New EU travel rules take effect next weekend ahead of a €20 charge for Britons in 2026 – we outline everything you need to know. We also examine “part and part” mortgages in today’s Money blog, Sky News’ home for personal finance and consumer news.
Friday 3 October 2025 17:00, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
It’s been a week of significant news for your personal finances – while two exclusives here in the blog cut through.
Money reporter Jess Sharp had a call with Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary which created headlines, as he warned 100,000 passengers could see flights cancelled next week amid industrial action in France.
Meanwhile, data shared exclusively with Money feature writer Brad Young highlighted an 80% rise in fines as a result of “dashcam snitches”.
Here are eight more posts impacting your money this week…
1/ Will you lose winter fuel payment next year?
More than 100,000 pensioners could lose their winter fuel payments next year due to the frozen £35,000 income threshold, analysis has suggested.
2/ Greggs price rises
Bakery chain Greggs increased its prices from Thursday as it grappled with increased employment costs.
3/ 0% balance transfer deal for 35 months
You can now shift your credit card debt to 0% interest for 35 months – the longest deal since 2022. At least two banks are offering 0% balance transfer deals that last that long, according to Moneyfacts.
4/ Virgin Media increases mid-contract price hike
Many Virgin Media customers will see their bills jump by £4 a month in April as the company increases its mid-contract price hikes.
5/ ‘Part and part’ mortgage could help first-time buyers
A new “part and part” mortgage launched this week aimed at first-time buyers – with brokers saying it will have mass appeal. Gen H’s deal requires just a 5% deposit and buyers can take up to 80% of their mortgage on an interest-only basis.
6/ Bad news for wine and beer drinkers
Food, wine and beer are some of the goods expected to go up in price due to a new packaging tax, industry leaders have warned.
7/ Edinburgh tourist tax
Tourists booking a getaway trip to Edinburgh for next summer have to pay extra for their stay after the introduction of a new tourist tax.
8/ British Gas handing out £2,000 grants – if you apply
One of Britain’s biggest energy suppliers has reopened a scheme handing up to £2,000 to struggling households.
Some new research that landed in our inbox this week sheds light on how common it is for couples to argue about money.
Some 15% of people living with their partner say they find conversations about money with their other-half “challenging and stressful”, Aegon found. The same percentage say their partner’s values are contrary to their own.
This struck us as a relatively low figure – but for those affected it can cause significant issues. Indeed, 38% of those who find conversations difficult say it affects their relationship.
Overall, 55% of UK couples living together choose to fully combine their finances, making use of joint bank accounts and actively discussing savings goals.
How to talk about money
Finances within relationships is something we’ve covered extensively in the Money blog.
Last year we spoke to Peter Saddingoton, relationship counsellor at Relate, about how to navigate difficult conversations.
You need to be honest about your position, he said, but your conversation should be negotiating as a couple what works for both of you.
Before you have to jump into the conversation, think about:
Saddington said that if your partner was not willing to help, you should look at the reasons or question if there were other things in the relationship that needed sorting out.
If you’re having repeated arguments about money, resentment may have built to such a degree that you need a third party such as a counsellor, therapist or mediator to help resolve it.
Join accounts
We’ve also spoken to Rachel Kerrone, a personal finance expert at Starling Bank, about what good joint account etiquette looks like.
She advocates for one simple rule: “Take a step back and consider whether it is something you’re going to jointly benefit from.”
Kerrone’s advice is to sit down with your partner before opening an account and agree exactly what you will use it for, and how much money you will both put in.
Debt, she says, is also another slightly awkward but important topic to be honest about – if you open a joint account, your credit histories become linked.
“Not all couples realise this, so it’s useful to talk about your credit score with your partner, understand the implications of sharing an account and decide if joint financial activities will work for you both,” she says.
There is one crucial point Kerrone puts across for all couples…
“Despite opening a joint account, it’s still important to have your own separate account so you can have financial independence when needed.”
HMRC has urged people to check if they are due a tax refund worth hundreds of pounds.
At the end of each tax year, the tax office works out whether you have paid the correct amount and typically issues a rebate, but you can put in a claim yourself if you think you have overpaid.
It started sending out letters informing households about the amount there were owed in June, but it seems some people still haven’t claimed.
In a post on X, HMRC said: “Received a letter saying you have a tax refund to claim? There could be an average of £473 waiting for you.”
There are lots of reasons you might have overpaid tax in the last financial year, including:
How to claim your refund
You can make a claim online or using the HMRC app – which the tax office says is the quickest way to get your money back.
You will need your government gateway ID to log in.
If you are due a refund, a button will appear telling you to “claim your refund”. Click this and HMRC will pay the amount you are owed into your bank account within five working days.
You don’t need a letter to go through this process.
Luxury and EasyJet are not two words you often hear in the same sentence, but that’s about to change.
The budget airline is entering the high-end, five-star holiday market, offering “ultra luxury experiences” to passengers.
EasyJet Holidays, the airline’s package holiday business, is launching a new programme, featuring more than 70 premium hotels across Europe and North Africa.
Booking is available now for trips starting in April 2026.
