Today in Money: Mitchum tells customers to stop using some of its deodorants after users report rashes; up to 30 million drivers could be eligible for compensation over the car finance scandal; and we help a reader who took up his parents’ row against P&O Cruises in today’s Money Problem.
Tuesday 9 September 2025 16:30, UK
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The UK is badly exposed to illegal meat smuggling, according to a new parliamentary report.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee said that it was “by luck rather than design” that the UK had so far avoided a “major disease outbreak”.
It warned: “Alarming amounts of meat and dairy products are now being illegally imported to Great Britain for both personal consumption and sale. 
“”Criminal smuggling operations are largely responsible for this and are bringing in products of some of the greatest risk.” 
It said prohibited products were entering the country by plane, boat, cars and in parcels. 
In some cases, it said meat is arriving “stashed in plastic bags, suitcases and cardboard boxes”. 
“This meat is finding its way to our high streets, farms, markets, restaurants and kitchen tables, demand driven by the cost-of-living crisis as well as cultural preferences,” it added. 
The report said that there was no clear data showing the scale of the smuggling. 
While it welcomed a government ban in April on most meat and dairy imports from the EU, it warned that the enforcement of it was “toothless”.
Our Money feature writer Brad Young recently explored how the UK would feed itself in a crisis, and found it was “criminally” unprepared. 
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter
The mobile banking app and internet banking are down at Britain’s biggest building society.
Nationwide’s online services have been offline since around 3pm. 
It apologised “for any problems this may cause”.
“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as we can,” it added.
Direct debits and standing orders are working normally, and customers can still use cards online and in shops, withdraw money from cash machines and receive payments.
Initially, Nationwide said some customers were unable to access the app or internet banking and told users to try again later.
Barclays is cutting the interest rate on two of its popular savings accounts on Friday. 
The bank is reducing the rate on its Reward Saver from 2.25% AER to 2.1% AER, while its Blue Rewards Saver, which comes with a £5 monthly fee, will drop from 2.91% to 2.75%. 
The interest rate applies to the accounts when no withdrawals are made in a given month, otherwise a lower interest rate of 0.6% AER applies. 
Several banks have been cutting interest rates in recent weeks, after the Bank of England reduced its base rate from 4.25% to 4%. 
While this is good news for borrowers, for savers it means a dip in the amount they can earn on their stashed away cash. 
If you have one of the latest Barclays accounts to see a cut, here’s what you could do… 
Savings expert Anna Bowes, from The Private Office, says the rates offered by the Barclays accounts are already “highly uncompetitive” and the reduction makes them worse. 
“There is no need to wait until the rate cut to find a better paying account. The rates currently on offer can easily be beaten – and with no restriction on the number of withdrawals,” she says.
The best paying easy access account available is with Chase, though this is only available to new Chase customers, joining since 9 June. 
The rate is 4.75% AER – considerably more than the rates offered by Barclays both before and after the new rates are applied. 
For those who do not want to open a new current account, and do not want restricted access to their cash, Bowes says Cahoot’s Simple Saver is paying more. 
It is paying 4.4% AER, but after 12 months your money will be moved to a cahoot Savings Account paying a far lower rate (currently 1% AER), she warns. 
Santander is paying 6% AER on its Edge Saver account, but only on balances of up to £4,000, and this rate includes a 2% variable rate bonus for 12 months. 
“More importantly, you have to be an Edge Current Account customer, which comes with a £3 monthly fee to be aware of,” Bowes says.
Up to 30 million people could be eligible for compensation under the UK financial watchdog’s motor finance redress scheme, its boss has said.
Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, said he hoped compensation could start being paid next year. 
It comes after the FCA found many car finance firms broke the law or its rules by not properly informing customers about commission paid by lenders to the car dealers that sold them the loan.
Motorists who bought cars on finance between 2007 and 2021 could be eligible for the compensation.
“During the period that we’re looking it – from 2007 through to approximately 2020 – there are around 30 million agreements… and all of those will be eligible for compensation,” he said. 
