Money, in brief

UK ministers say they will build a set of rules for heating oil, the fuel about 1.5 million UK households burn because they have no mains gas. [1]

They are accepting the advice of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK's competition watchdog, which asked for rules in July. [1][3]

The UK government says it will tighten the rules for sellers, help competition and give customers clearer ways to get compensation when things go wrong. [1]

The CMA wants sellers to register, meet minimum standards on how they quote prices and cancel orders, and keep a list of vulnerable customers. [3][5]

Some sellers will only deliver 500 litres or more, and ministers will review that rule. Home tanks usually hold 1,000 to 2,000 litres. [1]

There is no price cap in the plan, and the UK government has not said when the new rules will start. [1]

Gas and electricity bills in Great Britain have a price cap, set every three months by Ofgem, the energy regulator. The cap rose 4% on 1 October, to 1,723 pounds a year for a typical home. [12] Heating oil is not covered by it. [7]

Heating oil cost about 60p a litre before the war on Iran, rose to 134p, and is about 111p now, says Boiler Juice, a price comparison site. [2]

Peter Mason, a retired man in Wiltshire, says filling his tank will cost over 550 pounds this winter, against about 300 pounds last year. [2]

In July the CMA found that 1,700 households had their orders cancelled when the war began and had to re-order at higher prices, losing up to 350 pounds. [4]

In Northern Ireland 60% of homes use heating oil, the highest share in the UK, and its rules are set separately. [1][3] Ofgem is likely to oversee heating oil in England, Scotland and Wales. [1]

Tim Buckman, who runs Boiler Juice, says rules alone will not cut the price, and he wants VAT, the sales tax, taken off heating oil. [1]

Why it matters. The next tests are whether ministers give the new rules a start date, and whether the 28 October Budget takes VAT off heating oil, as rural groups ask. [1][2]

John Healey, the UK's chancellor, who runs the UK government's money, says it will look to give households 'some breathing space' in its Budget on 28 October. [10] The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an independent research group, says he must find about 35 billion pounds, through tax rises or cuts, to pay for defence and health without squeezing other services. [11] It expects any help for households to be temporary and small. [11] The IMF, which checks countries' finances, expects UK prices to rise by an average of 3.3% this year and 2.8% in 2027. [10]

Why it matters. Rising prices shrink what government departments can buy with budgets fixed in pounds. [11] On Tuesday the Resolution Foundation, a think tank on living standards, asked for help aimed at people who cannot heat their homes. [10]

Many councils in England have taken out parking machines, so drivers must pay by app, and the apps add fees of 10p to 30p. [14] The Guardian tested the apps and found none showed the fee clearly before the payment step. [14] In Harrogate, a 30p fee raises an 80p hour of parking by 38%. [14] In Chester, a 20p fee adds 40% to a 50p stay. [14] The fee goes to the app company, under a separate contract the driver enters by paying. [14]

Why it matters. The UK Department for Transport says drivers should see the full charge before they pay, but leaves prices to councils. [14] The AA, a motoring group, says drivers should be charged what the sign shows. [14]

In January, people borrowing to buy a home in the UK could choose from 750 mortgages charging under 4% a year, says Which?, a consumer group. [15] Now there is one, a tracker open only to Barclays customers who earn 75,000 pounds or hold 100,000 pounds with the bank. [15] A tracker's rate moves with the Bank of England's rate. [15] Fixed-rate deals under 5% fell from more than 1,500 in early September to 131 a month later, Which? found in figures from Moneyfacts, a firm that tracks loan prices. [15]

Why it matters. On a 250,000-pound loan with 25 years left, a rise from 4% to 5% adds 141 pounds a month. [15] Many economists expect the Bank of England to raise its 3.75% rate in November, which would push tracker payments up too. [15]

County councils in England say their debts from support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will reach about 10 billion pounds by 2028. [16] The County Councils Network, which speaks for them, published the forecast on Tuesday. [16] The UK government agreed to pay 90% of these debts built up to March 2026, but new ones are growing fast. [16] Plans giving a child a legal right to extra help reached 718,000 in January, up 12.5% in a year. [16]

Why it matters. The debts are kept off council books until April 2028, and some councils say they could go bust when they return. [16] The councils' group says taxpayers and local communities would bear the cost, as councils choose which services to protect. [16]

Northern Ireland's assembly was due to debate on Monday a bill to give families money for food in the school holidays. [17] It would go to families whose children get free school meals, which needs a household income under 15,390 pounds a year. [18] A similar scheme paid 27 pounds per child every two weeks for about 90,000 children from 2020 until March 2023, when it stopped for lack of money. [18]

Why it matters. Paul Givan, the education minister, says it would cost 20 million pounds a year and wants the power to decide when it starts. [17] Charities including the NSPCC and Save the Children say his changes would mean no promise that payments ever begin. [17]

Since 1 October, shops in Australia may not add a surcharge when a customer pays by card, under changes led by the Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank. [19] The bank expected shops to fold the card fee into prices, adding 0.1 percentage point to inflation. [19] Economists at UBS, a Swiss bank, now expect about 0.2. [19] Small Flat White, which tracks coffee prices, found 17% of more than 1,500 cafes raised prices, by about 50 cents. [19]

Why it matters. That is more than 10% on a coffee, several times the usual 1.5% card fee. [19] UBS says shops may be using the change as cover to pass on higher wages and fuel costs too. [19]

