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Local authorities in England referred at least 280,000 households to bailiffs over council tax debt in the first year of the pandemic, and asked for more than 115,000 people to have their benefits deducted to clear their arrears, the Observer can reveal. Councils adopted widely differing approaches to council tax arrears as the economy froze …

Sarah Douglas has struggled with debt and poor mental health for decades, and says the Covid crisis has made matters worse. “The pandemic has aggravated existing issues for people like me,” says the 51-year-old from Bristol. “It’s massively stressful dealing with the uncertainty but for someone prone to mental health problems, it’s particularly bad.” Nine …

Things are going from bad to worse for savers. A few days ago the Bank of England reported that interest rates were continuing to fall “to new historically low levels” and providers are still sending out letters to customers telling them that returns are being hacked. That isn’t only causing frustration among those who rely …

About 600,000 owners of older vehicles need to check whether a new E10 unleaded petrol will damage their engine as the fuel is rolled out across the UK as part of an attempt to cut carbon emissions. In the biggest change to forecourts since four star petrol was banned 20 years ago, the government has …

Leading energy suppliers have joined charities in calling on the government to put in place a social tariff for those living in fuel poverty, after the industry regulator raised a cap on energy tariffs by up to £153 a year on Friday. Millions of homes will be forced to pay some of the highest energy …