Welcome to the Money blog, Sky News’ consumer and personal finance hub. Today: we round up the savings accounts with the top rates and report on a change at Wetherspoon pubs. Listen to Money reporter Jess Sharp on why energy and food bills are rising as you scroll.
Wednesday 3 September 2025 07:09, UK
Wetherspoons has stopped accepting Scottish £20 and £50 notes across its pubs in England. 
The pub chain said it made the decision after being warned about counterfeit cash being used by criminal gangs. 
Customers have not been able to use the money since November, but the decision has only just come to light after some punters complained. 
JD Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said the company was notified by the Bank of England that a “large number of fake Scottish £20 notes were being put into circulation by organised crime gangs” in October. 
“Advice was given as to how to identify them, but with a warning not to accept if in doubt. This warning, coupled with an increase in the receipt of fake notes in pubs, led to a decision in late November last year not to accept Scottish £20 notes,” he said. 
“Scottish £50 notes are not accepted for the same reasons. We will continue to keep this decision under review.” 
He said some English pubs with “close links” to Scotland would still accept them. 
Martin Quinn, from the Campaign for Cash, told Money that chains should have checks in place so staff could accurately check for forgeries. 
“All notes carry various security features, and are much more secure than the old paper notes,” he said. 
“It’s really not ideal if you have Scottish or Northern Irish notes and can’t spend them; they become worthless, unless you are heading back to Scotland.” 
What about the ‘legal tender’ argument? 
When people have their cash refused, you’ll often hear them argue that it’s “legal tender” and must be accepted. 
But that’s not true. First, Scottish notes are not legal tender in England and Wales, or even Scotland. 
They are a legal currency, but their acceptance is at the discretion of the individual or business. 
Legal tender has a narrow technical meaning that rarely comes up in everyday life – it’s actually about settling debts rather than paying for things. 
For this week’s guide, Anna Bowes, personal finance expert from The Private Office, rounds up all the important moves in the savings market… 
The most recent inflation figures (3.8%) have helped to put the brakes on cuts to savings rates, but a number of providers are driving forward with reductions. 
So it might be time to check the rates you’re getting and seeing if you could earn more on your savings elsewhere. 
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular types of accounts…
Fixed-rate cash ISAs
The biggest news to report is that United Trust Bank launched a new three-year cash ISA paying 4.23%, pipping Shawbrook by just 0.01% but taking the top spot in that table.
Vida Saving tops the one-year and two-year tables paying 4.31% and 4.22% respectively, while Shawbrook holds on to the top with its five-year ISA paying 4.25% AER.
“The thing to remember is that with rate cuts on hold and a few new higher rates being introduced, that there are plenty of inflation busting cash ISA rates to be found,” Bowes says. 
“So if you’ve not already used your ISA allowance, perhaps a top paying tax-free account is something to consider.” 
Easy access cash ISAs
The previous market leading cash ISA from Plum has dropped down the league table after reducing its rate for new customers from 4.41% to 4.35%. 
This has allowed Principality Building Society to move into first place with its Online Bonus 5 Access Cash ISA, paying 4.4%. 
“As the name suggests though, you can make only five withdrawals per year, one of which would be to close your account – so you need to keep an eye on the number of withdrawals you make to ensure you still have the access you want,” Bowes notes.
If you want an ISA offering unrestricted access, Chip pays 4.32% but this account needs to be opened via the Chip app and the rate includes a bonus of 1.28% for the first 12 months. 
“As ever, check all the terms and conditions to make sure you choose the best account to meet your needs, but there are plenty of competitive rates to choose from which can keep your cash keeping up with the rising cost of living,” she adds. 
Easy access
The top easy access account is still 4.75% with Chase Bank – but it is only available to those who have a Chase current account. 
Cahoot’s Simple Saver Issue 11 is the best paying simple unrestricted easy access savings account available, paying 4.4% AER
Cahoot also has an easy access account which is paying 5% AER, but only on up to £3,000. 
“If you have less than this or would like to squeeze as much as you can without opening linked current accounts, this could be another account to consider,” Bowes says. 
Fixed-rate bonds
Over the past week, there have been a few withdrawals and a few rate increases. 
In the one-year table, the top rates paying 4.43% and 4.41% were withdrawn last week, but Chetwood launched a new market leading account paying 4.5%. 
Cynergy and Atom also upped their offerings, both paying 4.4%.
