A survey carried out by the Money and Pensions Service suggests around a million people have less than £100 saved

One in six adults in the South West have no savings.

Oliver Morgan planetradio.co.uk

That’s what research by the impartial financial organisation, the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), has found, as we now have reached the end of their annual ‘Talk Money Week’.

In their survey, they discovered that almost three quarters of a million people across the South West have no savings and another 300,000 have less than £100, with one in six (16%) have nothing put away and another one in 14 (7%) have £100 or less.

This leaves almost a quarter of adults in the region living without a financial safety net to cope with the rising cost of living or unexpected bills, meaning some may have to use credit.

MaPS says although credit is an important tool when used and managed well, it’s crucial that people understand what they can afford and have a plan to pay it off.

Main takeaways across the South West

• Almost 25% of adults have less than £100 put away in savings
• Almost 50% of people who use a credit product are anxious about how much money they owe
• More than 25% of people are anxious about how many credit products they have
• 4 in 5 people still struggle to talk about money

Among the 74% of people South West who use credit, almost half (47%) are now anxious about how much they owe.

One in four (27%) are worried about the number of different products they have.

As cost of living pressures start to hit home, the MaPS says it’s more important than ever to talk about money before problems set in – but found that 81% of people still avoid discussing their finances.

Asked why, the most common responses were ‘not wanting to be judged’ (24%), ‘fear of burdening others’ (23%) and ‘shame or embarrassment’ (15%).

During Talk Money Week (which was last week), the Money and Pensions Serice encouraged everyone to open up about money, plan for their financial future and take free debt advice as soon as they need it.

Paul Fox, Regional Partnerships Manager for the South West of England at the Money and Pensions Service, said: “The South West has some unique challenges around its economy – especially around leisure, tourism, and retail – that have affected a lot of people, because of the impact of the pandemic, where we weren’t allowed to travel and socialise.

“As a result, quite a lot of people who work, or who have worked, in those sectors over the past couple of years have been impacted quite harshly. This is partly the reason why households across the South West face particular challenges building a resilience against the rising cost of living.

“Without having a savings buffer is very worrying – and an economic shock can appear in many ways. Without the ability to pay that, it could lead to more consequences down the line.

“I understand at the moment, saving can be challenging right now. But a lot of behaviour around money is developed at quite a young age, and in terms of savings, it’s demonstrated ‘small and often’ is a much better way to develop a level of resilience against economic shocks.”

Caroline Siarkiewicz, Chief Executive of the Money and Pensions Service, said: “Over a million people across the South West find it a challenge to save and this leaves them vulnerable when sudden expenditure items arise. When you add in the anxiety that they feel with their credit commitments, the weight of that worry can quickly become overwhelming.

“This Talk Money Week, we want everyone to start the conversation with family or friends and share the burden of any money worries.

“By dealing with the problem head on, people can discover just how helpful free debt advice can be and see the importance of talking to their creditors early. They can also begin to find a way forward, no matter how difficult their situation might feel.

“Free help and guidance on how to do all of this is available via our MoneyHelper service and I’d urge everyone who needs it to get in touch today.”

The organisation says its MoneyHelper service can be people’s first port of call, offering free guidance on topics like everyday money, savings and where to find free debt advice.

Backstory: Dozens of reservoirs across the country have been given up by water companies, while no new ones have been built in the last 30 years. 

Andrew Sells – who was head of Natural England between 2014 and 2019 – said the sell-off, with no replacements, was evidence of water companies putting profits before water resilience. www.telegraph.co.uk 

South West Water is also failing to meet leakage reduction targets, as a result, it’s offering to fix domestic leaks for free across the region.

Now, rather late in the day, they are offering a £30 credit to Cornish customers to reduce usage.

Another privatisation that has gone seriously wrong. – Owl

South West Water say they will give £30 credit to customers in Cornwall if Colliford Reservoir reaches 30 percent capacity by 31 December.

ITV News www.itv.com 

The company has made the announcement this morning (11 November) to try to encourage residents to limit their water usage.

It follows what they call unprecedented demand for water, alongside exceptionally hot and dry weather.

Customers can check reservoir levels on South West Water’s website. Levels are currently below 20 percent.

If Colliford Reservoir reaches 30 percent full, the company says all household customers in Cornwall will receive a £30 credit on their accounts which will show on their next bill after the incentive ends.

The water company fix up to 2,500 leaks a month, say say they are finding and fixing more leaks than ever before.

Earlier this year Colliford Reservoir, which serves around 255,000 households in Cornwall, fell to its lowers ever recorded level.

