Money, in brief

A new tax on vapes started in the UK on Thursday 1 October: 2.20 pounds on every 10ml of vape liquid. [1]

It applies to every vape liquid, whether or not it contains nicotine. [1]

The same day, the tax on tobacco rose by 2.20 pounds for every 100 cigarettes or 50g of tobacco. [1]

HMRC, the UK's tax office, says raising the cigarette tax keeps a money reason for smokers to switch to vaping. [1]

Prices may not jump at once. Shops have six months to sell old stock at the price before the tax. [1]

The UK government says it wants vapes to cost more because of growing evidence that they harm children and young people. [1]

Karin Smyth, a UK health minister, says the tax is meant to cut youth vaping by making vapes less affordable. [1]

The UK Vaping Industry Association, the trade body for vape sellers, calls it a tax on public health. [1] It says cheap vapes help adults quit smoking. [1]

A sales assistant at Berkshire Vapers, a specialist shop, says shops like his could close within a year or two. [1]

HMRC is also bringing in a tax stamp that lets buyers and officers spot fake vapes. [1] Every vape sold in the UK must carry it from April. [1]

Sellers of illegal vapes could face fines of 10,000 pounds under the same crackdown, announced in the UK Budget of November 2025. [2]

More adults in Great Britain now vape than smoke: 5.4 million against 4.9 million in 2024, says the Office for National Statistics. [3]

In April Parliament also passed a law that stops anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 from ever being sold tobacco. [4]

Why it matters. Watch vape prices next April, when shops' six months to sell old stock run out, and whether buyers move to shops that sell untaxed vapes. [1][6]

The IRS, the US tax agency, is writing to people who may qualify for a new retirement payment, the Saver's Match. [9] From 2027 the US government will add up to 50% of up to 2,000 dollars a person saves for retirement, so up to 1,000 dollars a year. [10][11] A single person gets the full match on income up to 20,500 dollars, and nothing from 35,500 dollars. [11] On 28 September the US Treasury sent Congress its plan to promote the match, including a website, TrumpIRA.gov, due by 1 January 2027. [10]

Why it matters. The old Saver's Credit only cut a tax bill, so people who owed no income tax got nothing. The match is paid into the account even then. [10] Researchers at Brookings, a Washington think tank, proposed on 30 September a bigger match for 2.6 million to 3 million taxpayers, paid for mostly by the richest tenth. [12]

The US Treasury will open Trump Accounts for tens of millions of children automatically, under rules it published on Tuesday 29 September. [13] Until now a parent or guardian had to sign a child up. [13] The US Treasury says the change creates accounts for more than 60 million more children under 18. [13] A Trump Account is a savings account for a child that can only hold funds following US share prices. [14] Money generally stays in it until the year the child turns 18. [14]

Why it matters. Opening an account for every child means gifts from rich donors reach more homes, such as the 6.25 billion dollars pledged by the businessman Michael Dell. [13] Only US citizens born from 2025 to 2028 get the US government's own 1,000 dollars, so older children start with no government deposit. [14]

A survey of more than 130,000 secondary pupils in Wales found 9,100 in Years 7 to 11 who vape regularly, 3,200 fewer than in 2023. [5] The number who smoke regularly halved, to 1,600. [5] The share who had ever tried a vape fell from 25.7% to 21%. [5] The survey runs every two years and is done by Public Health Wales, Cardiff University and the Welsh government. [5] It relies on what pupils say about themselves. [5]

Why it matters. Health officials say the fall began around when the ban on disposable vapes was announced, though they are still checking whether the ban caused it. [5] It arrives as the UK adds a tax meant to make vapes less appealing to young people. [1]

Trading Standards, the council officers who enforce shop rules, describe an explosion of shops selling illegal tobacco across Scotland, BBC Scotland reported in September. [6] Officers raided one shop in Inverness for the 11th time since 2024 and found illegal tobacco on nine visits, yet it is still open. [6] In Scotland officers can only fine sellers, while councils in England and Wales can apply to close a shop. [6] In Fleet, a town in Hampshire, police seized 11,180 illegal cigarettes and 4,000 pounds in cash from shops in early September. [22]

Why it matters. Illegal cigarettes pay no tax, so they sell for less, and Thursday's tax rise makes legal cigarettes dearer still. [1][6] A Glasgow grocer, Mohammed Rajak, watches customers he refuses walk to a nearby shop he suspects sells them. [6]

Smoking among US middle and high school students fell to 1.4% in 2025, a record low, in a US government survey released in July. [23] In 1997, 36% of US high school students smoked. [23] Use of vapes fell to 5.2%, the lowest since it peaked in 2019. [23] Nicotine pouches, which sit between the lip and gum, held steady at 1.7%. [23] Researchers writing in The Conversation said US teenagers vape less than those in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, though surveys differ. [23]