JN Bank is still ruling the five-year roost with its bond paying 4.52% AER – which is potentially a good option for those who believe interest rates will fall over the medium to longer term.
Savings platform Raisin UK has launched a £100 welcome bonus for new customers opening a fixed rate bond – but you need to have £10,000 to get it. 
Until midnight on 30 September, savers who open a fixed rate bond of 12 months or longer and deposit the cash will get the bonus. 
Raisin connects savers with a wide range of banks offering accounts. 
The platform’s current leading one-year fixed rate bond is from Shawbrook Bank at 4.33% AER. 
At this rate, a £10,000 deposit generates £433 in interest. Add the £100 bonus, and the return increases to the equivalent of 5.33% AER. 
The £100 is paid before maturity and is not conditional on keeping money in the account beyond the fixed term. 
Is it worth considering? 
We asked savings expert and Money blog regular Anna Bowes, from the Private Office, what she thought of the deal…
“Of course, larger deposits will dilute the benefit of the bonus; however, even if you were to deposit the Financial Services Compensation Scheme maximum of £85,000, the £100 bonus would elevate the equivalent rate to 4.45% – beaten only by Chetwood Bank’s 1 Year Bond paying 4.50% on the open market,” she says.
“Cash platforms are a great way to have access to multiple savings accounts, without having to make a new application each time, which means that opening and managing multiple accounts is much simpler. 
“At the moment, cash platforms are not whole of market, but they often offer competitive, if not market leading options, so are worth a look.” 
The boss of Omaze has warned there are not enough quality homes being built and he might have to start building his own to keep his competitions going. 
Matthew Pohlson told The Telegraph that opposition to local housing developments, known as nimbyism, had made it “hard to build” all over the world. 
“You look at the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, countries we’re either in or looking at going into – it’s the same patterns, the same thing is happening everywhere,” he told the newspaper. 
“People don’t let go of these houses. And sometimes they haven’t been built. One hundred per cent, we need to be building more houses.”
He added: “If we can’t find the stuff [ticket buyers] want, we’ll have to get building.” 
Omaze gives away one multimillion-pound house every month, with people paying a minimum of £10 to enter each draw and the company’s charity partners given a portion of the proceeds. 
The house comes mortgage-free, with all legal fees and stamp duty paid. Furnishings are included, and winners also get £250,000 cash. 
The company has faced controversy over the running costs of the homes, but Pohlson dismissed the suggestion that people couldn’t run them as “nonsense”. 
“None of our winners have ever said I’m selling because I can’t afford to keep it,” he told The Telegraph. “They sell because the money they get is life-changing.” 
Housing raffles have taken the UK by storm – but how likely are you to win?
In an increasingly grim housing market, the chance to own a once-in-a-lifetime home seems too good to be true. 
And that is probably because it is.
But in a cost of living crisis, it is the chance to “escape from reality” that drives people to continue gambling on a win, one psychology expert previously told Sky News…
Every Tuesday we answer reader Money Problems – from consumer disputes to financial dilemmas. You can read today’s by scrolling to first thing this morning – but this afternoon we’ve got a short bonus edition after reader David Room got in touch with this…
I am wondering if you can help with a dispute with British Airways. In April 2024 I booked a business class return from London to Tokyo using Avios and an American Express 2-for-1 voucher. It cost me 165,000 Avios points plus taxes and charges of total £1,218.50. The flight was booked 355 days in advance. At the airport I was downgraded to premium economy due to overbooking. At check-in they told me not to worry and it would be sorted at the gate but at the gate I filled out a form and was told there was nothing they could do and that compensation would be automatic. On the aircraft things didn’t improve as what was supposed to be a new aircraft with the club suites configuration had been swapped out for a really old 747 with old design and poor seating. The premium economy seats were really poor and not much better than economy. I was heading straight into Disneyland on arrival so the lack of sleep was a major, major impact on our holiday. There were full-on rows going on, with other passengers shouting at staff as they had been separated from their partners in different cabins. It was clear it was a mass downgrade event and they were completely unprepared. Five months on from this, I have never been properly compensated. Can you help?
David Room
Our first step with emails like this is to put in a quick call to the company involved.
Sometimes they’ll put another side to the story (Wickes), sometimes they’ll produce CCTV that discredits the reader’s account (Premier Inn, we didn’t run with the story).
Other times, the company seems to hold up its hands, which is what happened when we got in touch with BA.