South West Water are continuing to urge people to reduce the amount of water they use to help recharge the county’s river and reservoirs. They say this will ensure there is enough water for next year.

Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer and Digital Officer, said: “We have been working around the clock to bring new supplies safely online, find and fix more leaks than ever before and help businesses and customers reduce their water usage.

“These proactive steps have helped river and reservoir levels stabilise across our region and recover in Devon.

“However, in Cornwall reservoir levels remain low. That is why we are asking everyone to help Stop The Drop so we can restore reservoir reserves, ensuring we have enough water today and into next year.

“Our Stop The Drop campaign draws on the collective might of the people of Cornwall who can help by reducing their water usage to secure supplies in Colliford Reservoir. Every one drop saved protects the water we need now.”

South West Water said they had one of the lowest rates of leakage across the industry.

A spokesperson said: “In 2021/22 we improved our leakage performance by 6%, reducing leaks to 116.7ml/d.

“We have targets to further reduce leakage by 15% from 2020 and are currently on track to do so.

“With around 30% of leaks now typically found on customers’ own properties, we have extended our offer to fix these leaks for free – saving enough water to date to serve the equivalent of 8,000 homes.”

South West Water say if everyone in Cornwall cut their shower time by just 1 minute it would save more than 4.5 million litres a day.

They warned that day to day activities around the house can use a lot of water, 50 litres per washing machine cycle and 14 litres for a dishwasher cycle.

Bullying claims: It has emerged that eight people working in Dominic Raab’s private office during his tenure as foreign secretary claimed to have been bullied or harassed at work, according to a leaked survey.

The poll, carried out in the latter part of 2019, also showed that 15 staff reported witnessing another person being bullied or treated unfairly.

The results, published by ITV News, were anonymous, meaning it is not possible to ascertain the subject of the claims. www.cityam.com

Ranting: On one occasion, the Deputy PM is said to have hurled tomatoes from a Pret a Manger salad across a table in a fit of pique because he ‘wasn’t happy with the way he was being briefed’. 

Mr Raab has also reportedly earned himself ‘The Incinerator’ tag because he ‘burns through’ staff so quickly. www.dailymail.co.uk

But Rishi Sunak doesn’t “recognise” bullying claims 

“Integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”? – Owl

Rishi Sunak has defended his deputy prime minister and justice secretary, Dominic Raab, saying he does not recognise claims from multiple civil servants that he bullied staff.

Jessica Elgot www.theguardian.com 

Sunak gave a robust defence of Raab, having already been criticised over his judgment after promoting other controversial ministers including Suella Braverman and Gavin Williamson.

“I don’t recognise that characterisation of Dominic and I’m not aware of any formal complaints about him,” he told reporters onboard his plane en route to the G20 summit in Bali.

“Of course, there are established procedures for civil servants if they want to bring to light any issues. I’m not aware of any formal complaint about Dominic.”

However, Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office when Raab was in charge there, has suggested that bullying claims were accurate. He described Raab as “one of the most driven people” he had ever worked for and a “tough boss”, before admitting his comments may be “euphemisms”.

Asked by the LBC radio presenter Andrew Marr whether the characterisation of Raab as “somebody who could bully, and around whom bullying happened” was plausible, he replied: “Yes.”

Sunak was speaking as ITV reported a new claim that eight people working in Raab’s private office when he was foreign secretary claimed to have been bullied or harassed at work.

The results of an HR survey leaked to the broadcaster found that 15 people in the office witnessed seeing someone else being bullied or treated unfairly. The person or persons doing the bullying were not identified in the survey.

The prime minister suggested that could not be considered proof of poor behaviour by Raab. “My understanding is that these surveys are annual and relate to the overall work environment, not to individuals,” he said.

It follows the Guardian’s report that Raab’s return to the Ministry of Justice prompted officials to be offered the opportunity to move from his private office because of concerns about his behaviour. They were offered “respite or a route out” of the department and at least 15 staff were given reassurances as a result of their anxiety.

The department’s permanent secretary, Antonia Romeo, is said to have “read him the riot act” upon his return to the MoJ after Sunak became prime minister – warning Raab about treatment of staff.

Raab was one of Sunak’s most high-profile and early supporters in the leadership contest, taking on difficult broadcast rounds in his defence and acting as a key attack dog against Liz Truss.

His actions in the leadership campaign led to him being sacked from the cabinet by Truss but he was restored to his previous post at the MoJ by Sunak.

No 10 said the prime minister had full confidence in Raab and denied he was aware of any formal complaints against his deputy. However, pressed repeatedly on the matter, the spokesperson failed to deny that an informal complaint may have been made.