Why it matters. Adult smoking in the US has stayed about level, and older people, who smoke more, are most at risk from cigarettes. [23] The UK is taxing vapes partly to bring its own young people's vaping down. [1]

Guernsey and Alderney, Channel Islands that set their own taxes, will charge 2.20 pounds on every 10ml of vape liquid from 9 November. [7] It is paid when the liquid enters the islands, the same way as tobacco and alcohol duty. [7] Travellers may bring in 50ml for their own use without paying it. [7] Jersey, the neighbouring island, began its own vape tax in May. [7] In St Peter Port, Guernsey's main town, the owner of the Vape Head shop closed it, blaming the coming tax and a ban on children in vape shops. [8]

Why it matters. He says the tax on a 100ml bottle with added nicotine would be 26.40 pounds, and expects buyers to use the tax-free 50ml and to order online. [8] Specialist shops in the UK now say they face the same pressure. [1]

The US central bank raised its main interest rate in September, to between 3.75% and 4%, its first rise since 2023. [15] On 21 September the FDIC, the US agency that insures bank deposits, put the average savings account at 0.37%. [15] Bankrate, a website that compares bank deals, lists a top savings rate of 4.20% for October, at Happen Bank. [16] US prices rose 3.4% in the year to August. [16]

Why it matters. Money in an average account pays about three points less than prices are rising, so each year it buys a little less. [15][16] Bankrate counts the average differently and gets 0.65%, which is still far below the rise in prices. [16]

The FAFSA, the form US students fill in to get federal, state and college aid, opened for the 2027-28 school year before its usual date of 1 October. [17] It is filled in at studentaid.gov. [17] This year students can invite a parent to add their part by text message as well as by email. [17] New federal loans for undergraduates carry an interest rate of 6.52%, with 1 point off for students who sign up to pay automatically. [17]

Why it matters. The federal deadline is 30 June 2028, but states and colleges set earlier ones. [17] Some aid is handed out first come, first served, so the date a form goes in can decide whether money is still left. [17]

By the end of 2025, 7.7 million borrowers had stopped repaying, or defaulted on, 181 billion dollars of US federal student loans, Education Department data showed in March. [18] Another 3 million were at least three months behind. [18] Together that is about a quarter of the nearly 43 million people with federal student loans. [18] In March the Trump administration said the US Treasury would take over loans in default from the Education Department, the first step in moving most of the system. [19]

Why it matters. The Trump administration says the US Treasury is better placed to get people in default repaying, and the move is also part of President Trump's plan to close the Education Department, NPR reported. [19] NPR put the number in default at more than 9 million, higher than the Education Department's 7.7 million. [19][18]

In July the CMA, Britain's competition watchdog, said about 1,700 households had heating oil orders cancelled when the US and Israel's war with Iran began. [20] They had to reorder at higher prices, costing up to 350 pounds, or go without. [20] Some suppliers agreed to pay compensation, and the CMA said it was preparing court action against those that refused. [20] Retail heating oil prices peaked 92% higher. [20] About 1.5 million UK households heat with oil, most of them in Northern Ireland. [20]

Why it matters. The CMA found suppliers had not made much extra profit, but these households lack the protections that gas and electricity customers have. [20] It has asked for new rules on how prices are quoted and how cancellations are handled. [20]

A Bank of England working paper published in July built a way to measure the risk of house prices falling, across the UK and its regions. [21] Since the 1970s the best warning signs of a big fall have been fewer home sales, changes in mortgage rates, borrowing growing faster than the economy, and stress in financial markets. [21] In most regions, more homes being built was followed by slower price rises. [21]

Why it matters. Mortgage rates move prices most in regions where few new homes can be built. [21] Working papers are research in progress and do not state the Bank's official view. [21]

UK lenders approved 54,918 mortgages, the loans people take to buy a home, in August. [24] That was the lowest monthly total since December 2023, the Bank of England, the UK's central bank, reported on 29 September. [24] Approvals for moving an existing mortgage to a new deal also dipped, to about 34,000 from 34,600 in July. [24] Moneyfacts, a firm that tracks financial products, said new mortgages with a rate fixed for five years averaged 5.94% on 29 September. [24] That was the highest since October 2023. [24]

Why it matters. UK mortgage rates have risen since the war in Iran began in late February and pushed up the price of oil. [24] Buyers agreed 9% fewer home sales in September than a year earlier, the property website Zoopla found. [24]

The average UK home cost 274,251 pounds in September, 0.8% more than a year earlier, said Nationwide, a UK mortgage lender that tracks house prices. [25] In August the yearly rise was 1.6%. [25] Prices fell 0.7% over the year in East Anglia, in eastern England, and rose 5.9% in Northern Ireland. [25] A separate index from the property website Zoopla also put yearly growth at 0.8%. [24] Investors see a 92% chance that the Bank of England will raise its main interest rate from 3.75% to 4% on 5 November. [25]