We had a look at some of the deals currently available…
Customers booking through the Luxury Collection will also get a 26kg luggage allowance and a dedicated bag drop zone at check-in.
They’ll be able to fast-track through security, use speedy boarding and pre-select their seats for a “smoother airport experience”, the company said.
Premium private transfers from the airport will be available, as well as “elevated extras” like Michelin-star dining.
“The launch of our Luxury Collection reflects our ambition to redefine premium travel,” Garry Wilson, easyJet Holidays’ CEO, said.
“This new collection allows us to reach new audiences, strengthening our position as a leader in both value and luxury travel – all while maintaining our unwavering commitment to outstanding service and unforgettable travel experiences.”
The UK’s most popular supermarket has said it is to introduce “strong deals” over the next three months as it prepares for Christmas.
It’s being done as Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said he expected people to spread Christmas spending over a wider period to be more manageable and affordable.
The supermarket price war, spurred by grocers competing to lower costs and win customers, “could be even more intensive” over the next months, Mr Murphy said.
Read the full story here…
We all hate waiting for a train – or being on one that ends up making us late, but if you find yourself in that situation, it might help to know that you can get compensation for your delay pretty easily.
Lots of train companies across the country have opted into a national “delay repay” scheme that can be used to compensate you for unexpected delays and cancellations.
Companies can have different parameters for paying out, so we’ve had a look at what they’re offering and how you can claim…
Avanti West Coast
You can claim money back if your journey has been delayed by 15 minutes or more.
For a single ticket, you can get:
For a return ticket, you’ll get:
For a season ticket, it works out slightly differently. You will be refunded the proportionate cost of the price you paid.
Your refund is worked out on an estimated number of single journeys taken over the season ticket’s duration. For an annual season ticket, that’s 464 journeys. For a monthly ticket, it’s 40.
The delay repay scheme will then give you:
You can claim your compensation within 28 days of your affected journey. Avanti West Coast should process a claim for you automatically if you’re delayed by 15 minutes or more, or you can submit a claim here.
Greater Anglia
This company operates in the same way as Avanti West Coast, but it does not process a claim automatically for you.
You can submit a claim here.
C2C also follows the same policies, and gives you the option to donate your compensation to charity here.
As does Great Northern. You can read about the other ways to redeem your compensation here.
Cross Country
You’ll be able to get some money back if your train has been delayed by 30 minutes or more.
For single tickets, you’ll get:
For return tickets:
For season tickets:
The quickest way to submit a claim is to fill out a form online here.
Gatwick Express
You’ll be entitled to some money back if you’re waiting 15 minutes or more for the Gatwick Express.
If you have a single day ticket, you’ll get:
Season ticket holders get the same percentages back, based on the cost of a single journey.
For a return ticket:
You can apply for the money back within 28 days of your delayed journey, and you should get a response within 20 working days. You can apply here.
Chiltern Railways follows the same policies. You can complete its online compensation form here.
Great Western Railway
Delay repayments start being made after you’ve been waiting 15 minutes.
It offers the same percentage of your costs back as Gatwick Express, unless you are a season ticket holder.
In that case, if you are delayed by more than two hours, you’ll get 200% of the price of your affected journey back.
Again, you’ll have 28 days to make the claim. You’ll need to submit of photo of your ticket or smart card with it. You can submit a claim here.
Hull Trains
You’ll have to be delayed a little longer to get some money back from Hull Trains.
You aren’t owed anything unless your train is late by 30 minutes or more.
If you’re waiting up to 59 minutes, you’ll get 50% of your single ticket or 25% of your return ticket.
For delays of an hour or more, you’ll get a 100% refund on the cost of your single ticket or 50% of your return.
You’ll also be entitled to claim if you’re a season ticket holder. You can work out how much you’re owed here.
London and North Western Railway
If you face an unexpected delay of 15 minutes or more, you’ll be entitled to some compensation.
But if your train was delayed due to pre-planned engineering works and replacement bus services were offered, you won’t be entitled to anything.
Here’s what you can get:
You can make a claim here.
East Midlands Railway
This follows the same rules as London and North Western Railway. You can submit a claim here.
Grand Central
You aren’t entitled to claim any compensation unless you are delayed by 60 minutes or more.
If you are late by up to two hours, you can get 50% of the cost of a single ticket, or 50% of the relevant portion of your return ticket.
For delays between two and three hours, you can get 75% of the cost of a single ticket, and the relevant portion of your return ticket.
If you’re delayed any longer, you’ll get a full refund.
You can submit a claim here – you might get money directly to your PayPal account, or your Bank account, or get a discount code for a replacement journey.
Heathrow Express
If you are delayed by more than 30 minutes, you will be entitled to 25% of the price you paid for the Heathrow Express part of your journey back.
For delays of more than 60 minutes, you’ll get 50% back.
You can complete an online form to get your compensation here.
LNER
You’ll get 50% of the cost of a single ticket back if you are delayed by 30 to 59 minutes.
If you have a return ticket, you’ll get that amount back on the relevant portion.
If you are waiting between an hour and an hour and 59 minutes, you’ll get all your money back on a single ticket, or the relevant portion of your journey for a return.
