Workers 'Need Benefits' To Avoid Eviction

Working families are becoming increasingly dependent on state benefits to avoid eviction due to a soaring housing market, a report has said.

A failure to build enough new homes in recent years has pushed rents and house prices up, and led to an 86% increase in housing benefit claims since 2009 by those in employment, according to the National Housing Federation (NHF) report.

The study revealed 10,000 more working families now need housing benefit every month to help pay their rent, with 417,830 more workers claiming it over the past three years.

David Orr, chief executive of the NHF, called for a solution for "millions of families" who are struggling to keep on top of their rents and being priced out of the housing market.

"These people are the 'strivers' the Government wants to help, yet their future is looking bleak," he said.

"This cannot continue - we need action now to address the causes of rising housing costs, not just the symptoms."

The cost of privately renting a home has gone up by 37% and is set to continue its upward spiral by a further 35% in the coming years, the research found.

With the economy in dire straits, house prices will continue to fall going into 2013, but the NHF expects price growth of 6% a year across England from 2015 to 2017.

The umbrella organisation, which represents 1,200 housing associations in England, said 390,000 new families were formed in 2011 but only 111,250 new homes were built.

It called on the Government to take a "long-term joined up approach", with measures such as releasing publicly-owned brownfield land to housing associations so they can build more new properties.

Responding to the demands, housing minister Mark Prisk said: "With over three million people relying on the private rented sector for their housing needs, we are determined to attract new players to the market and pull out all the stops to get Britain building.

"That's why we're offering £10bn in loan guarantees to provide up to 15,000 new homes for rent, putting £19.5bn public and private funding into an affordable homes programme, and why we've identified enough formerly used surplus public sector land to sell for 100,000 new homes.

"But it's right that we also take action to get the Housing Benefit bill under control and under our reforms, those on housing benefit can still afford up to a third of homes on the local rental market."

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Google Beats Rivals With Low Price Laptop

Google is launching its new low-priced Chromebook laptop as rivals Microsoft and Apple prepare to release their latest gadgets.

The lightweight computer will sell in the UK for around £200 and $249 in the US. It will go on sale early next week.

It is being made in a partnership with Samsung, which also makes smartphones and tablet computers that run on Google's Android software.

The laptop, which does not have a hard drive, will run on an operating system revolving around Google's Chrome Web browser.

It functions like a terminal dependent on an Internet connection to get to information and applications stored in large data centres run by Google or other technology providers.

It is the least expensive Chromebook that Google has released in the two years that it has been working on the product line.

Google and Samsung released a slightly more sophisticated Chromebook priced at $449 (£280) in the late spring.

Now it appears to be trying to get ahead of its rivals.

Microsoft is poised to release Windows 8, a dramatic makeover of its famous operating system, on October 26.

And Apple says it plans to show off a new product Tuesday. The event is widely expected to be the coming-out party for a slightly smaller version of its iPad.

"This is a big step in the journey for us," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and apps. "I think it's generally an exciting time in the computing industry."

Despite the low price, the new Chromebook will face a tough time winning over consumers because it is notset up like a traditional PC with a hard drive, said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"A lot of people are going to see it and think, 'Once I have it, what exactly do I do with it?'" Milanesi predicted.

Like tablets, the discount Chromebook will rely on a computer chip design known as ARM, instead of Intel microprocessors. The ARM architecture is more energy efficient, extending the duration of batteries between charges.

With an 11.6in (29.46cm) screen, the new Chromebooks also will have a larger display than tablets selling in the same price range.

The laptops will be set up to automatically use all of Google's services, including its search engine, Gmail and YouTube video site.

Google also is offering 100 gigabytes of free storage on computers kept in its eight data centres.

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Anglo American To Discuss Future Of Boss

By Mark Kleinman, City editor

The board of Anglo American, the FTSE 100 mining group, will this week discuss demands to replace its chief executive amid growing shareholder concern over her leadership.

I have learned that Anglo American directors will consider issues including investor feedback about Cynthia Carroll at a board meeting in Brazil which begins on Tuesday.