Why it matters. Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said UK homes are becoming easier to afford because prices have risen more slowly than earnings for some time. [25] He said higher mortgage rates have wiped out only part of that. [25]

Fixed-rate savings accounts in the UK are paying their highest interest in several years, the Guardian, a UK newspaper, reported on 28 September. [26] A fixed-rate account, also called a bond, ties money up for between six months and five years at a guaranteed rate. [26] The average new one-year account paid 4.41%, said Moneyfacts, a firm that tracks financial products. [26] The top five-year accounts paid 5.25%. [26] As recently as late 2023, some fixed accounts paid 6%. [26]

Why it matters. New fixed mortgage rates in the UK have jumped in recent months, which costs homebuyers more. [26] Savings rates are still climbing, and many economists expect the Bank of England to raise its main rate before the end of 2026. [26]

Maryland, a US state, bans personalised or dynamic pricing at grocery stores and delivery services from 1 October, NPR, a US public radio network, reported. [27] Personalised pricing means a seller collects data on a shopper to work out how much it can charge that person. [27] The data includes what the shopper has browsed and bought before. [27] Electronic shelf labels, which are appearing in big shops and grocery stores, let a store change a price at any time. [27] Other US states are considering similar bans. [27]

Why it matters. Lindsay Owens, who leads the consumer group Groundwork Collaborative, says a shelf with no posted price creates uncertainty for people on a budget. [27]

ITI Capital, a UK broker that bought and held investments such as shares for customers, went into special administration on 25 September. [28] The UK's financial regulator, the FCA, announced it. [28] Special administration is a process for failed investment firms in which a court puts outside managers in charge. [28] Their aims include returning customers' money and investments as soon as they reasonably can. [28] They will write to each customer within eight weeks to explain how. [28] The FCA says some people are already posing as the firm, a scam it calls a cloned firm. [28]

Why it matters. The cost of returning the money, including the managers' fees, may be taken from customers' own money if the firm cannot cover it. [28] The FSCS, the UK's compensation fund for customers of failed financial firms, may cover a shortfall of up to 85,000 pounds for those who qualify. [28]

Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, published the results of two trials on 1 October. [29] More than 43,000 customers of the suppliers British Gas and ScottishPower were enrolled automatically unless they opted out. [29] They were offered money back on their standing charge, the fixed daily fee on an energy bill, for moving electricity use away from 4pm to 7pm. [29] Some households used less at those hours, but the effect was modest and showed in only one of the two trials. [29] Doubling the largest rebate brought only a small extra cut. [29]

Why it matters. Some customers on prepayment meters, who pay for energy before using it, responded relatively strongly. [29] People told researchers that household commitments and forgetting the peak hours stopped them shifting more. [29]

Jersey, a self-governing island in the English Channel, raised its old age pension, the regular payment made to older people, by 4.7% in October. [30] A person on a full pension gets 14 pounds more a week, or 734 pounds more a year. [30] That brings the full pension to 16,294 pounds a year. [30] Jersey updates the pension every October by at least the rise in its price index for pensioners recorded for June. [30]

Why it matters. Elaine Millar, Jersey's social security minister, said cold weather payments and free TV licences are available to pensioners on low incomes. [30] She said in September that making workplace pensions compulsory, alongside Jersey's government pension, was a priority for her. [30]

Criminals are using fake login pages to steal from players of Roblox, an online game many children play, the Guardian reported on 27 September. [31] They take Robux, the game's money, which is sold for real money in packages of up to 199.99 pounds. [31] Links promising free Robux appear in YouTube and TikTok comments and on Discord, a chat app. [31] The fake page then sends the child to the real site, so little looks wrong. [31] Researchers at NordVPN, a cybersecurity company, found almost 200 web addresses selling ready-made fake pages in seven days. [31]

Why it matters. A child whose Robux are stolen is unlikely to get them back, the Guardian says. [31] Roblox says it is under no obligation to help people whose accounts are broken into, unless the law requires it. [31]

A family home in Milton Keynes, England, swapped its gas boiler for a heat pump, 17 solar panels and a large battery. [32] Octopus Energy, a UK energy supplier, guarantees the home no energy bills for five years if the family stays within a usage limit. [32] The home sends its spare electricity to the grid, which Octopus sells. [32] Santander, a bank, did the work for free as part of a project on how to pay for such upgrades. [32] It would otherwise have cost just under 20,000 pounds after a UK government grant. [32]

Why it matters. The family's bills had been about 130 pounds a month. [32] Borrowing 20,000 pounds for the work on Santander's home improvement loan, at 6.4% over five years, would cost 389 pounds a month. [32]