Welcome to the Money blog, Sky News’ consumer and personal finance hub. Today, a supermarket instant coffee wins our blind taste test, we have this week’s Money Problem, there’s news of a big restaurant expansion. Leave your comments in the box below.
Tuesday 12 August 2025 21:37, UK
Farmers are sounding the alarm as water shortages affect the growing season, threatening the food supply.
Five parts of England are officially in a drought, with prolonged dry weather in six other areas.
With temperatures rising this week and water shortfalls labelled a “nationally significant incident”, the National Farmers Union has drawn attention to the country’s harvest.
“Some farms are reporting a significant drop in yields, which is financially devastating for the farm business and could have impacts for the UK’s overall harvest,” vice-president Rachel Hallos said.
She said investment in water infrastructure and a more effective planning system was urgently needed “to avoid the swing between extreme drought and flooding and to secure water supplies for food production”.
Read more here…
Nationwide has made changes to its lending rules, allowing some remortgage customers to boost their borrowing by thousands of pounds.
The lender has changed the way it works out how much a customer looking to take out a five or 10-year fixed remortgage product can borrow.
The “enhanced affordability check” will be available to single applicants with a minimum income of £40,000 and joint applicants earning at least £70,000.
Those looking to remortgage who don’t require any additional borrowing will be able to borrow up to 6.5x their income at up to 95% loan to value.
Nationwide gave these two examples of how much extra people could be allowed to borrow…
A person earning £70,000 looking to remortgage with additional borrowing , with a five or 10-year fixed rate deal over a 20-year term, would be able to borrow £314,300.
That’s £33,600 more than before the changes were made, and around 4.5 times their income.
A person earning £50,000 looking for a like-for-like remortgage, with a five or 10-year fixed deal over a 40-year term, would be able to borrow £325,000.
That’s £16,100 more than before the changes were made and 6.5 times their income.
Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s director of home, said: “The ability to borrow enough can be a barrier when people look to remortgage, even when they can demonstrate a clean payment history. We’re pleased to be able to help them by making this change, which should put Nationwide front of mind for those wanting a new mortgage deal.”
Earlier today, Santander made similar changes to help homebuyers applying for a mortgage… you can read more about those changes by scrolling down.
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Just over one in five young adults say they’ve stayed in a relationship to make living costs affordable, research from a lifetime ISA provider has found.
A study published by OneFamily found that 21% of those aged 18 to 40 say they’ve resorted to it.
The survey also found that 29% of single people asked said they do not have an emergency fund, compared to 16% of those in a relationship.
Jim Islam, the financial services firm’s chief, says: “These stats are shocking; people are potentially staying in unhappy relationships because the bills are too high to contemplate managing on their own.
“It’s a tax on being single, made worse by the rising costs of bills.”
He adds that “financial independence is crucial, since it enables freedom,” calling for it to be talked about in schools, alongside “good savings habits”.
Have you stayed with a partner to keep up with the cost of living? Email us at moneyblog@sky.uk
Ahead of A-level and BTec results on Thursday, a new report suggests those hoping to get the grades for a place at university could face steep costs with little help.
The research, conducted by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, found:
Hepi suggested students may be expected to do some part-time work – such as 10 hours a week – but the remainder should be covered by maintenance support.
It has also called for maintenance support to be “pegged to inflation”.
And the household income thresholds should be increased, it added, so parents won’t need to chip in to their child’s living costs.
‘We don’t want this,’ government says
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the government was “looking at all of the options” to support students.
“I do want all students to be able to get the full benefits of their time at university, to be able to take up internships, study trips [and] other work experience opportunities,” she said.
“I don’t want students from less well-off backgrounds to be deterred from doing that because of having to take on more hours of paid work.”
Are you a student? Does this report tally with your experience? Let us know in the comments
Iceland shoppers will soon be able to track reduced “yellow sticker” items at their nearest shops on their phone in real time.
After successful trials in London and Bristol, the supermarket will advertise its reduced items at 900 stores through the Gander and OIio apps.
When products get close to their sell-by date, the store marks them with a yellow sticker though the apps.
Shoppers can then head to the store, and even be notified of certain items, depending on their preferences.
It’s all meant to be a way of saving the customer money and cutting down on food waste.
Stuart Lendrum, Iceland’s director of product, process and sustainability, said the store had “always been dedicated to tackling food waste”.
Gander says its services lead to an average 26% waste reduction for major retailers.
Emergency workers and NHS staff can now get 10% off at all Morrisons cafes.
The supermarket is offering the discount to all holders of the Blue Light Card, a savings scheme covering a range of shops and restaurants typically available for armed forces, medics and other public service workers.
Morrisons said the offer lasts all day and every day, with no minimum spend, at its 344 cafes across the UK.
The discount can be used alongside the store’s “Kids Eat Free” deal, which serves one child’s meal – usually costing £4 – for free with an adult meal.
Chris Strong, a senior cafe trader at Morrisons, said the store was “proud to support the incredible individuals in the emergency services”.
Tourists staying in Aberdeen will have to pay a 7% tax on their nightly accommodation from April 2027.
The actual amount will depend on how much you’re paying for your stay, but the city council puts the average hotel room at £70 – setting the added charge at £4.90 in that case.
Based on that calculation, the tourist tax could raise up to £6.8m a year, which the council says will go towards enhancing the leisure and business tourism in the city.
Stephen Gow, chair of VisitAberdeenshire, said Aberdeen welcomed 2.2 million overnight visits last year, which contributed to more than £500m in tourism income.
The levy became possible after the Scottish parliament passed legislation last year giving councils the ability to introduce this type of charge.
Both Edinburgh and Glasgow have approved a 5% levy on overnight stays in hotels, short-term lets and B&Bs.
Edinburgh’s tourist tax will come into force from 24 July 2026, while Glasgow’s will follow on 25 January 2027.
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter
US president Donald Trump continues to move markets.
Yesterday, his planned meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin dampened gold and oil markets; today, his executive order extending the trade war truce with China boosted stocks in Asia and Europe.
Benchmark stock indexes in Australia and Japan reached record highs following the news, as investors were optimistic a long-lasting deal between the world’s largest and second-largest economies could be reached.
The UK’s FTSE 100 index of the most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange rose 0.3% as its mining company constituents saw share price rises.
Mining company successes are linked to the Chinese economy as a large consumer and producer of minerals.
European stocks were also up – the Europe-wide Stoxx 600 index rose just shy of 1%.
Hopes of a settlement of the Russia-Ukraine war via the Putin-Trump talks continued to keep oil prices relatively low at $66.83 a barrel of Brent crude, down from $73 less than two weeks ago.
Pasta Evangelists was famously written off as “pasta la disaster” on Dragons’ Den seven years ago.
But since then, it’s opened eight restaurants and a popular subscription service for its pasta and sauces – and now plans to open 100 new sites over the next five years.
It’s looking for sites across the south of England, Midlands and Scotland and is open to franchise partners, with £30m ready to invest.
The company says it expects to create 1,500 jobs as a result.
The move has been welcomed by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who described the plan as “ambitious” and “another vote of confidence in the UK”.
Alessandro Savelli, the chief executive and co-founder, said the hospitality industry was “going through tough times at the moment”.
But he is “confident” that their business model is “robust and dynamic”.
“The proof of this is we have already bucked the trend with the confirmed opening of five more restaurants in the space of three months, and more to come,” he added.
Three new sites are already in the works – in Fulham, Queensway and New Oxford Street, all in London – which will take the number of restaurants to 11.
Pasta Evangelists was set up in 2016, and has built a loyal following of customers who receive various forms of pasta and sauces through their letterboxes on a subscription basis.
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