Monday newspaper round-up: Water companies, TalkTalk, Persimmon

(Sharecast News) - Water companies should spend more on helping vulnerable customers, according to consumer groups, as households in England and Wales brace for steep bill increases to be announced this week. The water regulator, Ofwat, is due to reveal on Thursday how much water bills will rise over the five years from next April. - Guardian Voters have broadly accepted that the £40bn in tax rises in Rachel Reeves's first budget are "necessary" to improve public services, despite the majority expecting to be worse off as a result, according to research. The chancellor announced in October a package of tax increases in order to fund investment in public services, particularly the NHS and schools - with the largest revenue-raiser a £25bn increase in employer national insurance contributions (NICs). - Guardian

Standing charges on business electricity bills have risen sixfold since 2018 and are set to climb further in the next five years, analysts have said. The charges have increased from £31 per day - or 3.2pc of total energy bills - to £190 per day or 12.8pc, according to the consultancy Cornwall Insight. It means businesses already hit by National Insurance and minimum wage increases face an additional squeeze from what many see as a stealth charge. - Telegraph

TalkTalk is to cut hundreds of jobs as the debt-laden broadband business scrambles to strip out £120m in costs. In an update to investors last week, TalkTalk outlined plans for a "radical" restructuring that is expected to lead to hundreds of job losses. The company has already begun a redundancy consultation as it prepares to scrap around 130 jobs at its Salford-based consumer division. It is understood that further cuts will follow at a wholesale business, dubbed Platform X, taking total losses into the hundreds. - Telegraph

Budget tax rises and a new cladding levy will cost Persimmon Homes up to £40 million a year and add "billions" of expenses across the industry, the boss of one of Britain's biggest housebuilders has warned. Dean Finch said there was a "disconnect" between the government imposing ever-increasing costs on the sector and its calls for developers to build 300,000 new homes a year. - The Times