The company has been under pressure in recent months to accelerate succession planning amid growing unrest over the performance of Ms Carroll, who has served as its chief executive since 2007.

This weekend, a number of senior City sources said that plans for Ms Carroll to step down could be announced within a matter of weeks. A person close to Anglo insisted that the board meeting was routine and that a wide range of issues would be on the agenda.

Ms Carroll is being targeted by institutions unhappy with the company's strategy, falling profitability and share price, and repeated delays to production from Minas Rio, an iron ore project that is among the company's most important growth prospects but which is now years behind schedule.

Some investors are also annoyed about the handling of a settlement in August with the Chilean government over a copper asset, although it was broadly seen as a decent compromise deal.

Sir John Parker, the respected industrialist who has chaired Anglo since being brought in to defend it against a hostile takeover bid from Xstrata in 2009, has had extensive discussions with shareholders in recent months.

"He appears to have got the message," one institutional investor told me this weekend. "There have been signals from the company that there will be change at the top – and soon."

Some investors have floated the idea of parachuting in Alex Vanselow, the former chief financial officer of BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining group, to replace Ms Carroll. A person close to Anglo said such an idea was "not currently being considered".

Like other miners with a presence in the country, Anglo has been hit hard by recent industrial unrest in South Africa. Last month, Anglo Platinum, which is majority-owned by Anglo American, suspended its operations there in an attempt to protect the safety of tens of thousands of staff.

Ms Carroll, who regularly features in lists of the world's most influential businesswomen, joined Anglo at the beginning of 2007, and in March will mark her sixth anniversary in the job.

She is also a non-executive director of BP, the oil company which is this weekend finalising details of a deal to sell its Russian joint venture stake to the state-backed energy group Rosneft.

A former executive at Alcan, an aluminium producer that was bought by Rio Tinto, one of Anglo's main rivals, Ms Carroll also chairs Anglo Platinum and De Beers, two Anglo subsidiaries.

Since her arrival as the first woman and the first non-South African to run Anglo, she has overseen a sweeping shake-up of Anglo's operations, improving its safety record and tidying up a string of minority shareholdings owned by the company.

The company's share price performance has been poor, however, lagging behind that of several rivals.

Ms Carroll's supporters point to the spate of recent announcements from large mining companies announcing decisions to rein in capital spending amid soaring costs.

A source close to Anglo also said that recent engagement with shareholders in South Africa and the US had provided "some encouraging feedback about [Cynthia's] strategy and stewardship".

If Ms Carroll does step down in the near future, it would have broader implications given Government and European efforts to promote female corporate leadership.

Ms Carroll is one of just four women running companies in the UK's blue-chip index, while another, Dame Marjorie Scardino of Pearson, recently announced her intention to retire in the coming months.

People close to Anglo concede that there is little chance of Ms Carroll's successor being appointed from within the company, regardless of the timing.

Anglo declined to comment.

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Pension Savings Gender Gap At Record High

Women are saving £780 less than men a year for their retirement, as a new survey reveals the gender pension savings gap is at a record high.

This adds up to a difference of almost £30,000 over a working lifetime, according to new pensions data from Scottish Widows - giving rise to calls for a "fairer deal" for women who earn less than men and so have fewer opportunities to save.

The report found women are putting aside around £82 a month on average, compared with men who are investing £147.

The latest gap is significantly higher than the £700 annual difference between the amounts men and women were saving for their retirement a year ago.

The number of women saving nothing at all for their later years has also risen by 3% to more than a quarter (26%), compared to just under a fifth (19%) of men.

The report suggests the gap has partly been driven by an increase in women's personal debt levels, with around a third (31%) of women saying they are having to prioritise debt repayments over retirement saving. Excluding mortgages, the typical amount owed has risen to just under £11,000.

Four in 10 women also said they have had to prioritise living expenses above saving for old age in the last year, amid the squeeze on household budgets.

Women are more likely to work part-time if they have families

Lynn Graves, head of business development, corporate pensions at Scottish Widows, said: "Important differences in lifestyle such as being more likely to work part-time or have a full-time caring role, mean women often find it more difficult to save for the long term and retirement.

