Money digest: today’s need-to-know financial news | 12 April 2016

Police are being asked to investigate more financial crime against the elderly than ever before, according to an exclusive story in The Times today. In what must be many families’ worst nightmare, the paper found that adult social services received allegations of 21,935 cases of theft and fraud against elderly victims in the 12 months to March last year, with 4,168 of them relating to carers. Now families are being told to install hidden cameras in the homes of vulnerable elderly relatives. Calls to a national helpline for elderly people who believe they are suffering financial abuse rose from 3,500 to 7,529 last year. The value of money and goods stolen was estimated at £18 million by the charity Action on Elder Abuse, which runs the helpline. The Guardian reports that the government has been defeated again in the House of Lords over some of its plans for starter homes in the housing bill. Labour, Liberal Democrat and some crossbench peers voted to moderate the flagship scheme proposed by the Conservatives at the election, which means that one in five properties in new developments will be available to first-time buyers under 40 at a 20 per cent discount. Critics