Skip Header
Important information: The value of investments can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This is a third-party news feed and may not reflect Fidelity’s views.

Monday newspaper round-up: Covid fraud, energy bills, National Grid

(Sharecast News) - More than 1m small businesses may be paying energy bills significantly above market rates after becoming trapped in long-term contracts fixed when prices reached a historical peak last year. Trade groups representing businesses from metalworkers to convenience stores have joined forces to warn of a "perilous situation". - Guardian The former head of Britain's financial crime prosecutor has said "red flags were ignored" in the rush to distribute taxpayer-funded emergency loans to businesses during the pandemic, and questioned whether fraud was taken seriously by the government. Parliament's spending watchdog estimates fraud and error were likely to have cost the UK government as much as £16bn across the various Covid loan schemes, including those for small businesses. - Guardian

National Grid is preparing to pay people to reduce their electricity usage at peak times again next winter as it draws up plans to keep the lights on without emergency back-up coal plants. Millions of pounds were paid to households that took part in the "demand flexibility service" last winter by rescheduling energy-intensive activities such as cooking or using washing machines. - The Times

The CBI's board is facing criticism from senior industry figures for its decision to turn to insiders to steer it through misconduct allegations, with the appointment of Rain Newton-Smith facing fresh scrutiny from politicians and business leaders. Writing in The Times today, Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, said the lobby group had "remained within its own boardroom to identify what actually needs to change, and how". - The Times

One of Britain's biggest outsourcing companies was tonight scrambling to figure out if sensitive data had been stolen from its systems after a Russian-speaking cyber gang posted a cache of documents online. Capita, which holds public sector contracts worth billions of pounds including enforcing the BBC licence fee, said it had "not been able to confirm" whether the files posted online were taken from its systems. - Telegraph

Share this article

Related Sharecast Articles

Thursday newspaper round-up: Solar panels, OBR, Chevron
(Sharecast News) - California's home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims. All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 - more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for "total losses". - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: British economy, Heathrow, FOS
(Sharecast News) - The British economy is on course to expand by 1.5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned. In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1.2% to 1.5%. - Guardian
Tuesday newspaper round-up: OpenAI, EVs, gas prices
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for "all assets" of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI's board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk's unsolicited offer could complicate the company's plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: Service charge, BP, Heathrow, Elon Musk
(Sharecast News) - An increasingly complex tax system is burdening the government and businesses with hundreds of millions of pounds more in administration costs, Whitehall's spending watchdog has warned. The report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also said "poor levels of service" meant some taxpayers and their representatives were "finding it more difficult to deal with their tax matters and are losing trust in HM Revenue & Customs [HMRC]". - Guardian

Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

Award-winning online share dealing

Search, compare and select from thousands of shares.

Expert insights into investing your money

Our team of experts explore the world of share dealing.