"It has therefore never been more important for the pensions industry, Government and employers to raise awareness of this gender gap in retirement savings and help women prioritise their pensions."

Ros Altmann, director-general of Saga said the figures showed "women are still very much second class citizens when it comes to pensions" and called for an "urgent reform" of state pensions so that women get a fairer deal.

She said: "If they have not been able to save, or have saved too little, they risk either having to stay working or being pretty poor.

"Our state pension partly depends on earnings, so those who earn least get the lowest state pension.

"This is clearly unfair to women, whose earnings are impacted by caring for others, which is a role that saves society huge sums.

"Therefore, we need urgent reform of the state pension system to ensure that even if women have lower private pensions than men, they don't then have lower state pensions as well."

The findings follow the launch of the Government's compulsory saving scheme this month to automatically enrol up to 10 million people into workplace pensions, amid concerns that people are not putting enough away for their futures.

The scheme began with larger companies and smaller firms will gradually be enrolled over the next six years.

Helen Dean, managing director for scheme development at Nest, a not-for-profit pension scheme set up under the new rules, said the move will help women who have not been earning enough to have a pension pot - or have not been offered a scheme by employers.

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Financial Mood Less Downbeat - But Not For Long

The tight squeeze on household finances appears to be easing amid signs of a rise in consumer spending, according to two new surveys.

Family budgets were at their least strained for almost two years in October, Markit said, helped by a near-stabilisation of employment income and a drop in debt levels.

A separate survey by Deloitte also found people are starting to loosen the firm grip on their purse strings, with fewer bargain hunting and simply buying less.

But the bursts of optimism may be short lived.

Looking ahead, however, consumers remain cautious and there are no signs of them going on a spending spree as yet.

More than twice as many households expect their financial well-being to worsen over the next year compared with those who expect an improvement, the Markit household finance index found.

Concerns remain about job security and the costs of living, with the vast majority expecting their food, transport and utility bills to go up, according to the Deloitte Consumer Tracker.

Separate surveys found that the squeeze on family budgets is weakening

Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, said: "While pressures on current finances were reported to have moderated again, helped by stabilising incomes and lower debt, the steep reversal in future sentiment is a clear signal that households are likely to keep a tight rein on spending in the months ahead.

"Weak economic sentiment and worries about rising living costs are again the main factors bearing down on the outlook for households' financial well-being."

Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte, said: "This brighter outlook is tempered with caution as there is no evidence yet of a significant loosening of the purse strings.

"The real test is when we will see a pronounced shift towards greater discretionary spending, especially on big ticket items such as holidays and white goods, and consumers trading up. This will be key to whether we see continued growth in consumer spending in 2013."

The findings come after it was revealed last week that inflation dropped to a its lowest level for nearly three years in September, but analysts warned that energy bill hikes, combined with rising food and petrol costs, will push living costs back up again.

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Amazon Accused Over Ebook VAT Tax Loophole

Amazon has been accused of taking advantage of a European tax anomaly to make extra profit on ebooks sold in the UK.

The online retailer moved its European headquarters to Luxembourg in 2006, meaning it pays only 3% VAT on digital books sold to British readers, The Guardian said.

But, according to a contract seen by the newspaper, Amazon starts negotiations with its publishers on the basis that the UK VAT rate of 20% is knocked off the cost price.

The difference sees the company make an extra £1.38 of profit every time it sells a £10 ebook in this country, the Guardian claimed.

It goes on to say Amazon negotiates further discounts, sometimes resulting in publishers receiving less than 10% of the total sale price of a book.

The company, which makes ereaders including the Kindle Fire, dominates the ebook market, selling nine out of 10 ebooks sold in the UK, according to some estimates.

Accountant Richard Murphy, who founded the Tax Justice Network, said Luxembourg's 3% tax rate on ebooks is being taken advantage of by Amazon.

"Luxembourg has this low VAT level to make publishing more accessible - and although Amazon is exploiting this, it is not passing it on to the industry," he told Sky News.

