Money, in brief

The real Living Wage rises by 65p to 14.10 pounds an hour across the UK, and to 15.45 pounds in London. [1][2]

It is a voluntary rate. About 17,000 employers have signed up to pay it, and almost half a million workers get the rise. [1]

The Living Wage Foundation, a campaign group, sets it from what families need to get by. The Resolution Foundation, a think tank on living standards, does the sums. [1][2]

This year is the first worked out by a new method: the average of two measures, one based on the cost of a basic standard of living and one based on the poverty line. [2]

The rise is 4.8%. Last year's was 85p, or 6.7%, when the rate went to 13.45 pounds. [1][3]

The legal minimum for workers aged 21 and over is 12.71 pounds an hour, set in April 2026. That is 1.39 pounds less than the new voluntary rate. [1][4]

A full-time worker on the new rate, at 37.5 hours a week, earns 27,495 pounds a year outside London. That is 2,710.50 pounds more than the legal minimum pays. [1]

The voluntary rate is paid to everyone aged 18 and over. The legal minimum for 18- to 20-year-olds is lower, at 10.85 pounds. [1][4]

It applies from 15 October. Signed-up employers have until 1 May 2027 to start paying it. [1]

The Foundation found 61% of low-paid workers cut back on food or heating, fell behind on bills or took a payday loan in the past year. 37% used a food bank. [1]

The ONS, the UK's statistics office, estimated 447,000 jobs were paid below the legal minimum in April 2025. It says this is not a count of rule-breaking. [6]

A shadow business minister has backed a think-tank plan to freeze the legal minimum at 12.71 pounds for five years. Its authors say that would cost a low-paid worker about 8,900 pounds over five years. [5]

Why it matters. The next step is the Budget on 28 October, which is expected to set the legal minimum from April 2027 and so how far below 14.10 pounds the law's own floor sits. [1]

Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, opened a consultation on Friday on switching on a Market Stabilisation Charge from as soon as November. [9] If wholesale energy prices fall more than 10% below the level built into the price cap, a customer's new supplier must pay their old one 85% of the extra fall. [9] Ofgem says suppliers have to buy energy in advance under the cap, and would lose money if customers left in large numbers. [9] Martin Lewis, who founded MoneySavingExpert, called it a form of switching penalty. [9]

Why it matters. Households that switch to a cheaper deal after a price fall would keep only part of the saving. The suppliers they leave would not be stuck paying for energy that their customers no longer use.

The US Treasury and the IRS, the US tax agency, proposed stricter rules on 14 October for who gets tax credits towards health plans. [10][12] The plans are sold on marketplaces set up by the health law called Obamacare. [10] They ask for more proof and give less help to people who are not US citizens. [12] The same day US officials said they had removed the help from about 189,000 people found to have other public cover, or to have died. [11][12] Brokers have sued over a ban on new brokers selling the plans for 2027. [36]

Why it matters. People who buy their own health cover in the US face more checks before next year's help is paid. Insurers report on another 419,000 sign-ups under review only after the November elections. [11]

A typical US household's take-home pay, after rising prices, went up 109 dollars a month from late 2022 to early 2026. [13] Its monthly debt payments went up 57 dollars over the same time. [13] For a household with one earner, that is 52 cents of every extra dollar, found The Century Foundation, a think tank, and Protect Borrowers, a consumer group. [13] Their study counted cards, car loans, student loans and home-equity loans, but not mortgages. [13]

Why it matters. A pay rise reaches a family only after its debts are paid, and those payments grew about eight times as fast as income. Adding mortgages would make the squeeze look bigger, one author said. [13]

The US Social Security Administration said the share of pay taxed for Social Security will stop at 192,300 dollars in 2027, up from 184,500. [22] Workers pay 6.2% on pay up to that cap, and employers pay the same. [22] Anyone earning above it will pay 483.60 dollars more next year. [22] Pay above the cap is not taxed and does not count towards the pension. [22] Two senators, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Moreno, want the cap removed. [22]

Why it matters. Most workers already pay the tax on all their pay, so the change reaches only higher earners. Removing the cap would add about 50,561 dollars a year to the tax of someone earning 1 million dollars. [22]

Florida votes on 3 November on Amendment 3, which would raise the tax-free part of a home its owner lives in from 50,000 dollars to 150,000 in 2027 and 250,000 in 2028. [15][17] It does not cover school taxes, and it gives renters no direct relief. [15][17] Florida's legislature estimates it would cut property tax income by 11.8 billion dollars a year. [17] The Florida League of Cities says 85 cities could not then pay for police and fire at today's level. [15] Florida Realtors, an estate agents' group, backs it. [16]

Why it matters. Owners who live in their homes would pay less. Landlords, businesses and second-home owners could face higher rates or fees if councils try to keep their income. [17]

