Money, in brief

Ireland's government presented its budget for 2027 on Tuesday, a package worth 8.65 billion euros: 7 billion of new spending and 1.65 billion of tax changes. [1][2]

Simon Harris, the finance minister, raised the income at which people start paying the higher rate of income tax by 2,500 euros, from 44,000 to 46,500 euros. [1][2]

He also raised each of the main tax credits, the amounts taken straight off a worker's tax bill, by 125 euros, and the credit for a parent caring at home by 100 euros. [2]

Taken together, a single person earning 50,000 euros a year will pay about 700 euros less in personal taxes, Harris said. [1]

The tax on heating oil and gas will be cut, then frozen for the rest of this government's term. [1]

Temporary cuts to the tax on petrol and diesel, brought in earlier this year, will be kept going. [1] There were protests over fuel costs in several parts of Ireland earlier in the year. [2]

Childcare subsidies rise, and Ireland's government says they will be worth up to 2,220 euros a child a year. [1]

The final measures signed off on Monday include a higher state pension and lower childcare costs, the Press Association reported. [2]

A new tax-free savings account, similar to Britain's ISA, will let people invest up to 50,000 euros without tax on it; sums above that are taxed at a flat 1% a year. [1]

Ireland can do this because a windfall from corporation tax, the tax on company profits, means it collects more than it spends on services. [1]

Harris expects a surplus of 6.7 billion euros this year and 9.5 billion in 2027, and will put an extra 1 billion into national savings funds on top of 4.8 billion already planned. [1]

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, the official watchdog on government spending, has criticised Ireland's government before for not saving more. [1]

Why it matters. The next test is whether the corporation tax windfall paying for this holds up in 2027, when Ireland expects a 9.5 billion euro surplus. [1]

John Healey, Britain's chancellor, plans to spend over 1 billion pounds on energy help in this month's Budget. [3] Most would add 100 pounds to the Warm Home Discount, a 150-pound cut for households on certain benefits. [3] Bill-payers fund today's discount; the extra would come from taxes. [3] Forecasts say the price cap could rise up to 442 pounds in January, wiping out October's VAT cut on electricity. [3][4] In 2023 every home in Northern Ireland got 600 pounds from a UK scheme, because paying by heating fuel proved too complicated. [5]

Why it matters. Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, wants green levies taken off every bill instead, cutting up to 120 pounds for all homes at a cost of up to 3.2 billion pounds. [3] Final decisions have not been made. [3]

Kemi Badenoch, leader of Britain's Conservative party, said on Tuesday it would halve employer national insurance on jobs done by people aged 21 to 24. [6] Employer national insurance is a tax a company pays on top of each worker's wage. [6] The rate would fall from 15% to 7.5% on earnings up to 50,270 pounds. [6] The party puts the cost at 3.25 billion pounds, falling to 2.3 billion by 2029-30 once more young people are in work and paying tax. [6] The party says it will publish how it pays for it on Wednesday. [6]

Why it matters. Asked why most workers get no cut, Badenoch said she would cut it for everybody if she could afford it. [6] As talk grew that she would also propose cutting inheritance tax, paid on about one estate in 20, she denied a cut would mostly help the rich. [6]

Insurers in Britain uncovered 1.34 billion pounds of fraudulent claims in 2025, up 14% from 1.18 billion, the Association of British Insurers said. [7][8] The number of false claims they caught fell 2.7% to 93,900, so each one was bigger. [7] The average reached 14,300 pounds, close to the record of 14,600 set in 2022. [7] Car insurance made up 55% of cases. [7]

Why it matters. City of London police say fraud raises premiums for honest customers, and that the 250 cases a day found are likely only part of it. [8] One man was jailed for 28 months after claiming more than 14,000 pounds for Lego sets that police later found in his living room. [7][8]

A record 25.5% of new US cars bought with a loan between July and September had loans of 84 months or longer, up from 21.8% a year earlier, said Edmunds, a car-shopping website. [9] Even so, the average monthly payment hit a record 787 dollars. [9] Buyers borrowed 44,664 dollars on average, also a record. [9] The average interest rate on new-car loans stayed at 7%. [9] In the spring, Americans took out a record 211 billion dollars in car loans, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found. [10]

Why it matters. Longer loans are one reason more buyers now owe more than their car is worth, CNBC reports. [24] Among such underwater trade-ins, the average gap was 6,884 dollars between April and June, against 4,576 dollars in 2015, Edmunds says. [24]

More British parents are opening pensions for their children, called Junior SIPPs, which have existed since 2001. [11] Hargreaves Lansdown, a big investment firm, opened two and a half times as many in the year to April 2026 as a year before. [11] Fidelity says its number has more than tripled since December 2023. [11] Parents can pay in 2,880 pounds a year, and the UK government adds 720 pounds of tax relief on top. [11]

Why it matters. Under current rules the child cannot touch the money until 57, so one Swansea couple's elder child, now 20 months old, waits until 2082. [11] The UK government's top-up is a quarter of what a family pays in, so it goes to families with money to spare. [11]