You can submit a claim through the LNER Delay Repay Portal.
Lumo follows the same policies.
Merseyrail
If the train you planned to catch was delayed or cancelled, so you decided not to travel, you can receive a full refund.
Simply take your ticket back to the ticket office where it was bought from before you leave the station and you will be given the refund by the method of payment you used to buy the ticket.
If you are delayed on your journey by 30 minutes or more, you’ll get the full cost of a single ticket back.
If you have a return ticket, the compensation will be 50% of the cost of the ticket.
If your ticket involves travel on other lines, but you are delayed on Merseyrail’s network, you may be entitled to compensation equal to 20% of the cost of your ticket price.
To claim compensation, you need to complete an online claim form.
For Season Ticket or Railpass Holders, the system works slightly differently and is instead based on Merseyrail’s average performance.
If its average performance has been between 90% and 91.9% of its targets, it will give compensation equal to 5% of the cost of your ticket.
If its average performance falls below 90% of its targets, it will give you compensation equal to 10% of the cost of your ticket.
Northern
You can claim back compensation if you are delayed by at least 15 minutes.
You’ll get:
For season ticket holders, the same compensation policies apply, but based on the cost of a single journey.
You can read more about how Northern calculates the cost of a journey and how to claim here.
South Western Railway, Southern, Southeastern, Transpennine Express, Transport for Wales, Thames Link, and West Midlands Railway use the same policy.
You can find the online claims form by searching “delay repay” on each of their websites.
ScotRail
ScotRail starts paying compensation if you have been delayed by 30 minutes or more.
Between half an hour and one hour, you’ll get 50% of the cost of your single ticket or 50% of your return ticket.
If you are waiting between one hour and one hour 59 minutes, you’ll get the full cost of your single ticket and 50% of your return.
For delays of two hours or more, you’ll get a full refund.
You need to make the claim online here.
Snapchat is one of the most popular social media platforms, with more than 900 million monthly active users.
Long free to use, it is now introducing a series of paid storage plans.
These revolve around the use of “memories” on Snapchat – pictures and videos that people can choose to save to be able to access again, while other messages disappear. The company is introducing paid plans for storing memories over 5GB.
In a statement, Snapchat said:
“For the vast majority of Snapchatters, who have less than 5GB of Memories, nothing will change. For Snapchatters with more than 5GB of Memories, meaning thousands of Snaps, we are rolling out new options to upgrade and increase storage. The introductory Memories Storage Plans offer 100GB, 250GB with Snapchat+, or 5TB with Snapchat Platinum.”
Snapchat said it would give users 12 months of temporary storage for memories exceeding the 5GB limit before people had to upgrade.
Memories exceeding the 5GB limit after one year could be deleted.
The company admitted the transition from a free service to a paid one was “never easy”, but it hoped the move would be “worth the cost”.
The plan will be rolled out gradually worldwide, and it is unclear when it will affect UK users.
While we don’t know how much the plans will cost here, we do know that users will need to pay $1.99 for 100 GB of extra storage in the US.
If the same pricing applies in the UK, that’s around £1.50.
By Daniel Binns, business and economics reporter
Pub-goers gambling on slot machines have helped Wetherspoon’s notch up a new record high in sales.
The chain’s latest annual report this morning revealed it achieved sales of £2.13bn in the last financial year, a rise of 4.5% on 2024-25.
This was driven by an 11% increase in slot machine sales, while bar and food sales were up 5%.
Pre-tax profit also rose to a higher-than-expected £81.4m, although that was below the record £107m the pub giant made with lower total sales pre-COVID in 2018.
Despite the positive figures, Wetherspoon’s shares were down more than 5% as the FTSE 250 opened this morning after its annual report also warned about the potential impact of rising energy and wage costs in the coming months.
It said: “Cost increases such as these will undoubtedly add to underlying inflation in the UK economy, although Wetherspoon, as always, will endeavour to keep price increases to a minimum.”
What else is happening in the markets?
The FTSE 100 and 250 are both up by around 0.3% in early trading, but oil prices have leapt 1% following a fire at a major Chevron refinery near Los Angeles overnight.
The price of Brent crude has increased to $64.73 (£48.16) a barrel as a result.
On the wider economy, new research on Friday has suggested UK consumer confidence fell during the last quarter to its lowest point so far this year.
KPMG’s Consumer Pulse poll of 3,000 UK shoppers found that 62% believed the economy was worsening, prompting many to cut back on their spending, although just over half said they felt “financially secure”.
Japan could be hours away from running out of Asahi, the country’s most popular beer.
Dozens of factories nationwide have ground to a halt following a cyber attack on Monday.
The breach disabled the company’s ordering and delivery systems – and also took its call centre operations offline.
Read the full story here…
Sky News has launched a free Money newsletter – bringing the kind of content you enjoy in the Money blog directly to your inbox.
Each Friday lunchtime, subscribers get exclusive money-saving tips and features from the team behind the award-winning Money blog, which is read by millions of Britons every month.
Sign up this morning, and this week you’ll find the following in the newsletter:
So join our growing Money community – and thanks to the thousands of you who already have.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
