Business

Almost 200,000 students who were at university during the COVID-19 pandemic are seeking financial compensation. The Student Group Claim argues that students at the start of the pandemic did not have access to the tutoring and services they paid for, as teaching was moved online. The action first started in 2023 when 100,000 students signed…

Average annual energy bills will rise by £332 in July, more than double the previously anticipated increase, due to high oil and gas prices driven by the war in Iran, trusted forecasters predicted. If it comes to pass, it will mean the most expensive typical annual bills in three years, at a high last seen…

British households have been told to brace for a surge in inflation and multiple interest rate hikes this year after surging oil and gas prices sparked by Donald Trump’s war on Iran. Tehran has launched a series of retaliatory strikes on energy sites in the Gulf since the conflict began, and has throttled the key…

Sharp rises in the price of oil and gas as a result of the war in Iran have set off an economic chain reaction which is already hitting people in the pocket. The benchmark Brent crude oil remains around $110 a barrel, compared to around $72 before the war. And a unit of wholesale gas…

UK unemployment has remained at its highest rate in five years, new official figures show. The jobless rate was 5.2% in the three months to January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. Before last month, such a high hadn’t been seen since the three months to January 2021. The increases in the last…

The US central bank has raised its forecast for inflation as the Iran war-linked surge in global energy prices threatens self-inflicted damage on the world’s largest economy. The Federal Reserve held off putting up interest rates despite the challenge to price stability posed by US President Donald Trump’s decision, along with Israel, to attack the…

Naval escorts will not guarantee safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and could even present a target for Iran as it attempts to leverage control of the vital shipping lane, the head of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has warned. Speaking at the start of a two-day emergency meeting of the…

👉 Listen to This Is Why on your podcast app 👈 Sir Keir Starmer is promising help for working people whose energy bills are going up because of the Iran war. The last energy bailout after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine cost £40bn, and on top of the costs of support during the COVID pandemic…

The UK government is preparing a possible court case against former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich after he missed a deadline to release £2.5bn he raised from the sale of the club. It comes after Sir Keir Starmer announced in mid-December that the Treasury was issuing a licence for the transfer of the frozen funds to…

More than one million properties are due to get government-funded internet upgrades, and a new tool has been launched to tell you if you can get one. The Project Gigabit scheme aims to bring gigabit-capable broadband, which offers faster and more reliable internet, to hard-to-reach rural areas. The programme launched in 2021, but the rate…