"The time has come for an inquiry into whether Amazon is abusing its market position.

"And whether its commercial power is having a detrimental effect on the publishing industry."

But Mr Murphy also highlighted the discrepancy between the UK's tax rate on print books - which is 0% - and the 20% for ebooks.

"The Government needs to looks into this - ebooks should be subject to the same zero tax rate as print books in the UK," he added.

Amazon responded: "Our goal is to make it easy for readers to discover and read the books they love by expanding access to millions of books in both digital and print. 

"We've been able to do this by focusing on innovation, as exemplified by Kindle, and by offering customers the widest selection at the best possible prices and service.

"This innovation and service have not only benefited readers, but authors, too."

Earlier in the year, The Guardian said Amazon generated UK sales over the past three years of between £7.6bn and £10.3bn, but paid virtually no corporation tax.

It follows a report in The Sunday Times that eBay paid just over £1m in corporation tax in Britain, despite generating sales of almost £800m in a year.

In a Sky News interview last week, Starbucks' UK managing director defended his company's tax arrangements.

The company paid no corporation tax for the past three years, despite sales of £1.2bn in the UK.

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Philips Profits As Restructuring Pays Off

Dutch lighting and consumer electronics firm Philips has seen earnings more than double to 170 million euros (£138m) thanks in part to its restructuring programme.

Boosted by higher sales and cost cuts - including the disposal of its loss-making television business - third quarter net profits are up 94 million euros (£76m) on the same period a year ago, while sales have increased by 3.4% to 6.13 billion euros (£5bn).

The firm also announced savings of 306 million euros (£249m) since the fourth quarter of 2011.

Philips shares rose 2.7% to 19.52 euros (£15.89) after the results were published.

The company, which employs around 122,000 people globally, is known for its televisions, small appliances and light bulbs, but has started to develop its activities in the medical equipment sector with the production of hospital scanners.

Since taking the helm last year, chief executive Frans van Houten has reset financial targets, cut thousands of jobs and replaced his entire top executive team in an effort to turn around the company which lost 1.3 billion euros (£1.05bn) in 2011.

Despite the upbeat trading performance, he remains cautious about the company's growth prospects.

"The world has become a lot riskier with three headwinds simultaneously, (namely) Europe, slowing growth in China and some uncertainty in the US," he said.

Since July, Mr van Houten has been considering options for Philips' low-margin audio and video equipment business.

He reiterated the unit is a "business in transition," but declined to say whether a deal to split it off, similar to the one he cut with China's TPV Technology Ltd for Philips TVs, is in the works.

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Lomax To Defend City Competitiveness

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

One of the City's most prominent women is joining the vanguard of British efforts to defend its financial services sector against encroaching regulation from Brussels.

Rachel Lomax, former deputy governor of the Bank of England, is to become chairman of the international regulatory strategy group of TheCityUK, a lobbying group established three years ago to represent Britain's financial services sector.

Ms Lomax, whose appointment is expected to be announced in the next couple of weeks, will also join the main board of TheCityUK, I understand.

Her appointment is regarded internally as a crucial step in putting the City's case to the Government amid moves to establish a single European supervisor for the Continent's banking system.

In total, there are more than 40 regulatory initiatives currently in Brussels' hands which would have an impact on the City.

Ms Lomax will replace Andre Villeneuve, former chairman of Liffe, the futures exchange.

Since quitting the Bank of England in 2008, Ms Lomax has assembled a portfolio of boardroom positions, including non-executive directorships at HSBC and the owner of Heathrow Airport.

A former permanent secretary at Whitehall departments including Transport and Work and Pensions, she also advised Lord Lawson, the former Chancellor, and is regarded as one of the best-connected

Last month, Ms Lomax said she would not be applying to succeed Sir Mervyn King as Governor of the Bank of England.

Chris Cummings, chief executive of TheCityUK, said the IRSG's work was designed to help the City "recapture the leadership in regulation that it held before the financial crisis".

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London Black Cab Firm Calls In Administrators

The boss of the maker of the world famous London black cab has told Sky News he does not know when taxi production will resume after the firm called in administrators.