Over the weekend, the Observer revealed that concerns were raised about Raab’s treatment of officials during his time as Brexit secretary in 2018. A senior source said there was a “serious expression of concern” to the Cabinet Office by a key official in the department, accusing Raab of “unprofessional, even bullying” conduct towards staff in his private office. No action was taken.

The No 10 spokesperson added: “As the prime minister has said before, people in public life should treat others with consideration and respect. Those are principles that this government will stand by.

“There are established procedures by which civil servants can raise complaints. These processes allow allegations to be looked and considered with due process and a fair hearing. We are not aware of any formal complaint having been raised.”

The claims about Raab follow the resignation of the Cabinet Office minister, Gavin Williamson, another prominent Sunak ally during the leadership campaign. Williamson was accused of bullying MPs and officials, including sending expletive-laden texts to the former chief whip Wendy Morton, and civil servants said he had used threatening language. Williamson has denied allegations of bullying.

Sunak did not issue as vigorous a defence of Williamson after the texts to Morton came to light and said there would be an investigation after condemning the language used. Williamson resigned later that week as minister in the Cabinet Office after a slew of damaging stories about his time as defence secretary and chief whip.

A spokesperson for Raab said: “Dominic has never received nor been made aware of any formal complaint against him. He consistently holds himself to the highest standards of professionalism and enjoys good working relationships across Whitehall.”

A South West MP is demanding explanations from the Environment Agency after reports it has become ‘obsessed’ with health and safety. A whistleblower quoted in a daily newspaper claims agency staff have been banned from carrying out basic tasks such as clearing waterways because of overzealous rules.

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

This has extended to the work of removing debris and blockages from rivers, often delayed for months while risk assessments are carried out. Officials are also said to be imposing strict controls on using hand tools such as screwdrivers until training has been ‘developed and assessed’.

Now Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, says he intends to find out whether the allegations are true. “It is shocking to learn that basic Environment Agency work is being delayed because some people have gone completely over the top on matters of health and safety,” he said.

“In an area like Somerset the daily lives of thousands of people depend on waterways being routinely cleaned and maintained – and there are still many painful memories of what happened eight years ago when the Environment Agency decided it was no longer necessary to do so.

“If these allegations are true it is by no means the first time that an organisation has taken health and safety precautions to a ridiculous extreme. I am taking steps to ascertain if these claims are well-founded and if they are I shall be making it very clear to the Environment Agency that it needs to adopt a more proportionate attitude. I fully appreciate that its staff need to be protected while they are at work but precautions must not be allowed to create a wider risk to the general public.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Our staff carry out vital work to protect the environment, people and wildlife and we are committed to providing a safe, healthy and high quality working environment for them while they undertake this vital role.

“In dealing with routine work and serious incidents around the country, we will continue to take every step necessary to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff, whilst always being considerate of how we manage the environmental risks to the communities we serve.”

• A recent review of all of our high risk activities identified a number of health and safety improvements that we are in the process of making. In some cases, we decided that we needed to pause carrying out some activities whilst we ensured that the correct health and safety measures and training were in place.

• However, this does not mean that these activities just stopped. Where appropriate, we have put more work out to our supply chain to deliver on our behalf.

• Much of the annual programme of river and coastal maintenance work is routinely delivered by our contractors: we have simply extended the amount of work that they are delivering on our behalf where we have deemed this necessary.

• Furthermore, we have additional risk control measures in place to allow our own staff to undertake paused activities where they are essential and there is no other way of delivering the work.

• Many of the paused activities have already been re-started by our employees. Most recently, we allowed certain maintenance machinery to be brought back into use with improved health and safety procedures.

Are “Stalinist” top-down targets back on the agenda?

How is public opposition to housebuilding to be reduced? – Owl

Developers seeking planning permission for ugly new homes will have their projects “called in” by the government and vetoed, Michael Gove pledged yesterday, as he outlined plans to reduce public opposition to housebuilding.

Oliver Wright www.thetimes.co.uk

In his first big speech since being re-appointed as levelling-up secretary by Rishi Sunak, Gove launched a broadside against housebuilders for putting up identikit homes out of keeping with the local area.

He also accused the industry of “manipulating” councils by using loopholes in the planning system to avoid paying for community infrastructure and overturning democratic decisions about where houses should be built.

Gove claimed that under the government’s planning reforms, ministers and local authorities would have the power to hold developers to account and reduce the factors that had made new developments so controversial.

Last month Gove recommitted the government to its manifesto target of building 300,000 homes a year after Liz Truss said she wanted to abolish “Stalinist” top-down targets.

Gove told a Centre for Policy Studies conference that to achieve this it would be necessary to take on board local communities’ objections to building in their area.

