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DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads |
Martin: Are you on minimum wage? You may be UNDERPAID, 500,000 are! Check & claw back the extra Even if you're not on min wage, SPREAD WORD. It could be worth £100s to friends & family The UK minimum wage increased on 1 April - upping incomes for the lowest-paid workers. Yet many who think they are on minimum wage are in reality actually being paid LESS than they should. The Low Pay Commission believes this could be almost half a million people. I want to give you a flavour of the rules here, though it's far better to read our detailed new National minimum wage: are you being paid enough? guide.
PS: I won't use the term 'national living wage'. Back in 2015, then-Chancellor George Osborne announced he was renaming the then over-25s (now over-23s) minimum wage the 'national living wage' - stealing the Living Wage Foundation charity's (which I've long supported) brand. The REAL living wage is a voluntary employers' wage scheme, based on the actual cost of living, which is currently £9.90/hour UK and £11.05/hour in London - 10,000 are signed up, click the foundation's link to check yours. |
Martin: 'Check your savings. Under 1.5% and you're being underpaid - DON'T STAND FOR IT!' Fixed and easy-access rates are the highest they've been since 2019. It was huge when we did it last week, so if you missed it, do see Martin's must-read briefing for anyone with savings. New. Your work-learnt INSIDER tips including... 'One massive block of cheese, but five wrapping stations for different brands... including Tesco Value.' We asked you to spill the (own brand) beans from your hidden work knowledge and we had factory workers, posties, car sellers, travel agents and more give their 'insider' MoneySaving tips. 999 summer flowering bulbs £12 delivered. MSE Blagged. Includes oxalis iron cross and acidanthera. 4,000 bundles available, but not in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland. Thompson & Morgan Martin: 'The wholesale gas price at lowest level since Nov '21...' That's still nearly 3x the old typical run-rate so it isn't a huge reversal, but may mean, for gas & electricity: (1) The Oct price cap RISE will lessen a bit - it's based on the six-month average over Feb to July. (2) A few better fixed deals may launch. We'll keep you in touch if hot short-lived tariffs do come up - we'll put them in our Energy updates guide. Ends 11.59pm Thursday. Megafast 108Mb Virgin broadband & line just '£17/month' - we've never seen cheaper. Newbies applying for this MSE Blagged Virgin Media deal get 108Mb broadband & line for £22.95/month with an automatic £100 bill credit (so barring calls, there's nowt to pay for four months). Factor that in over the 18-month contract and it's equivalent to £17.40/month. Use our broadband comparison for alternatives if it's not available in your area. Martin: 'I need YOUR help (especially if you're young, male and/or from an ethnic minority).' It's now six years since I founded the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute charity. Part of its huge impact is because the volunteer Research Community of those with lived experience of mental health & money issues ensure the policy ideas work in the real world. And we now need more people to join that community. For more info watch my video explaining what the charity does and how you can help. |
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Ends Fri. UK's BIGGEST bank switch bonus - FREE £175 Unless your account keeps you happy, why not get paid to switch? But do decide quickly... Currently FIVE banks pay you to switch to them. The choice is yours, but if you're after cold, hard, immediate cash in your bank, then the biggest upfront switch bribe - in fact the biggest since March 2020 - is being pulled on Friday. Switching is easy. You'll need to pass a not-too-harsh credit check, then use the new bank's switching service. It automatically closes your old account and moves over your money, direct debits and standing orders within seven working days. Plus any payments that still go to the old account will automatically be forwarded to the new one.
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16 Beer52 craft beers for £19 delivered. MSE Blagged. 5,000 boxes available. Beer52 (please be Drinkaware). Two 'free' Legoland tickets via newspaper. Spend £8, get up to £124 of tickets. Block-buster New. Get £50 cashback for investing £500. 1,000 available. If you plan to 'robo-invest' - where investments are selected for you based on your attitude to risk - then after fees, this Moneyfarm deal for newbies gets you a 9% head start. That's provided you keep the full investment for a min 12 months. (And this doesn't mean we recommend Moneyfarm, as we don't do investment tips - but if you're going to use it anyway, you can get cashback.) Full help in Robo-investing cashback. £10 off £50 Food Warehouse coupon with 60p newspaper spend. See how to find it. Did you do the Sainsbury's 'Big Points Swap'? It messed up some people's swaps. But it's now agreed to honour the higher-value swap rates offered in its original email. Full info and what to do in Nectar blunder. 'I reclaimed almost £4,800 thanks to your packaged bank accounts article.' Our success of the week comes from MoneySaver Julie who used our tips to reclaim packaged bank account fees: "I want to say a big thank you. I tried to cancel my account in 2010 but was told 'it wasn't possible' by the bank. Then reading your article I realised that this just wasn't true. I followed your advice and used the template letter. 18 days later, I got a refund of £4,786." If we've helped you save, please send us your MoneySaving successes on this or owt else. FREE Green Living Live tickets (normally £15). London Excel, 30 April to 8 May. 5,000 available. Green Living Live |
AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS
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THIS WEEK'S POLL Have you switched off your central heating? Soaring energy bills and warmer spring weather have seen many turn off their heating in recent days and weeks. So we want to know if you've turned off your central heating, and if so, whether it was mainly down to weather or cost? Nearly two-fifths of MoneySavers say they've moved their savings in the last three months. With easy-access rates more than double what they were three months ago, encouragingly 39% of the 2,600 people who responded to last week's savings poll said they'd switched in that time. But more than one in 10 had NEVER moved their savings, and are likely earning rock-bottom rates. See full savings poll results. |
MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I ask for my daughter's school-leavers' celebrations to be cheaper? My daughter's leaving primary school in July. The parent committee has organised a trip, T-shirts and yearbooks to celebrate. They've asked parents to contribute £75 each and although I can scrimp elsewhere to find the money, it won't be easy. I want to ask the committee to scale back the plans so it's cheaper, but I'm also aware the kids have had no trips or parties at all over the last two years due to the pandemic and I don't want to be the one to ruin their fun. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I ask for a school-leavers' celebration to be cheaper? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma |
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MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 27 APR ONWARDS) Wed 27 Apr - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.55am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC) Tue 3 May - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 12.40pm |
BAKE 'EM, GRATE 'EM OR DONATE 'EM... WHAT DO YOU DO WITH LEFTOVER EASTER EGGS? That's all for this week, but before we go... after MSE Laura F grated a leftover Easter egg to use as a cocktail garnish, she asked Forumites for other ideas to use up surplus chocolate eggs. While many were shocked at the very idea of leftover chocolate, others suggested putting them into kids' lunchboxes, baking them into rocky road or cornflake cakes, or donating them to a foodbank. Though one Forumite got particularly creative, describing how they take half a large egg to the ice cream van to get it filled up with soft ice cream (we guess it saves on the price of a cone?!). Get inspired and add your own suggestions in the leftover chocolate eggs discussion. |
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