“We’re sorry for our customer’s experience and we have been in touch to make things right,” they told us.
The problem, it appears, was a late change of aircraft so there was reduced capacity.
You told us you were delighted with their offer of 100,000 Avios points and £300 in compensation.
“This is a really great result and again I can’t thank you enough for your hard intervention,” you said.
Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:
Santander has downgraded its forecast for how quickly interest rates will fall.
For the past couple of years, the prevailing wisdom has been rates were on a linear path down to a neutral level of around 3% by 2026.
The narrative is now changing, however, as inflation ticks up again – with higher food prices and additional costs for business ensuring the cost of living crisis lingers longer than expected.
Cutting interest rates tends to boost spending – which can be inflationary. So, the feeling now is that it will be difficult for the Bank of England to ease monetary policy any further after bringing the base rate down to 4% over the last year.
Victoria Clarke, UK chief economist at Santander, said: “We have revised our UK interest rate view and now expect Bank Rate to remain at 4% through end-2026, rather than falling to 3.5% by April 2026 as in our previous forecast. 
“The change reflects a stickier inflation outlook, with CPI peaking at 4.2% this autumn, still at 4% at end-2025 and easing only gradually to 3% by mid-2026, leaving the Bank of England little scope to cut without undermining credibility.”
It’s not just Santander. Investors are putting the chance of no change at the Bank’s September meeting at 99% – and bets imply there will be no more cuts this year.
The long-term cost of government borrowing has reached its highest level since 1998, prompting the pound to fall.
The 30-year gilt yield, which is the interest rate demanded by investors, rose more than five basis points this morning – pushing the rate to the highest this century, and the highest in the G7. 
Economics and data editor Ed Conway says there’s a “toxic combination” of two factors that’s causing borrowing rates to rise. 
And, while it’s not quite a return to the financial chaos of the 1970s when the UK had to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund, the “ingredients are there”.
“Some people are concerned that we have an inflation problem. This then suggests the Bank of England needs to keep interest rates higher than everywhere else, which in turn feeds into those higher interest rates the government is having to pay,” he says. 
“The government has an issue, which is the hole left by the fact that it had to do all these U-turns on things like the winter fuel, and benefits changes. 
“As a result, it has to try to find some way either of raising taxes or cut spending, and it’s not clear at the moment where that is going to come from. 
“When you put all of that together, it’s that kind of toxic combination that a lot of people get nervous about. It’s perhaps no surprise that a lot of people are looking at the UK, and they’re just a bit more nervous than they would normally be about lending it money. 
“It’s very tough for the government to plot out a course of action which means it is going to bring the public finances back into order. 
“People will be looking very closely at what Chancellor Rachel Reeves does next.” 
The rise of home working, coupled with a fall in job vacancies, means getting hands-on work experience is increasingly difficult.
For teens hunting for a first-time job, it seems the days of handing out physical CVs or asking a local shopkeeper for a Saturday shift are gone. 
In a further sign of the times, Aldi is offering virtual work experience to more than 10,000 young people by the end of the year. 
The budget supermarket has pledged to help teenagers get prepared for working life, offering the free course to those as young as 13.
The online course is designed to show people the wide range of careers available in the retail sector and help them “build skills to support future applications”.
It features videos from staff members, interactive quizzes and activities. 
Once it has been completed, students receive a certificate. 
If you are interested in taking part, you can sign up here. 
What do you think about the virtual work experience? Leave your thoughts in the comments. 
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By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter
The value of the pound has sunk as the cost of 30-year government borrowing reached a high last seen in 1998.
One pound briefly bought $1.338, a low last seen in nearly a month, down from $1.35 earlier this morning.
It’s still higher than most of the past year. In early September 2024 a pound bought $1.31. 
It means sterling is on course for the biggest one-day drop since April, when Donald Trump’s announcement of country-specific tariffs spooked markets. 
The drop was similarly steep against the euro, with a pound momentarily buying €1.149, a fall from €1.1586 earlier this morning.  It’s recovered slightly, reaching €1.152.
Before the so-called liberation day announcement, £1 equalled nearly €1.19. 
It comes as the yield (the interest rate demanded by investors)  on 30-year government bonds (loans taken by the state) hit 5.695%, before easing to 5.67%, the highest rate this century. 
Yields are rising across the globe, and investors are concerned about UK government finances as Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, struggles to stick to her fiscal rules to bring down the debt and balance the budget. 
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