The IMF modelled a case where the war keeps the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route, mostly closed until mid-2027, and oil reaches 130 US dollars a barrel. [20] Economists told Guardian Australia that could add 30 cents to a litre of petrol, already above 2.40 Australian dollars in big east coast cities. [20] Minutes released on Tuesday show the Reserve Bank of Australia discussed oil prices far above its August forecast when it raised rates for the fourth time last month. [20]

Why it matters. Jonathan Kearns, chief economist at Challenger, an investment firm, says Australia's central bank would have to answer dearer fuel with higher rates. [20] Jonathan McMenamin of Barrenjoey, another firm, is less sure, because the bank has mostly reacted to costs inside Australia. [20]

US home sales that are agreed but not yet completed fell 4% in September from August, Redfin, a property website, said. [21] Apart from April 2020, they are at their lowest since 2014, and they fell in all 50 of the biggest cities. [21] Redfin says rates above 7% priced many buyers out, and a record 14.5% of agreed deals fell through. [21] The number of homes for sale hit its highest since March 2020. [21] The average 30-year mortgage rate was 7.40% in the week to 8 October, says Freddie Mac, a big US mortgage company. [22]

Why it matters. Almost one seller in five cut the asking price in September, so buyers have more room to bargain. [21] On Monday the average 30-year rate rose to 7.41%, on rates that Zillow, a property website, gives NerdWallet, a personal finance site. [23]

Most US home loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big government-backed mortgage companies, need a 'tri-merge' report, which pulls a borrower's file from all three credit bureaus. [24] On Monday Bob Broeksmit, head of the Mortgage Bankers Association, a lenders' group, said it 'won't be around for long'. [24] Bill Pulte, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the two companies, has said a two-report option is being considered. [24]

Why it matters. Fewer reports could cut fees for borrowers and lenders, but the credit bureaus' trade group says more data keeps borrowing costs down. [24] Separately, a Realtor.com economist warns that treating VantageScore, a newer credit score, the same as FICO, the score most lenders use, adds risk that borrowers would pay for. [25]

Voters in 10 US states will decide on housing questions at the November elections, and six of the measures would change property tax, a yearly tax on a home's value. [26] Oklahoma's State Question 847 would cut how much a home's taxed value can rise each year, from 3% to 1.75%. [26] Wyoming's Initiative 1 would exempt half of a main home's value. [26] California's Proposition 37 would set up a 25-billion-dollar loan scheme for middle-income buyers of new homes. [26]

Why it matters. Lower property tax cuts owners' bills and takes money from local governments. Wyoming's measure alone would cut revenue by an estimated 92 million dollars in 2028. [26] In a survey by LendingTree, a loan comparison website, 59% of US mortgage holders called themselves house poor, naming property taxes and insurance among their biggest worries. [27]

US families headed by someone aged 75 or over saw their typical wealth rise 37% from 2022 to 2025, after rising prices, the US central bank's survey of family finances found. [28] Families headed by someone under 35 saw theirs fall 23%. [28] Typical income rose 24% for the oldest group and 2% for the youngest. [28] The JPMorganChase Institute, a research group inside the bank JPMorganChase, found 8.2% of people moved money from investments into everyday bank accounts in early 2026, against 4% in 2019. [28]

Why it matters. Ed Yardeni, an economist, says older people's savings and growing wealth help explain why US shoppers keep spending. [28] He says the crisis in what people can afford falls on the young. [28]

Unemployed Americans aged 55 to 64 had been out of work for more than eight months on average in September, Business Insider reports from US government figures. [31] Half had been jobless for three months or less, so a smaller group stuck for much longer pulls the average up. [31] About 173,000 had been out of work for at least six months. [31] Only 57% of 55-to-64-year-olds who lost a long-held job between 2023 and 2025 had a new one by January 2026, against 73% of those aged 25 to 54. [31]

Why it matters. Cathy Valentine, 61, lost a senior job in 2023 and now works as a cafe cook for about an eighth of her old pay. [31] Some older jobseekers say employers prefer younger people who will take less pay. [31]

About 166 million Americans under 65 get health insurance through an employer, and most pick next year's plan this autumn. [29] Another 19.2 million bought plans for 2026 on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, the US government's sign-up site. [29] On the federal marketplace, sign-up for 2027 runs from 1 November to 15 January, though Idaho starts on 15 October. [29] Experts told CNBC premiums are soaring and employers are passing more of the cost to workers. [29]

Why it matters. Most people are locked into the plan they choose for a year. [29] The monthly price is only part of the cost, because a plan also sets a deductible, the amount paid before insurance starts paying. [29]

More than one US adult in four owed money for medical care in 2025, a report by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, two US research groups, found. [30] The share was the same for people with insurance. [30] The Urban Institute expects the 2025 Republican health law to leave 278 billion dollars of care unpaid by 2034. [30] Hospitals are turning to AI firms such as Cedar, which predicts each patient's 'propensity to pay' and offers each a different discount. [30]

Why it matters. About 17 million more Americans are expected to lose health insurance by 2034, which means more unpaid bills to collect. [30] A report from Blue Cross Blue Shield, a group of health insurers, says AI-assisted billing added 1 billion dollars to health costs in a year, and the hospitals' lobby group disputes it. [30]