“The experience of many buyers is that the incredibly expensive homes that they buy simply aren’t up to the standard that they should be,” he said.

“There are far too many faults and defects. But more than that, for those who have seen new houses built, the fact is that so many house builders are using a restrictive pattern book with poor-quality materials, and the aesthetic quality of what they produce is both disappointing and also not in keeping with the high aesthetic standards that may already exist.

“We will see the wide adoption of design codes and ways in which individuals can appreciate how it is easier to secure planning permission if you build in a way that is consistent with those design codes.

“We will use all the powers we have in order to make sure that developments which are not aesthetically of high quality don’t go ahead.”

Gove cited the example of the King’s model village in Poundbury, Dorset, that adopted traditional housing design and integrated shops and businesses as well as private and social housing within the development zone.

He pointed out that house prices in Poundbury were higher than in neighbouring Dorchester, suggesting that it could be a blueprint for other developments. “If we do make sure that in the planning reforms we are bringing forward, people understand that new homes will be beautiful, they will be accompanied by infrastructure, there will be democratic decision-making, there will be environmental enhancement and that we are creating new neighbourhoods, then we can build new homes and additional infrastructure that this country needs to power the growth to which all of us are committed,” he said.

Gove added that the government also needed to take environmental concerns seriously, but joked that some communities began taking a particular interest in such issues only when housebuilding was threatened.

“It is surprising how many communities that had not hitherto shown a fondness for newts and bats can suddenly discover a love of reptiles and flying reptiles, that they did not have before, when new development is promised,” he said.

“Fund councils properly or change the law to remove the “outdated and under-resourced” legal obligation on town halls to provide services such as libraries and home-to-school transport.”

Patrick Butler www.theguardian.com 

Two of England’s largest Tory-run local authorities have warned the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, that they will be forced to declare bankruptcy within the next few months because of the unprecedented financial crisis enveloping both councils.

The leaders of Kent and Hampshire county councils said even “drastic cuts” to current services would not be enough to patch up the huge holes in their budgets created by soaring inflation and rising pressures in adult and children’s social care.

In a strongly worded joint letter to Sunak, Kent leader, Roger Gough, and Hampshire leader, Rob Humby, said while they recognised the difficult national economic circumstances, “we cannot sit by and let two great counties sleepwalk into a financial disaster”.

Ministers effectively had a choice, the letter said: to fund councils properly or change the law to remove the “outdated and under-resourced” legal obligation on town halls to provide services such as libraries and home-to-school transport.

Both councils faced budget deficits over the next few years “of a scale that has never been seen before”, they said, and unless ministers stepped in with emergency help and a long-term funding plan, they would be “likely to be considering section 114 [effective bankruptcy] notices in the next year or so”.

The letter said: “The problem is simple: the additional money that we can raise from council tax and business rates barely covers the normal inflationary pressures that we face each year. This leaves significant growth, particularly in adults’ and children’s social care, totally unfunded.

“Without a fundamental change either in the way in which these two services are funded, or in our statutory obligations, all of upper-tier local government will soon go over the cliff edge.”

Although bankruptcy will not result in councils stopping core services, issuing a section 114 notice formally obliges them to formulate drastic cuts to services, make job cuts and announce fire sales of assets such as social housing, development sites and office buildings.

The letter reflects alarm across the sector about the long-term viability of local government, which has been battered by a decade of austerity cuts, followed by the pandemic, and now rampaging inflation. Several councils have announced that they will unexpectedly have to cut services this year to balance the books.

The Conservative-run County Councils Network said at the weekend that only one in five of their members were confident of avoiding having to issue a section 114 notice this year. To stave off bankruptcy, they were cutting social care services as well as bus route subsidies, waste services and street lighting.

Reports in the Times on Monday suggested ministers were considering scrapping the cap limiting annual council tax rises to 2.99% plus 1% for social care in Thursday’s budget. But there is little confidence in the sector that this will provide a fair or viable answer to the financial pressures facing town halls.

A handful of councils have gone bankrupt in recent years – Northamptonshire, Croydon, and Slough – while several others needed government bailouts to stay afloat – most recently Thurrock – because of financial chaos stemming from commercial investments designed to counter the impact of years of funding cuts.

Others have avoided bankruptcy only through dramatic cuts to services, while local government sector surveys suggest many councils will manage to balance the books this year by only draining their already depleted financial reserves – which will leave them brutally exposed in the coming years.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We understand that councils are concerned about the impact of inflation and we are working with them to understand how this will affect their budgets. This year, we have made available an additional £3.7bn to councils to ensure they have the resources to deliver vital services.”