Californians vote in November on Proposition 40, a one-off 5% tax on the wealth of about 200 billionaires who lived in the state on 1 January 2026. [18][19] Most of the money would go to health care, to make up for expected US federal cuts of about 30 billion dollars a year to the state's health programme for people on low incomes. [18][19] The campaign against it has raised more than 340 million dollars and is spending over 1 million dollars a day. [20] Sergey Brin, a Google co-founder, has given at least 102 million dollars. [20]

Why it matters. If it passes, the money would not arrive for months, and billionaires could spread payments over five years. [19] The head of the California Medical Association, a doctors' group, says a one-off tax will run out, and wants lasting funding instead. [18]

Medi-Cal, California's health programme for people on low incomes, covers about 13.6 million people, one Californian in three. [21] Its spending has grown from 50 billion dollars a year in 2010 to 222 billion. [21] In 2025 the state borrowed 3.4 billion dollars to keep paying doctors, and the loan grew to 4.4 billion. [21] A 2025 US law is expected to cut federal Medicaid spending by more than 900 billion dollars over 10 years. [21] Neither candidate for governor has a detailed plan. [21]

Why it matters. Steve Hilton, the Republican, wants to narrow who qualifies. Xavier Becerra, the Democrat, has promised to protect Californians from the cuts. [21]

During the pandemic the US government lent 3.9 million businesses a total of 378.4 billion dollars in cheap disaster loans, called EIDLs. [37] Loans over 200,000 dollars needed the owner's personal guarantee, so a default can reach their own belongings. [37] A loan 120 days late passes to the US Treasury for collection, adding fees of about 30%. [37] The IRS, the US tax agency, can then take wages, tax refunds or part of Social Security. [37]

Why it matters. Many restaurants never recovered, and a scheme that let struggling owners pay less ended in March. [37] In Virginia, bankruptcy protects only 25,000 dollars of home equity per person from seizure. [37]

Prices rose about 31.5% from January 2019 to August 2026 for Americans born in 1964 or earlier, by an analysis for CNBC by Moody's, a ratings and research firm. [14] For millennials, born 1981 to 1996, they rose 33.3%. [14] Most older Americans own their homes and need no childcare, so dearer mortgages and nurseries reach them less. [14] Their Social Security pensions rise with prices, by 3.6% next year. [14]

Why it matters. Young families aged about 30 to 45 feel the most pressure, said William Galston of the Brookings Institution, a think tank. [14] Housing takes a bigger share of their budgets, which explains most of the gap. [14]

With 30-year home loans at 7.40%, the highest since November 2023, buying a starter home costs more each month than renting one in all 50 of the biggest US metro areas, Realtor.com found. [27] The gap is about 960 dollars a month. [27] On a 299,400-dollar home with 10% down, the loan payment is about 1,866 dollars a month at 7.40%, against 1,286 at 4%. [27] Central bankers meeting in Bangkok this week discussed whether cheap borrowing will come back at all. [27]

Why it matters. Buyers now pay more each month and build up ownership of the home more slowly, because more of each early payment is interest. [27]

Australian rents rose 5.5% in the year to September, to a median of 713 Australian dollars a week, data firm Cotality found. [28] Home prices were flat after six months of falls. [28] In one suburb or town in ten, the weekly loan payment on a typical home is now less than 200 dollars above the rent. [28] In some, such as Carlton in Melbourne, it is below the rent. [28] The sums assume a 30-year loan for 95% of the price at 6.2%. [28]

Why it matters. Some tenants are asking to buy from their landlords. Cotality's Gerard Burg says these places are unusual, and most houses still cost more to buy than to rent. [28]

US households earning at least 1 million dollars a year who rent their home rose 229% from 2020 to 2024, to about 18,400, a RentCafe analysis of census data found. [26] Almost half of them are millennials. [26] Millionaire owners also grew, by 193%, and still far outnumber renters. [26] By the time more homes came up for sale, both prices and loan rates were higher, said Hannah Jones, an economist at Realtor.com. [26]

Why it matters. Renters move far more often: about 21.6% of people in rented homes moved in 2024, against 6.2% of owners. [26] Early in a career, moving for a better job brings a large part of a worker's pay growth, one study found. [26]

Germany's parliament approved a plan to pay every child aged 6 to 18 10 euros a month from the state towards private retirement savings. [29] The money would be invested for decades to give young people a head start on a pension. [29] Parents and grandparents could add up to 6,840 euros a year. [29] The plan still needs the approval of the Bundesrat, the chamber that represents Germany's states. [29]

Why it matters. Opposition lawmakers say it would widen inequality, because richer families can add far more than 10 euros. [29] It comes as an ageing population strains Germany's state pension. [29]

