Today in Money: We bring you the latest as the new energy price cap is announced – and it’s risen by even more than experts predicted. We also have the latest on HSBC’s app crash and Chick-fil-A’s UK plans.
Wednesday 27 August 2025 20:35, UK
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Sausages, burgers, cheese and olives could become cheaper if the UK strikes a deal with the EU.
That’s according to a report in The Times, with sources telling the newspaper an agreement in the works with the bloc could make it easier for retailers to import those kinds of foods.
The government is trying to get a permanent deal with the EU on food and drink in the next 18 months, after securing a temporary arrangement last June.
Under that deal – known as the SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) provisions – checks on some fruit and vegetables from the EU were stopped.
That covers “medium-risk” fruit and vegetables, such as tomatoes, grapes and peppers.
Ministers also cancelled border checks on live animal imports from the EU and on animal and plant goods from Ireland.
But this SPS arrangement expires in January 2027.
Labour says the current deal, which it is hoping to improve, lowers costs for supermarkets and shoppers.
It also said an agreement is “forthcoming”.
Beckham brand gets boost thanks to eyeliner
Sales at Victoria Beckham’s fashion and beauty business have surged after its top eyeliner helped it shrug off a wider downturn for designer brands.
It is the fourth consecutive year that sales have grown for the label founded by the former Spice Girl.
Revenues for Victoria Beckham Holdings Ltd totalled £112.7m over 2024 – that’s 27% higher than 2023.
The luxury retail sector has faced a prolonged downturn as it grapples with weaker consumer demand and rising costs, especially in key markets in China and Asia.
Lego reports record sales
Lego has hit another record for sales after launching more sets than ever before.
The toy giant said its revenues rose by 12% to a record high of £4bn for the first half of 2025, with consumer sales up 13%.
Operating profits are up £1.04bn, in line with growth levels seen through 2024.
The Danish firm said it launched 314 new sets in the first half of the year, with bestsellers including Formula 1 and Star Wars ranges.
Bodycare in race to avoid collapse
City editor Mark Kleinman has learnt that Bodycare, which employs about 1,500 people, could fall into administration as soon as next week unless a buyer is found.
City sources said that Interpath, the advisory firm which has been working with Bodycare and its owners for several months, was continuing to explore options for the business.
The company is owned by Baaj Capital, a family office run by Jas Singh.
Its other investments have included In The Style, which underwent a pre-pack administration earlier this year, and party products supplier Amscan International.
HSBC’s online and mobile banking are running as usual after customers were locked out of their accounts for hours. 
The banking giant told Money: “Mobile and online banking services are back up and running following an earlier issue. 
“We apologise to our customers who were impacted, and we’ll continue to monitor systems closely.” 
Customers were unable to view their balances or transactions on their account, and some complained that they were unable to make payments during the outage. 
“Sorry, your information isn’t available right now. Please try again later,” a message in the app said. 
At one point, more than 4,350 people reported the issue on the online outage monitoring site DownDetector. 
Revolut has launched a new instant access savings account for children aged six to 15. 
It offers a variable interest rate based on the parent’s Revolut status of up to 4.5% AER, which is paid daily. 
If the parent is a standard or plus account holder, the child will get 3.5% AER. Premium users get 3.75%, while metal and ultra get 4% and 4.5%. 
There’s no requirement for a minimum deposit to open the account, and children can make fee-free withdrawals anytime, but the maximum limit in the account is £3,500. 
Savings are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, as part of the parent’s total £85,000 protection limit, via Clearbank Limited. 
Revolut said the account was designed to be more than a savings tool, offering a “hands-on lesson in how money can grow”. 
How does it compare to other children’s savings accounts on the market? 
Our savings guru Anna Bowes, from The Private Office, says it’s not the best account available as it’s only available to the children of Revolut current account customers. 
To get the highest rate, parents need to be ultra account holders, which comes with a £45 monthly fee. 
