Money digest: today's-need-to-know financial news

Ahead of tomorrow’s Budget, the financial pages are full of last ditch attempts by MPs, think tanks, businesses and pressure groups to persuade the Chancellor round to their way of thinking. On pensions, the Work and Pensions Select Committee has urged the government to consider giving some women early access to their state pension in return for accepting lower weekly payments. George Osborne has been under pressure to help an estimated 500,000 women born in the 1950s who have seen the age they can claim their pension rise by six years, from 60 to 66 by 2020. Looking at housing, financial firm Paragon has called on the Chancellor to resist making any more changes to the taxation of landlords and instead instigate a root and branch review of the UK’s housing requirements. The company says that thanks to a combination of limited housebuilding, reduced investment in social housing and a round of tax increases planned for landlords operating in the private rented sector, there is little prospect that quality, affordable housing will be available for all. As for fuel duty, a new survey by the RAC has found that more than eight out of ten motorists believe the tax burden on fuel is already too high even before the Chancellor decides whether or not to increase fuel duty in the Budget. The company also discovered that 68 per cent of motorists would be negatively impacted by a duty rise. RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘The Chancellor has an excellent record of freezing duty but by not referring to it in the Autumn Statement, he implied that the 57.95p currently charged on every litre will be subject to inflationary increases in line with RPI from April 2016 onwards. And, even an above inflation increase cannot be ruled out. But what is very clear is that any increase will go down like a lead balloon with motorists.’ Staying on the subject of fuel, one of Britain’s biggest motor insurers LV= has warned that the price of motor insurance could jump by 10 per cent this year, claiming that firms have slashed rates too aggressively in recent years. Insurers are worried that in addition to increasing fuel duty in tomorrow’s Budget, Osborne also intends to push up the Insurance Premium Tax – described as a ‘stealth tax’ on motorists.

‘Any increase in fuel duty will go down like a lead balloon with motorists’

Meanwhile, in non-Budget news, it emerged yesterday that Britain’s most complained about energy firms are two of the new breed of smaller, ‘challenger’ brands hoping to take market share from the big six energy giants. According to data from the Citizens Advice Bureaux, Extra Energy and Co-Operative Energy secured the highest number of complaints relative to their customer base size in the last three months of 2015, in part because their rapid growth outpaced their customer care resources. The organisation also revealed that eight of the worst ten suppliers in the complaints league table are new, independent retailers.