Manganese Bronze's chief executive John Russell admitted crisis talks to save the business had collapsed.

"We've had a very difficult time over the last four years - the credit crunch has been very hard on us," he said.

"The board of directors have been wrestling with this problem, trying to find funding solutions to keep the business in operation. Efforts... have proved fruitless."

He admitted the move had come as a major blow to the company's 288 employees, whose jobs are now at risk.

"It's a tough time for everybody We've announced the situation to our staff this morning," he said.

"I'm sure it's creating tremendous uncertainty."

He said staff are still being paid - but when asked when production of the iconic taxis would resume he said: "We don't know the answer to that yet."

The embattled black cab-manufacturer, which has been reporting losses since 2008, had hoped that a deal could be reached with Chinese carmaker Geely - its second largest shareholder.

However, in a statement it said it remained "hopeful that the fundamental strengths of the company, the TX4 model and its global reputation" would provide the platform for a successful business in the future.

Problems had developed with a safety defect in the new models of the TX4 - as well as accounting issues following the introduction of a new IT system.

The company - based in Coventry in the West Midlands - launched an emergency recall of 400 TX4 Hackney carriages earlier this month after discovering a steering box fault.

The product recall on October 12 prompted a halt in sales, while shares were also suspended in the company.

Since then, the financial position of the firm has remained unclear.

"A speedy resolution of the product recall ... remains the top priority for the group and will continue to do so throughout the administration process," the company added.

Grant Thornton UK LLP will be handling the administration process.

The recall is the latest in a spate of issues that have plagued the taxi maker at a time when rival Eco City Vehicles, which sells the Mercedes Vito taxi, has been gaining market share.

Manganese Bronze's shares had lost more than two-thirds of their value since the beginning of the year to October 11 - the last trading day before the stock was suspended.

Midlands manufacturer Russell Luckock said: "The demise of Manganese Bronze was not really a surprise, although the speed of this disaster has caught some British suppliers.

"Their problems with the steering box was going to be very expensive.

"Geely might do a deal with the administrators, but the market is such that any supplier of this type of vehicle will find it a marginal operation."

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Rosneft To Buy 50% Stake In TNK-BP From BP

BP has said it will sell its 50% stake in its joint venture TNK-BP to Rosneft as part of a £16.7bn deal.

Russia's state owned oil company will pay the British energy firm $17.1bn (£10.6bn) in cash and $9.7bn (£6bn) in shares for the stake.

The deal, which is subject to state and regulatory approvals, will take BP's stake in the Rosneft to 19.75%, and see it gain two seats on its board.

As well as buying BP's TNK-BP share, Rosneft also announced it would buy the remaining stake owned by AAR, a group of Russian oil oligarchs, in a separate deal.

As a result, the company - which is already Russia's biggest oil producer - will control almost half of the country's oil output, making it the world's largest listed energy company.

The deal comes after weeks of talks - as revealed by Sky News' City Editor - and is tipped to become one of the most significant alliances ever struck in the energy industry.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin described the agreement as a "good deal at a good price".

While BP's chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said it was "an important day for BP".

"Russia has also been an important country for us over the past 20 years. Our involvement has moved with the times," he said.

"TNK-BP has been a good investment and we are now laying a new foundation for our work in Russia."

Stuart Joyner, oil and gas analyst at Investec, said the British company had two main motivations for going through with the deal.

"Things are changing in Russia... BP was also looking to change horses - it was in bed with some oligarch and is looking now to be closer to the Russian government which owns a majority stake in Rosneft," he told Sky News.

"When you look at this cash - some it will go to the balance sheet, some of it will go into investment but the rest of it could come back in the form of a special dividend."

Despite a fraught relationship with AAR, BP's is believed to have earned around $20bn (£12.4bn) in dividends from the "enormously successful" venture, Mr Joyner added.

Rosneft and BP now have an exclusivity period of 90 days to negotiate fully-termed sale and purchase agreements.

BP shares rose 1.1% to 455p following the announcement, while Rosneft shares were up 3%.

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