Today in Money: A Michelin-listed chef from Newcastle takes part in our Cheap Eats interview; Southwest Airlines has a new policy for plus-sized travellers; and Terry Wogan’s son rages at Rachel Reeves.
Thursday 28 August 2025 17:57, UK
Funding for a scheme that offers children free meals and activities during the school holidays has been extended for three years.
The government is investing £600m to extend the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which supports children from low-income households who receive free school meals during term time.
Working families can save more than £800 a year thanks to the scheme, according to the Department for Education.
Working parents in England will also be able to access 30 hours a week of funded childcare for kids older than nine months from Monday, thanks to a separate policy change.
Ryanair staff are to get more money for spotting and charging for oversized baggage, the company’s chief executive has said.
Michael O’Leary said he made “absolutely no apology” for catching people who are “scamming the system”.
The reward for intercepting passengers travelling with bags larger than permitted will increase from €1.50 (£1.29) to €2.50 (£2.15) per bag in November, and the monthly €80 (£68.95) payment cap will be scrapped, Mr O’Leary said.
At present, the budget airline allows travellers a free 40cm x 30cm x 20cm bag, which can fit under the seat in front, and charges for further luggage up to 55cm x 40cm x 20cm in size.
Customers face fines of up to £75 for an oversized item if it is brought to the boarding gate.
“I make absolutely no apology for it whatsoever”, Mr O’Leary said.
“I am still mystified by the number of people with rucksacks who still think they’re going to get through the gate and we won’t notice the rucksack,” he added.
By Thomas Moore, science correspondent
The cost of Mounjaro, one of Britain’s biggest-selling weight loss drugs, will be heavily discounted across UK pharmacies when the official list price soars next week, Sky News has learned.
We’ve seen a confidential document from the US makers Eli Lilly to pharmacies setting out the scheme, with a saving of £83 on the cost of the maximum dose.
It would take some of the sting out of the sharp price hike announced by the pharmaceutical giant.
The price of the drug was set to go up 170%, with the highest dose of the medicine increasing from £122 to £330, from 1 September.
It came after US President Donald Trump complained that “foreign freeloaders” were getting a better deal on medicines than Americans.
Eli Lilly said the UK was one of the first countries to roll out Mounjaro, and the list price had been significantly lower than the European average.
Under the new discount plans, the cost will still double for the 15mg top dose, rising from £122 a month to £247.50.
Lower doses will get smaller discounts.
The American diner chain Denny’s is set for a major expansion in the UK.
Established in 1953, Denny’s operates in 15 countries – including in Australasia, South East Asia, the Middle East, South America and North America, where it has more than 1,300 restaurants.
And now the business advisory firm FRP Corporate Finance has been appointed to assess potential partners in the UK to acquire the franchise of the brand.
As part of the sale process, the firm is also marketing Denny’s UK-based store at Parc Tawe in Swansea, which was first opened in 2017.
Alex Patey, director at FRP Corporate Finance, said Denny’s Swansea diner had “already demonstrated the household brand’s potential in the UK”, and there were “clear opportunities across high streets, airports, service stations and drive-thru sites”.
More than 30 potentially lethal baby sleeping bags have been listed on online marketplaces including Amazon, eBay and Etsy, a Which? investigation has found.
The sleeping bags were similar or identical to products officially recalled by the Office for Product Safety and Standards over suffocation risks.
A common characteristic is that they include hoods that could cover a baby’s head and face, resulting in suffocation. Some didn’t include armholes, which is an essential requirement to meet the safety standard.
Those without armholes can cause a baby to slip down inside the sleeping bag, covering their face and risking suffocation.
“It’s outrageous that dangerous baby sleeping bags are still being sold on online marketplaces,” Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which?, said.
“Our previous investigations showed this is part of a wider pattern: unsafe products are removed only to resurface.
“The only way to break this cycle is by holding online marketplaces legally accountable, with tough penalties for failures.”
The items pictured in this post have since been removed from the online marketplaces.
An Amazon spokesperson said it required all products to comply with applicable laws, regulations and Amazon policies.
“The products flagged are not in scope of the safety alerts shared by Which?,” the spokesperson added.
“If customers have concerns about an item they’ve purchased, we encourage them to contact our Customer Service directly so we can investigate and help resolve their issue.”
An eBay spokesperson said consumer safety was a “top priority”.
“We work diligently to keep our site safe and prevent prohibited listings through seller compliance audits, block filter algorithms for unsafe listings, and AI-supported monitoring by our team of in-house specialists,” the spokesperson added.
“These proactive measures have prevented millions of potentially unsafe products from being listed every year. Listings that violate eBay policy, including those identified in this investigation, are swiftly removed.”
A new discount app has been launched for teachers and people working in the education sector.
Discounts For Teachers has long been a website offering deals to school staff, but has now launched an app which provides members with exclusive offers for free.