Here are some of the “better alternatives”, according to Bowes… 
The Virgin M Power account pays 5% AER on balances of up to £5,000, with lower rates payable on balances over £5,000. 
The adult needs to hold a current account with Virgin, but they can open it for free and it doesn’t need to be their main current account.
HSBC’s MySavings account is an easy access account that pays 4.5% on balances of between £10 and £3,000. Unlike those above, your parent or guardian doesn’t need to be a personal HSBC customer, though if they are not, you’ll need to take them into a branch with you if you want to open this account.
If they do hold an HSBC current account, then they can apply for the MySavings account online.
Coventry Building Society’s Young Saver pays 4.25% on balances of up to £5,000, but you can only deposit up to £200 a month and the account must be opened and managed in a Coventry Building Society branch.
Popular chicken shop Chick-fil-A says it will open its first permanent restaurant in England, six years on from its controversial pilot in Reading.
In 2019, the US fast-food chain came under fire from LGBT+ activists for its association with a Christian group that opposed same-sex marriages.
Its owners said it would no longer fund the organisation and would instead focus on “education, homelessness and hunger”.
In a statement to The Reading Chronicle when protests were held outside the store there, Chick-fil-A said: “We do not have a political or social agenda, and our brand is represented by more than 145,000 people from different backgrounds and beliefs.”
Fast-forward to autumn this year, and the brand will be opening the first of three new shops in England in Leeds.
Others will follow in London and Liverpool. 
The firm says it is part of a £74m investment in the country over the next 10 years.
Each new location, the firm says, will create 70 to 120 jobs.
Chick-fil-A already has two branches in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 
You have until the end of the week to bag yourself theatre tickets for as little as £15 each. 
London Theatre Week runs until 31 August, offering discounted tickets for more than 50 shows, including The Lion King, Hamilton and Wicked. 
While you need to book your tickets by Sunday, you don’t have to see the show by then. 
Several websites are running the promotion, including London Theatre, TodayTix and London Box Office. 
You can get tickets for £15, £25 and £35 – here’s a look at some of the options still available in each of these price brackets. 
£15 tickets 
£18 – £25 tickets
£28-£35 tickets
You still have time to make the most of Official London Theatre’s Kid Week as well. 
Until Sunday, any child aged 17 and younger can attend performances with a fee-paying adult for free. 
Another two children can join them for half price.
HSBC customers are having issues with its banking app – causing frustration on what for many is pay day.
“Sorry, your information isn’t available right now. Please try again later,” a message in the app reads. 
More than 4,350 people have reported the issue on the online outage monitoring site DownDetector. 
The bank has apologised for the issue, saying it is dealing with it as a “matter of urgency”. 
Some customers complained on X that they were unable to see their balance or transactions on their account. 
Others said they were unable to make any payments. 
“This is amateur. Fix it,” one customer posted. 
“The app is completely dead, not showing any info in it at all,” said another. 
Money contacted HSBC for comment, but it said it didn’t have anything to add to its statement on social media. 
For this week’s guide, Anna Bowes, savings expert from The Private Office, reviews the best offers on the savings market…
July’s inflation figure came in higher than expected at 3.8% last week, leading economists to predict that the Bank of England will push back an interest rate cut to later this year. 
This could be positive news for savers, as they’ll likely get higher interest rates on their savings for longer. In fact, some fixed term bond and ISA rates have jumped up since the data was released. 
But the same can’t be said for all accounts – and if you can’t find one with an inflation-busting rate, it might be decreasing your purchasing power. 
Here Bowes takes a closer look…
Easy access
The changes in the easy access market have been limited – and any moves that have been made have been for the worse. 
Cahoot closed issue 10 of its Simple Saver, which was paying 4.55%, and reissued a new version paying just 4.4% AER – and this is the top paying unrestricted account. 
We also saw the West Brom Building Society’s Four Access Saver (Issue 3), paying 4.55%, withdrawn from the market.