“One of the things that we are looking at very closely is what the scope of the scheme will be.”
He said the FCA was looking into so-called discretionary commission arrangements, of which there were about 14.6 million over the same period.
Under “discretionary commission arrangements”, brokers and dealers charged higher levels of interest so they could receive more commission, without telling consumers.
“A very significant proportion of those agreements… we do think probably breached the law when it came to disclosure and, by extension, unfair relationships,” Rathi said. 
He told a group of MPs on the Treasury Committee that the FCA was consulting on an industry-wide compensation scheme because there was “evidence that there have been unfair relationships between lenders and their consumers”. 
He said a “large number of consumers were not properly informed” about the interest rate on their motor finance deal.
The consultation is due to be launched by early October.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that motorists would not be able to claim compensation for hidden commissions paid on car loans, which narrowed the scope for the people who would be eligible for a payout. 
After the ruling, the FCA said it would consult on what issues would make a driver eligible for compensation in a redress scheme. 
While it’s looking at hidden commissions, it is also looking at other commission agreements that could mean lenders have charged unfair amounts to customers. 
We look at who might be eligible for the payment under the redress scheme if it goes ahead… 
You can get a £1 pizza at Pizza Express this month.
At the popular chain, customers can get a £1 classic or Leggera pizza when they buy other classic or Leggera pizza at full price.
Prices differ across the country, but are typically between £11 and £20. 
The offer is available until 28 September for eat in, collection or delivery via Pizza Express.
It isn’t available for orders through delivery platforms such as Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
Under the terms and conditions, the most expensive pizza on the bill cannot be discounted to £1 and Pizza Express’s airport locations do not qualify either.
The chain is running a similar offer for its Romana pizzas until 28 September – buy one for full price and get a second for £2.95.
Using a work computer for personal matters, such as shopping or looking for properties, for less than 45 minutes a day is not a sackable offence, a judge has ruled. 
An accountancy firm employee has won £14,120 after an employment tribunal ruled the time she spent browsing sites such as Rightmove or Amazon was not excessive. 
Named in court documents as Ms A Lanuszka, the worker was sacked in July 2023 after spyware was placed on her computer to record her activity and found she had been using it for personal reasons. 
Over 13 and 14 July, she was found to have spent 2 hours and 33 minutes on the computer, of which one hour and 24 minutes was on “personal matters” and 1 hour and nine minutes on work matters. 
Michael Magee, the judge, said there was “no prohibition on personal computer use, and the amount of time Ms Lanuszka devoted to personal matters during the two days has not been shown to be excessive”. 
He found that Ms Lanuszka’s boss, named as Ms Krauze, had also used a work computer for personal reasons, and that no policies were shown to her indicating that she should not do so. 
“She was free to use the computer personally when work commitments permitted and during breaks,” he said. 
He also noted that she used the computer to improve her skills. For example, she completed Excel training and used Groupmania to “improve her use of spreadsheets and presentations”. 
He ruled that Ms Lanuszka’s boss wanted to dismiss her before she had accrued two years service – the point at which workers are able to bring an unfair dismissal claim against their employer.  
“The tribunal concludes that it was Ms Krauze’s desire to dismiss Ms Lanuszka before Ms Krauze believed that she would accrue two years’ service that was the real reason for Ms Lanuszka’s dismissal and not conduct,” he said. 
Mitchum has apologised after customers developed “painful” and “itchy” rashes under their arms while using its deodorants.
It has told those experiencing the “irritation” to stop using the affected products “immediately”. 
Shoppers have been posting videos and photos of their sore armpits on TikTok and X after using some of the brand’s roll-on deodorants. 
Some assumed it was down to an ingredient change, but Mitchum has clarified the issue is due to “a change in the manufacturing process” of one of its raw materials. 
“Some of you told us that you have experienced temporary irritation after using selected batches of Mitchum 48-hour 100ml roll on, sold in the UK, Ireland and South Africa,” it said on Instagram. “We are sorry to those who were impacted and for the time it took to complete the investigation.” 