Confidence among Australian consumers fell 4.7% to 80.4 points in October, on the Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey. [12] People asked after Australia's central bank raised rates on 29 September scored 67.2, the lowest since the late 1990s. [12] The Reserve Bank of Australia raised its main rate from 4.35% to 4.6%, its fourth rise this year and the highest since 2011. [13] It adds about 120 Australian dollars a month to an average 730,000-dollar home loan. [13]

Why it matters. People with a mortgage were the gloomiest owners, at 77 points; renters were the most hopeful, at 84.8. [12] The four rises this year have added about 480 dollars a month to an average family's repayments. [13]

Diesel in mainland Britain hit a record 200.01p a litre, so filling an average family car costs over 110 pounds, the RAC motoring group says. [14] On the Hebrides and Shetland, islands off Scotland, some stations sold it for more than 220p. [14] One man on North Uist says he paid 2.28 pounds a litre. [14] Fuel must be shipped there, and there is little competition between sellers. [14]

Why it matters. Islanders say there is almost no public transport, so they still drive to work and cut back on food and trips instead. [14] Some fill jerry cans on the mainland, where diesel is about 20p cheaper. [14]

The average price of diesel in the US was 6.32 dollars a gallon on Tuesday, up from 3.76 dollars on 27 February, the day before the US and Israel bombed Iran, the motoring group AAA says. [15] Diesel moves food and goods to shops, so economists expect the cost to reach shop prices slowly. [15] Goldman Sachs, a big US bank, expects diesel to stay dear through 2027. [16]

Why it matters. Michael Reid of the Royal Bank of Canada says people on lower and middle incomes will feel it most. [15] Goldman expects the extra that refiners charge over crude oil to stay at about twice its usual level, because there are not enough refineries. [16]

US households pay 62% more for drinking water than ten years ago, a study by Food & Water Watch, a US campaign group, found. [22] It looked at the 500 largest water systems, which serve about 155 million people. [22] An average household paid 531 dollars in 2025, against prices overall rising 39% over the decade. [22] Bills ranged from 133 to 1,416 dollars a year. [22]

Why it matters. Water systems run by companies charged an average of 823 dollars, against 494 dollars for publicly owned ones. [22] Bills in New Hampshire rose 177%. [22]

One in five Americans who rent or have a mortgage spends at least half their income before tax on housing, a CNBC and SurveyMonkey survey released on 5 October found. [21] Another 49% spend between a quarter and a half. [21] Lenders usually say 28% to 30% is the most a household should spend. [21] The average rate on a 30-year fixed US home loan is above 7.5%. [21]

Why it matters. Housing is now the top political issue for US voters aged 18 to 34, ahead of the midterm elections on 3 November. [21] In Pennsylvania, owning a home took 18% of the middle income in 2019 and takes 24% now. [21]

Shares in companies that pay steady dividends, a slice of profit paid to shareholders, have fallen as US government bond interest rates rose. [23] Many older Americans rely on such shares, in utilities, property and materials, for income. [23] Investors put more than 3.2 billion dollars into one long-term US government bond fund in a month, its biggest monthly inflow on record. [23]

Why it matters. When a safe bond pays more, a share paying a similar income looks less worth its risk, so its price falls. [23] Fund managers quoted by CNBC say many dividend funds have given back gains made earlier in the year. [23]

Jersey, a self-governing island near France, changed its law on 30 July so its government could share residents' data with UK credit checking firms. [17] Card companies had named the missing data as the main reason they turned islanders down. [17] The Jersey Consumer Council says several providers still refuse applications. [17] Jersey's government says offering cards is a business decision for the companies. [17]

Why it matters. The council wants Jersey's government to write to card companies telling them the law has changed. [17] Jersey's government says it has worked with providers throughout and will keep doing so. [17]

Lorry drivers who deliver bandages, gloves, gowns and needles to hospitals in England will strike five times between 13 October and 12 November, the union Unite says. [18] They work for GXO, which runs the NHS supply contract. [18] They rejected a 4% pay offer, which GXO says is fair. [18] NHS Supply Chain says it has plans to keep deliveries going. [18]

Why it matters. The walkouts hit seven depots, from Tyne and Wear in the north to Kent and Somerset in the south. [18] GXO says patient care remains its priority. [18]

Ikea, the world's largest furniture seller, will test buying back used furniture online in Spain and Portugal before the end of December, paying in vouchers. [20] It will bring the service to Britain if the test works. [20] Its own second-hand marketplace opens in Britain this week, free at first, with a fee of about 5% later. [20] Britain's second-hand home goods market is worth over 4.5 billion pounds. [20]

Why it matters. In 2025, 63% of British shoppers bought something through a resale site, up from 51% in 2024. [20] Ikea pays sellers 15% more if they take a gift card instead of cash. [20]

A community supermarket run by SEK Community Food Shop opened in the Pentagon Centre in Chatham, in Kent, south-east England. [19] It sells surplus food cheaply, such as a 1-pound bag of fruit and vegetables, and anyone can shop without booking. [19] Medway Council paid to set it up from a crisis fund. [19] SEK's two other shops had 55,500 sales last year and saved 170 tonnes of food. [19]

Why it matters. It also offers help with jobs, budgeting and money advice in a private room. [19] A pensioner couple there said a 6-pound bag of chicken would feed them for three or four meals. [19]