Today in Money: a survey has revealed the generation that hates their job the most; and Morrisons has stopped allowing hot chocolate and mocha refills after a law change passed by the Tories on sugary foods took effect this month.
Thursday 9 October 2025 09:30, UK
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For this week’s guide, Anna Bowes, savings expert from The Private Office, reviews the best offers on the savings market…
Savers are finally getting a bit of respite after several weeks of cuts. 
Regular savings accounts are paying some of the best rates, and three of the top five now give you almost unlimited access to your money. 
These accounts normally come with restrictions on the amount you can deposit and how often you can access your cash. 
Progressive Building Society launched the Online Regular Rainy Day Saver Account (Issue 4), which pays 7% (variable) on deposits of £300 a month and allows you to make one withdrawal per day. 
Scottish Building Society has also launched a 12-month Regular Saver account paying a variable rate of 6.5% on deposits of up to £250 a month.
Withdrawals are allowed as long as £50 remains in the account, but the account can only be opened in branch or by post.
“Regular savings accounts are a good option, especially for those who don’t have a lump sum to invest and they are one of the best ways to get you into the savings habit,” Bowes says. 
“Deposit the amount you can afford the day after you are paid, and it becomes like another bill – but one that you can benefit from in the future.” 
Let’s take a look at the rest of the market…
Easy access
While there has not been a new challenger to the top of the tables, Shawbrook Bank has launched an unrestricted easy access account paying 4.31% AER, which includes a fixed bonus of 2.31% for 12 months. 
“That is the only action we’ve seen, but at least there have been no rate cuts,” Bowes says. 
Easy access cash ISAs
The Tipton & Coseley Building Society has launched an unrestricted easy access cash ISA paying 4.3%. 
Although not the top-paying easy access ISA, it is the best rate for those who do not want to be restricted by how many withdrawals they can make.
It can only be opened via a mobile app, which may not suit everyone’s needs. 
If you want an account that can be opened in a different way, Skipton Building Society’s Cash ISA Base Rate Tracker Issue 9 has a rate of 4.16% AER.
“While you can make as many easy access withdrawals as you like, the account has a 12-month term, after which your cash will be moved into another easy access ISA that does not track the base rate and will likely pay a lower rate,” Bowes says.
Fixed rate bonds
In our one-year table, the market-leading accounts have been withdrawn and replaced by a slightly lower rate. 
OakNorth Bank launched a one-year bond paying 4.43% – down from its previous issue paying 4.45%. This small adjustment means the bank is still in our top five but has dropped down into joint 5th.
The good news is that LHV, an app-only provider, has launched a one-year bond paying 4.45% to join First Save at the top, meaning savers still have two market-leading options to choose from.
Fixed rate cash ISAs
Tembo is holding fast at the top of the one-year table with its app-only ISA, paying 4.27%.
Meanwhile, Gatehouse Bank has launched an ISA paying 4.21% – putting it into second place. NatWest Bank’s 4.2% offering is in third place, a good rate with a well-known bank.
Households are facing higher than expected rises to their water bills after five water companies were given provisional permission to raise their prices by up to a further 5%. 
Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Wessex Water disputed limits imposed by the industry regulator, Ofwat. 
The Competitions and Markets Authority was called in to review Ofwat’s decision, and has “provisionally” decided to allow the following: 
Morrisons has become the latest retailer to make changes to its deals after a change in legislation aimed at tackling unhealthy food promotions. 
The supermarket’s cafes have removed hot chocolates and mochas from their free hot drinks refill offer. 
All other hot drinks, including a cappuccino, latte and flat white, are still included in the deal. 
The government introduced a ban on price or multibuy promotions on unhealthy food and drink last week in an attempt to tackle obesity levels in the country. 
The restrictions apply to supermarkets, large high street chains, DIY stores, garden centres, petrol stations and online retailers. 
Under the rules, free refill promotions for drinks that are high in fat, salt or sugar are banned in restaurants and cafes. 
Earlier this week, Nandos scrapped its bottomless Coca-Cola offer to comply with the new rules, prompting consternation from some customers…
Forget tropes about workshy youngsters – new research reveals it’s the middle-aged who are least satisfied with their job.
In the 2025 Standard Life Retirement Voice, just 65% of Generation X, born 1965 to 1980, said they were satisfied with work, falling to just 52% who were satisfied with their pay.
Compare this with Gen Z, 76% of whom were satisfied with their job and 65% with their pay.
Baby Boomers came out happiest – perhaps unsurprising given most are retired, so those continuing to work have often chosen to do so. 
They matched Gen Z with 76% satisfied overall and slipped behind Gen Z on pay (63%), but took the lead in satisfaction with job flexibility (81%).
Millennials have another reason to be referred to as the sandwich generation, being once again in the middle of the pack.
Almost one in 10 top earners ‘struggling’
Across all generations, 24% say it’s difficult to live on their income, unchanged from last year.
Even among those earning more than £100,000 – the top 4% of earners – there were 9% who said it wasn’t enough.
The figures are a sign that despite inflation being lower in the past 12 months, people are still struggling to recover from the cost of living crisis.
Finally today… Tesco Clubcard members can get Cineworld tickets for £5 every Tuesday thanks to a new deal.
The weekly offer will give customers up to four standard cinema tickets at the discounted price. 
To take advantage of the deal, you need to exchange a minimum of 50p in Clubcard vouchers for a Cineworld reward code. 
If you want to, you can use your Clubcard points to pay for the tickets, with each one costing 250 points – the equivalent of £2.50. 
You then use the reward code to book the tickets on the Cineworld website. 