Angry customers were quick to reply to the Instagram post, with some disappointed by the statement. 
“Temporary irritation is an absolute joke, irritation is not the word. Try burns, blisters, scabs, now scars. I’ll never buy another Mitchum product again,” one said. 
“I don’t think red raw underarms that are burning and peeling is accurately depicted by your phrasing of ‘temporary irritation’,” said another. 
Mitchum said the manufacturing change “altered how the product interacts with the skin” for some people. 
“The change didn’t meet our standards, or yours. We’ve gone back to the original process to make sure current and future batches meet the high standards you expect,” it added. 
Not all batches have been affected by the issue, and you can tell if your deodorant has been by checking the batch number at the bottom of the bottle. 
These are the products that have been affected: 
No other products in the brand’s portfolio are affected by the issue.
Mitchum told Money the issue had been resolved and it was working to remove the “small amount of product remaining on shelf”. 
“We ask that any consumers experiencing issues contact our Customer Care team and give us a chance to make this right,” the spokesman added. 
“We advise those experiencing issues to stop using the product immediately and to contact our teams at customerenquiries@mitchum.com or on 0800 085 2716.” 
By James Sillars, business and economics reporter 
We’ll take a look at France, after the collapse of prime minister Francois Bayrou’s government, in a moment.
But first, news of a big deal for a FTSE 100 company.
Anglo American, the mining firm, had been at the centre of takeover interest for many years.
But it has moved to end that saga by announcing a merger with Teck Resources, a Canadian rival.
Under the terms, Anglo will own about 62.4% of the newly combined company.
It will be called Anglo Teck. Crucially for the UK, it will continue to have its primary stock market listing in London though it will be headquartered in Canada.
Anglo shares were up 7% in early trading as a result of the deal and leading tentative gains on the FTSE 100.
The index was 0.2% up at 9,242.
Across the Channel, markets are calm in France despite the political turmoil of the night before.
It was confirmed after markets in Europe had closed that Bayrou was to formally resign this morning after losing a confidence vote in the National Assembly that was tied to his plan for £40bn of budget cuts.
It leaves France in political limbo again, with President Emmanuel Macron under pressure to agree new parliamentary elections.
A succession of minority governments have toppled in recent years, with Macron supporters unable to get crucial legislation past a split Assembly.
The CAC 40 was 0.6% up this morning, recovering some losses of recent weeks, and French government borrowing costs were stable, as was the euro.
The calm could easily be replaced if no way forward is found and investors start to question the country’s ability to operate effectively.
Move aside Tesco, and get out of the way Waitrose, Pret A Manger is entering the meal deal market. 
In a bid to boost lunchtime trade after sustaining heavy losses last year, the coffee chain is rolling out the popular main, snack and drink combo in the final three months of the year. 
Boss Pano Christou said the company’s priority would be “offering great value for money” as it looks to grow the brand and return to sustainable profits. 
While it sounds great, it’s hard to judge at the moment because we don’t know how much it’s going to cost, and where it will launch. 
At the moment, Pret’s range of sandwiches cost between £2.99 and £6.25. 
Cold drinks range in price between £1.80 and £4.80. Some of the snacks listed on the website include salt and cider vinegar crisps, dark chocolate corn cakes and dried mango. 
Pret suffered heavy losses last year because of non-cash impairments linked to a reassessment of the company by owner JAB, which bought the chain in 2018.
What do supermarkets offer? 
Major supermarkets, such as Tesco, have offered meal deals including sandwiches, snacks and drinks for years.
Tesco recently increased the price of its meal deal by 25p as food inflation affects the sector.
Waitrose has the most expensive deal at £5. 
Sainsbury’s recently increased its price by 20p to £3.95. 
Morrisons customers pay £4, the same as Co-op non-members – though members pay £3.50. 
Asda doesn’t offer a fixed price for its meal deal, instead operating a 3-for-2 system, with the cheapest item free.
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