Pakistan's government cut the price of petrol by 3.93 rupees to 386.30 rupees a litre for 17 to 19 October, and left diesel at 396.96. [30] It still takes 114 rupees a litre in taxes on petrol and 100 on diesel. [30] Petrol peaked at 458.41 rupees on 3 April, after the US-Iran war began in February. [30] Prices of 51 everyday goods were 11.38% higher than a year earlier in the week to 15 October, Pakistan's statistics bureau said. [31]

Why it matters. Food led the rise, and energy costs push food prices up. [31] Markets must close by 9pm under Pakistan's rules to save fuel. [30]

On average 15.7% of 16- to 24-year-olds in ten of England's smallest cities and towns are not in work, education or training, the Centre for Cities, a think tank, found. [8] In the nine biggest cities the average is 13.9%. [8] In Blackpool it is 21.2%. [8] Almost 1 million young people in the UK are in that position, official figures show. [8] A review of youth unemployment led by Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister, reports soon after the Budget. [8]

Why it matters. Places with weaker economies have more young people out of work, the think tank says. [8] A charity in Telford says many families cannot afford to drive or take the bus. [8]

Compass, a large US estate agency, filed an antitrust lawsuit on Friday against CRMLS, the second-biggest shared database of homes for sale in the US. [23] CRMLS fines agents up to 2,500 dollars for marketing a home in public without putting it on the shared list, even when the seller asks. [23] Compass says it will pay those fines for its agents. [23] CRMLS sued Compass first, a little over a week earlier. [23]

Why it matters. CRMLS says the shared list only works if no firm keeps its own homes back. Compass says sellers should choose how a home is marketed. [23]

US senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker asked the Federal Trade Commission, the US consumer watchdog, to investigate online home-search sites and big estate agents. [24] They say 'contact agent' buttons often send buyers to agents who pass part of their fee back to the site, without telling the buyer. [24] They also say some agents are pushed to steer buyers to the site's own lenders. [24] Zillow, a big home-search site, said it agrees hidden listings deserve scrutiny. [24]

Why it matters. Such fees are often added to a 30-year mortgage, so the senators say they can grow into tens of thousands of dollars over the loan. [24]

Wildfires could cause 5 billion dollars a year of damage to owner-occupied homes in California by 2047, a report from the Terner Center at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates. [25] That is 85% above the recent yearly average, and the report blames climate change. [25] The Eaton and Palisades fires of early 2025 destroyed about 12,000 homes. [25] In some cities, home insurance prices could rise sharply as insurers expect bigger losses. [25]

Why it matters. California already has a home insurance crisis, worst where homes face high wildfire risk. [25] One of the authors says broad changes in how the state prepares could save money overall. [25]

India's embassy in Abu Dhabi and its consulate in Dubai warned Indians about agencies selling fake jobs and residence visas in the United Arab Emirates and Europe. [32] The consulate said it had received a large number of complaints, mostly from India's southern states. [32] Most of the job offers were for Europe, and most adverts were on social media. [32] In most cases the money was sent from India. [32]

Why it matters. The agencies take payment for jobs and visas that do not exist, the missions say. [32] They point applicants to official government websites for visa rules. [32]

Daejon Love, 35, of California, pleaded not guilty in a US federal court in Portland, Oregon, to conspiring to commit wire fraud. [33] Prosecutors say he met women on dating apps posing as a rich Swiss property investor and as a San Francisco 49ers player. [33] They say he took about 1.3 million dollars from at least 26 women from 2022 to 2026. [33] His trial is set for 15 December. [33]

Why it matters. The women were told their money would buy property, and prosecutors say none of it was used that way. [33]

Housing costs were the fourth-biggest issue for US voters in a July CNBC poll, and the biggest for under-35s. [34] Mike Rogers, the Republican running for the US Senate in Michigan, ran a seven-figure advert on building more homes. [34] He proposes zones where new homes would pay no tax. [34] James Talarico, the Democrat running for the US Senate in Texas, wants to expand a tax credit for building cheaper rented homes. [34] Most candidates give few details. [34]

Why it matters. US elections on 3 November decide who writes the next housing law. [34] The US Congress passed one in July, and a second is being talked about. [34]

St. Louis, a US city of about 280,000 people, already has more than a dozen data centres, the buildings full of computers that run AI and websites, and up to 10 more are planned. [35] A new city law sets gaps between them and homes and schools, and limits their noise. [35] One planned centre may not seek tax cuts and is expected to pay 432 million dollars in tax over ten years. [35] Some residents are suing to stop it. [35]

Why it matters. The law does not protect households from higher utility bills, said Anne Schweitzer, the councillor who co-sponsored it. [35]