You need to select the Tesco Tuesdays drop ticket option on the Cineworld website and exchange their code for the tickets. 
Only tickets for Tuesday screenings are eligible for the deal.
Here are some of our other tips for saving you time and money on your cinema trip…
There could be trouble for those invested in the stock market, the Bank of England has warned. 
The central bank today said it foresaw trouble for global financial markets if investors U-turn on the prospects for artificial intelligence ahead, with the IMF in agreement.
There’s been huge investment in tech companies investing in AI, with the expectation of a return.
The Bank’s Financial Policy Committee said in its latest update on the state of the financial system that there was also a risk of a market correction through intensifying worries about US central bank independence.
“The risk of a sharp market correction has increased,” it warned, while adding that the risk of “spillovers” to these shores from such a shock was “material”. 
Ryanair has axed 1.2 million seats to and from Spain next summer in its row with the country’s airport operator, after it dropped one million seats from its winter schedule last month. 
The budget airline is also ending all flights to and from Asturias Airport in northern Spain and shifting seats to Spain’s bigger airports and other European countries. 
It has blamed the decision on airport operator AENA increasing the charges it levies on airlines, particularly at regional airports, and “illegal” bag fines. 
The European Commission ruled today that fines imposed by Spain on Ryanair and other budget airlines for charging extra fees on cabin bags had breached regulations.
The Spanish consumer rights ministry last year fined Ryanair, easyJet, Norwegian, IAG’s low-cost unit Vueling and Volotea a combined €179m (£155m) for practices such as charging for cabin luggage.
The commission ruled the fines breached the EU law on air services, which gives airlines “freedom to set their prices”. 
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary, said: “We regret that these fee increases make regional Spanish airports uncompetitive, and this is why Ryanair is switching 1.2m more seats away from regional airports in Spain in summer 2026, to some of Spain’s bigger airports, but mainly to lower-cost competitor airports in Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Sweden and Hungary.”
A typical worker would need to save more than a lifetime’s worth of earnings to become wealthy, according to a report. 
Britain’s widening wealth gaps means it would take 52 years’ worth of earnings to move from the middle to the top of the wealth distribution, the Resolution Foundation found. 
The total needed would be about £1.3m, and assumes they save almost all of their income.
“Entrenched” wealth gaps mean that who your parents are and assets they have become more important to your living standards than how hard you work, the left-leaning thinktank said. 
“Britain’s wealth has expanded dramatically over recent decades, fuelled largely by periods of low interest rates and a sustained surge in asset prices,” the report said. 
You can read the full story below…
A government scheme to help people on benefits save money has given savers a £220m boost, according to HMRC. 
The Help to Save programme started in 2018, with 575,200 people opening an account and paying in a total of £588.2m into their savings pots.
A total of 7,800 accounts were opened in April this year, the highest monthly figure since March 2023. 
More than 90% of account holders have deposited the maximum amount into their nest egg each month.
What is the scheme?
The Help to Save Scheme is essentially a programme that incentivises people claiming certain benefits to save money. 
It gives savers a generous government bonus if they put away between £1 and £50 a month over four years. 
Unlike a normal savings account, no interest is earned. 
How does it work? 
At the end of the first two years, the government pays a bonus worth 50% of the highest balance you have achieved during that time. 
So, if you have paid in the maximum £1,200 over the first two years, you would get a bonus of £600.
After four years, you get another bonus of 50% of the difference between the highest balance achieved during the first two years and the highest balance during the third and fourth years.
Here are a couple of examples: 
If the highest balance after the first two years is £1,200 and the highest balance in the third and fourth years is £1,800, the bonus will be calculated on the £600 difference. 
So, in this case, you’ll get a second bonus of £300.
If you manage to save the maximum £50 a month once again, after four years you’ll have saved another £1,200, so assuming you’ve not made any withdrawals the highest balance will have reached £2,400, so you could receive another £600 bonus payment.
In total, that could mean up to £1,200 in free money over the life of the account.
Although unlike some schemes, you are not locked in – you can withdraw your savings at any point – but doing so will affect your bonus. 
“The generous bonus is a great incentive but of course only to those who can afford to save to get it,” Anna Bowes, savings expert from The Private Office, says. 
“For those that are on the lowest incomes, they may struggle with the day-to-day cost of living, let alone putting money aside in a savings account, but if they can afford to utilise the account, the bonus is a great incentive.” 
Who is eligible? 
Anyone in receipt of universal credit who has earned at least £1 in their last monthly assessment period will be eligible.
It’s important to note that you can only hold the account for four years – after that it will be closed and no further Help to Save accounts can be opened.
By James Sillars, business and economics reporter
There’s a relief rally in play for lenders linked to the car finance scandal.
Shares in Lloyds Banking Group and Close Brothers – both exposed to customer compensation payments – were up by 2.5% this morning.
It’s after the Financial Conduct Authority confirmed after the market closed yesterday that finance providers faced a bill of up to £9.7bn for loans where brokers received commission from a lender – a fact that was not disclosed to millions of customers.
The £9.7bn figure is lower than the bill expected by the sector. 
Wider banking sector shares were on the rise too, as the expected total was at the bottom end of earlier estimates.
Banks, in fact, were leading gainers on the FTSE 100, which opened 0.3% higher at 9,511.
Elsewhere, shares in Vertu Motors were trading 3.5% down.
No link to the motor finance issue here but the disruption at cyber attack-hit Jaguar Land Rover.
Vertu, which operates 10 JLR dealerships, warned of an annual profit hit of up to £5.5m and that it was examining its insurance policies in a bid to offset the figure through a potential claim.
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