“Unfortunately, with inflation ticking up, this means that for taxpayers who are already using their Personal Savings and ISA allowances, none of these accounts can earn more than inflation – but by choosing the best rates, savers can at least mitigate the damaging effect of inflation on their savings,” Bowes says. 
“To keep up with inflation at 3.8%, a basic-rate taxpayer needs a gross return of 4.75% on a taxable account, while a higher-rate taxpayer would need 6.33% – an impossible task in the current market.” 
“Even so, shopping around makes a substantial difference.” 
How wrong account could cost you £1,300 – an example
Barclays is paying 1.11% on its Everyday Saver account. A basic-rate taxpayer with £50,000 in this account would take home a net return of less than 1%, at 0.89%. Compare that with a competitive account paying around 4.5% (before the deduction of tax): after tax, the basic-rate saver would take home 3.6% and the higher-rate saver 2.7%. Although neither beat inflation, both are far better than the paltry return from Barclays.
And the effect on purchasing power is clear. 
With inflation at 3.8%, £50,000 left in the Barclays account for a year would grow to £50,445 after basic rate interest has been accounted for, but its real value would shrink to £48,589 once inflation is taken into account. 
The same sum in a 4.5% account (3.60% after tax) would grow to £51,800 after tax. More importantly, its “real value” would be £49,904. 
“Choosing the wrong account could therefore reduce purchasing power by more than £1,300 in a single year,” she adds. 
Here are the top rates on offer across the savings market…
Easy access cash ISAs
Rate cuts as a whole have stalled among easy access cash ISAs. 
The top paying account from the money app, Plum, is offering the best rate on the market at 4.41%. 
Fixed rate bonds
“The inflation news seems to have had a calming impact on fixed rates,” Bowes says. 
In the last week, while the top rates on the two to five-year bonds have remained the same, the top one-year fixed rate bond has improved. 
Prosper is offering 4.43% via Aldermore. Aldermore is paying 4.14% AER and Prosper will add a 0.29% bonus at the end of the term, making this a market leading bond. 
Birmingham Bank and newcomer Afin Bank both launched two-year bonds paying 4.41% pushing up the average of the top five. 
Birmingham Bank has also increased rates on its three-year and five-year bonds to 4.44% and 4.5%. 
“It’s interesting to see the rate curve starting to turn back to the norm – so paying a higher rate to those who are prepared to lock some of their cash up for longer,” Bowes adds. 
Fixed rate cash ISAs
The top fixed term cash ISA rates have continued to hold steady. 
That said, there have been a few new ISAs released paying better rates, 
The two-year table has seen most of the action, with the top rate available increasing from 4.21% to 4.22%. 
But the average of the top five has increased from 4.17% to 4.21% – a sign that competition is rife.
“The other terms have not seen any significant changes to mention, but what has occurred has, in the mai,n been positive – meaning there are plenty of inflation-busting cash ISAs available to choose from,” Bowes says. 
By James Sillars, business and economics reporter 
The FTSE 100 is doing its best to erase yesterday’s losses.
Global stock markets suffered a dip on Tuesday as confidence was hit by Donald Trump’s efforts to erase the independence of the US central bank.
He’s seeking a majority in support of interest rate cuts at the Federal Reserve.
His move to sack a current member of the Fed’s board, who was appointed by Joe Biden three years ago, has gone down badly with bond market investors in particular.
That is because it has shattered confidence that the Fed is able to enact its price and labour market stability remits without political influence.
The FTSE is 0.4% up at 9,301 after its 0.6% fall the previous day.
Leading the gainers is JD Sports Fashion after its latest progress report.
The retailer blamed weak UK sales for a deeper decline in underlying sales for its second quarter of the year but its shares were almost 3% up on signs of stabilisation in its key US market.
JD reported a decline in UK like-for-like sales of more than 6% compared to the same three months in 2024.
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