse if not brought in alongside other anti-discrimination measures set to come into effect as part of the bill. This is because landlords, “will simply switch to further abusing their power to request a guarantor, even when there is very little danger that a tenant will not pay rent,” the letter said.Angela Rayner said the Government’s plans would unleash ‘the biggest building boom in a generation’ (Leon Neal/PA) More

UK food and drink exports are down by more than a third since Brexit, with claims bureaucracy is to blame. Although some products including whisky, chocolate and cheese remain popular with EU customers, overall, there has been a sharp decline in food and drink traded with the bloc, according to the Food and Drink Federation’s (FDF) latest report. It found export volumes of food fell 34.1 per cent in 2024 in comparison to 2019 figures, to 6.37bn kilograms.The FDF blamed post-Brexit trading arrangements for the slump, highlighting how bureaucratic barriers have changed the relationship between the UK and the EU. The UK’s global food export volumes are almost 20 per cent lower on average between 2020-2024 than they were between 2015-2019. Although some of the fall in exports since the UK left the EU five years ago can be attributed to the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine, other countries including Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands all saw an increase in their average volumes. “This decline shows that the UK’s challenges aren’t part of a global trend but rather unique to the UK’s post-Brexit circumstances,” the report said. Food and drink imports entering the UK are subject to fewer checks than UK businesses exporting similar products (Liam McBurney/PA) More

The UK economy unexpectedly shrunk by 0.1 per cent in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in a massive blow to Labour’s growth agenda.The figure comes just weeks before Rachel Reeves’s spring statement on 26 March, when the chancellor will give her updated plans for the UK economy. Billions in welfare cuts and reduced spending for other departments are widely expected to form part of her announcement.Responding to the new GDP figures, Ms Reeves said Britain was “feeling the consequences” of global events, likely referencing the ongoing Ukraine peace negotiations and US president Donald Trump’s imposition of international trading tariffs.Rachel Reeves will deliver Labour’s spring statement on 26 March More