Here are some of the discounts currently available on the app:
On its website, Discounts For Teachers says members save an average of £2,262 a year – that’s around £188.50 a month.
Who can sign up?
The scheme is open to…
To sign up, you’ll need to provide your work email address or a document proving you are eligible, such as an ID card, payslip or a P60 certificate.
How do the deals work?
Select the deal in the app, and it will either take you to the brand’s website and automatically apply the discount, or give you a discount code which you can use when you check out.
If you want to use your discount in-store, show your digital ID, which can be found on the app, at the till.
What about the cashback deal?
While it’s not available on the Discount For Teachers app, the scheme also offers a cashback card.
The Ode card gives members up to 16% cashback at more than 70 retailers, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Currys, Boots and John Lewis.
It’s free for the first year, but after that you have to pay an annual fee of £2.99.
You top up the card using a different app- the Pluxee UK Card app – and then use it to pay for products in-store or online and receive the cashback.
Uber has announced plans to launch an international train route that could take Britons to Europe.
The service will run between Stratford in east London, and Paris and Brussels, via the Channel Tunnel.
Uber is partnering with Gemini Trains, which will be responsible for operating the trainline.
But Uber will “co-brand” the service, while offering passengers the opportunity to book tickets through the Uber app.
Andrew Brem, general manager at Uber UK, said the company had seen “amazing momentum” since launching new modes of transport in the UK.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to bring our brand to the iconic Channel Tunnel journey,” he said.
Meanwhile, Adrian Quine, CEO at Gemini, said it was “exciting” to be teaming up with Uber.
“Now passengers will be able to enjoy the same value and comfort on brand new cutting edge trains at the touch of a button,” he added.
The Treasury is considering a tax increase on landlords by imposing national insurance on rental income at this autumn’s budget, it has been reported.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and her officials are examining a possible levy on property earnings, which could raise about £2bn every year, The Times reports.
But an expert has told Money the move would “almost certainly” be passed on to renters.
Why is the government considering it?
The move is being backed by some Labour MPs and government aides, with some proponents saying that landlords were seen as a way of targeting “unearned revenue”.
Employee national insurance contributions (NICs) on other earnings stand at 8%, but drop to 2% above a £50,270 threshold.
Allies of Reeves are said to have argued the proposals avoid breaking the Labour government’s 2024 election pledge not to raise VAT, income tax or NIC for workers.
And the chancellor is under pressure to raise money to fill a hole in the public finances.
Read more on that here…
‘Almost certain’ costs would be passed on to tenants
Shaun Moore, tax and financial planning expert at the wealth management company Quilter, fears the proposal to apply national insurance to rental income would be a “significant blow to the buy-to-let sector”.
“Introducing an additional tax burden risks accelerating the exodus of landlords from the market, further reducing the supply of rental properties at a time when demand remains high,” he said.
“This imbalance will inevitably push rents even higher, worsening affordability for tenants and deepening the housing crisis.
“Similarly, the addition of national insurance would almost certainly be passed on to renters through higher rents, compounding the problem.”
Moore said a “more balanced approach” might be to revisit the changes to mortgage interest relief.
Treasury won’t confirm plan
Asked about the report in The Times, an HM Treasury spokesperson said the “best way to strengthen public finances is by growing the economy”.
“We are committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible, which is why at last autumn’s budget, we protected working people’s payslips and kept our promise not to raise the basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, employee national insurance, or VAT,” they added.
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Terry Wogan’s son has failed to find a buyer for his £3.75m family home – and he’s squarely blaming one person.
Mark Wogan says Rachel Reeves is to blame for no one coming to see the house.
The chancellor has “killed the housing market,” the 51-year-old says.
Speaking to TalkTV’s Plank Of The Week, Wogan said: “It’s interesting how you say Rachel Reeves is killing the housing market – she’s killed it already.
“You’d think someone would come round, even just out of interest. But no one’s come to see it. No one, not one single person. That’s how dead the market is.”
The pizza restaurant owner said the house in Buckinghamshire was a “steal” and had already been reduced in price.
“We can’t afford to hold on to it at all. The property market has ground to a halt. Nothing is moving. People are desperate to sell their homes because they can’t afford their mortgages,” he added in a follow-up interview.
He explained that he had been forced to put it on the market after his mother, Lady Helen, died last year.
His father, the former BBC Radio Two presenter, bought the 6,500sqft home in 1975, and raised his family there.
It was passed to Lady Helen in 2016 after Wogan died.
Reeves has repeatedly said boosting economic growth is the government’s key priority.
Growth has been impacted by Donald Trump’s tariffs and increased costs to businesses imposed in April.
However, the latest set of growth figures provided a boost to the chancellor – and compared favourably internationally.
Read more on that here…
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