Business

Fake flights and caravans are the two most common items being sold by fraudsters in relation to travel, Lloyds Bank’s research has found. As Britons head online to book deals for the upcoming bank holidays and summer, they have been urged to “remain vigilant”, with the average holiday scam victim being conned out of £765.

The investor trying to take control of Everton Football Club has pushed back its target date for completing the deal as it scrambles to raise hundreds of millions of pounds to fund it. Sky News has learnt that 777 Partners has told stakeholders including the Premier League and prospective lenders that it now expects its

More than seven million people in the UK were struggling with bills and credit repayments in January, according to a financial watchdog. The number is down significantly on the 10.9 million people in the same position in January 2023. However, it’s still above the 5.8 million recorded in February 2020, before the pandemic and the

Post Office victims campaigner Alan Bates has told the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal that it was “pretty obvious” the organisation “were after me – one way or another”. Mr Bates was also described as “unmanageable” by a former senior figure at the organisation, documents disclosed at the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal

Barclays has launched a legal challenge over a ruling that it unfairly paid commission to a car finance broker, underlining growing anxiety among Britain’s biggest lenders about the potential scale of an industry-wide compensation bill. Sky News has learnt that Barclays is mounting a judicial review against the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) over a decision

Ted Baker is to shut 15 of its stores across the UK within weeks, the retailer’s administrators have announced. Around 245 staff will be made redundant. It comes after Sky News revealed that hundreds of jobs were at risk after the company behind the brand’s UK shops, No Ordinary Designer Label Limited (NODL), collapsed last

Santander UK, Britain’s fifth-biggest high street bank, is cancelling its membership of a key lending standards body because of the duplication of regulatory standards to which the industry is required to adhere. Sky News has learnt that the Spanish-owned bank served notice last week of its intention to quit the Lending Standards Board, citing the

English cricket chiefs will next week take another step towards a radical revamp of the sport’s ownership structure by launching plans to sell stakes in The Hundred’s eight franchises. Sky News has learnt that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will interview bankers in the coming days as they prepare to raise funds by

Employees across the country have today been granted the legal right to request flexible working from the day they enter a new job. Previously, the right was only applicable if someone had worked for their employer for 26 weeks or more. The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 gained Royal Assent in July as Kevin Hollinrake,

The crisis enveloping Thames Water has deepened after its holding company announced it had been unable to meet debt repayments. Kemble Water said it missed an interest payment that was due on Tuesday. The firm said it had asked its lenders to take no immediate action so as to “provide a stable platform while all

Administrators to The Body Shop are drawing up plans to launch a further restructuring process in a bid to salvage a future for one of Britain’s best-known high street brands. Sky News has learnt that insolvency practitioners at FRP Advisory have outlined proposals to launch a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) that would see The Body

House prices slipped by 1% in March following five consecutive months of growth, according to new figures from Halifax. The lender said affordability remained a challenge for potential buyers as recent declines in mortgage rates have stalled. It comes as financial markets become less optimistic about the timing and extent of interest rate cuts by

The Dutch banking giant ING has been thrust into a pivotal role in determining the future of stricken Thames Water’s parent company amid growing expectations that lenders will agree a loan extension ahead of a repayment deadline this month. Sky News has learnt that ING is among the lenders due to be repaid £190m by

A planned merger between Vodafone and Three is in doubt after the competition watchdog said it would launch a major investigation into the deal. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the move was being taken after the firms failed to offer any measures to ease its concerns that mobile phone users could face higher

The Post Office’s IT helpdesk was instructing Fujitsu, the maker of faulty accounting software, to change sub-postmaster accounts more than a decade ago, according to leaked recordings. Two secret audio recordings with Post Office officials, obtained by Sky News, demonstrate how much the government-owned company knew about flaws with the Horizon IT programme, used by

Tesla has reported a sharp fall in worldwide sales amid increased competition and slowing demand for electric vehicles. The carmaker said it delivered 386,810 vehicles during the first quarter of the year – down nearly 9% on the 423,000 it shipped from January to March last year. It marks the first year-on-year quarterly sales decline

Taylor Swift has made it on to a list of the world’s billionaires, according to Forbes, as her Eras Tour spanning 152 shows and five continents generated more than $1bn (£800m) in revenue. The 34-year-old superstar, who stole the show at this year’s Grammy Awards by winning album of the year for the fourth time,

The annual rate of shop price inflation almost halved in March, according to new industry figures. Falling food costs and competition between retailers contributed to the rate easing to 1.3% last month – down from 2.5% in February, the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Nielsen Shop Price Index found. Annual shop price growth is now at its

A New York-listed car dealer is plotting a bid for the UK operations of Inchcape. Sky News has learned that AutoNation, which has a market capitalisation of nearly $7bn (£5.5bn), is among the suitors circling the business since Inchcape confirmed in January it was conducting a strategic review. AutoNation is said to be at the

With the window for April Fool’s Day pranks now closed, we round up some of the more creative and canny jokes. Search and rescue sheep deployed on Dartmoor Anyone getting into trouble while hiking on the Bank Holiday could be aided by a rescue sheep, Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team announced. They are equipped with