The first major spike, also the largest, occurred in 1991 with the second following suit in the first half of 2008. An increase in the number of claims from 2003 led to the latter peak, this being followed by a steep fall over the second half of 2008 and 2009.

The fall coincided with lower interest rates, a proactive approach from lenders in managing consumers in financial difficulties, and various interventions, such as introduction of the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol.

Over the last two years, the number of claims has decreased slightly. On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 16,663 mortgage possession claims issued in quarter one (January to March) of 2012, five per cent lower than in quarter four of 2011.

There are various reasons why a claim may not lead to an order for possession being made by the judge (e.g. the parties may have resolved the dispute before the hearing takes place). On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 12,925 claims which led to a mortgage possession order being made in the first quarter of 2012, three per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

MoJ: Mortgage and Landlord Repossession Statistics is a post from: Federal Management

Business group CBI have said that there has been an increase in optimism from smaller manufacturers for the first time since mid 2011 while UK Business Confidence Monitor reported that confidence had improved over the past three months and also suggested a return to growth in quarter 2 of 2012.

The previous two quarters saw the UK economy shrink which means a return to recession. However, the CBI have said that a net 22% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are listed as manufacturers had a greater degree of optimism than in the three months to April.

Lucy Armstrong, chair of the CBI’s SME council said:

“Firms expect orders and output to rise strongly in the coming quarter and plan to invest more in the year ahead, pointing to growing momentum in manufacturing activity.”

The CBI also reported that a large proportion of those who responded witnessed a small increase in the amount of new orders and expected further increases over the coming quarter.

Meanwhile, the latest UK Business Confidence Monitor from chartered accountants ICAEW and consultants Grant Thornton said that they saw increased confidence.

The BCM confidence index is 12, up from -9.3 in the last quarter and the highest level since the second quarter of 2011. This increase implies economic growth of 0.6% in the second quarter, the organisations said.

Grant Thornton chief executive Scott Barnes said:

“Turnover and profits are all increasing but nowhere near the rate seen pre-recession and businesses are beginning to realise that this environment may be the norm for some time.”

UK Companies Continuing to Show Optimism is a post from: Federal Management

Mr Wheatley was speaking at the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland and said that many of the lessons of the crisis had been learned, but that there was still much to be learned to improve the way customers are treated across the financial services sector.

“We are working hard to get our regulation ready in time for the new regulators and we are building our understanding of what drives consumer behaviour, and banks’ business models. We need boards of firms to do the same, and for banks to rebuild confidence and trust by putting their customer back at the heart of what they do.”

The FSA will be replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority next year and is now developing the new approach that the FCA will take to regulating the way that firms treat their customers.

“In order for our regulation to work better than before, we need to understand why people make mistakes and why firms do what they do.  So we are looking at consumer behaviour, and business models in firms to inform our new, more forward looking and intrusive supervision, and we will be expecting boards of firms to play their part too.”

The FCA will look at what is behind the economic decisions of individuals and the firms it regulates. It will take into account the wider economy, the challenges facing banks in their search for profits, the pressures on consumers facing tougher times ahead and economic uncertainty today.

And it will follow the money to understand what lies behind profitability and the implications of firms’ strategies.

“In all of this, we accept that firms need to be able to generate acceptable returns for shareholders, and have to be financially robust.  But this is about ‘good profits’ rather than profit at any cost — either to firms’ own stability or their customers’ best interests.”

“The key point is that in the FCA, we will be looking to firms to construct business models where fair treatment of customers is central.  And we will expect those in executive management and on the boards of firms to step up their engagement with this side of the business and take this seriously.”

“Because not only will we as a regulator need to understand your business better, boards will need to do the same, and they, like us will need to ask tougher questions.  We have to ask why boards of banks did not ask the management of firms about how things like PPI could be so profitable – 15% of some banks’ profits – and still deliver the fair treatment of customers.”

Looking to some of the current issues that the FSA is dealing with, including customers’ requests about payments to the sale of a complex product to a small business – people do not feel their banks are not putting their interests first.

“So that although we have all – I think – learned the lessons on the prudential side of banking, and banks are now far more financially secure and stable, with better risk management and preparation for what might lay ahead.  We are not yet in that place on the conduct side.”

FSA: Issues Still to be Resolved is a post from: Federal Management

The move by Standard & Poor has seen Greece upgraded from a rating of “selective default” to “CCC” on the back of Greece completing the largest debt restructuring in history.

S & P Said:

“While the exchange has, in our view, alleviated near-term funding pressures, Greece’s sovereign debt burden remains high.”

Greece has been bailed out twice.

The news of the credit upgrade arrives on the the back of two debt bail outs. The first in 2010 saw Greece receive loans totalling 110bn euros and, after a further restructuring of debt, an additonal 130bn euros was loan from the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund in March of 2012.

The rating of CCC means, according to S&P, that Greece is “currently vulnerable and dependent on favourable business, financial and economic conditions to meet financial commitments” and follows rival agency Fitch who also raised its rating of Greece out of default in March.

S & P went on to say:

“The fiscal consolidation underway is largely premised on tax hikes and improved tax collection, an extensive privatisation programme, and wholesale cuts in government spending.”

“We believe this adjustment has implementation risks given the likely further contraction of the sovereign’s GDP this year and next, which will likely result in persistent social pressures.”

Whether Greece continues to remain on the road to debt recovery remains to be seen.

Greece Rating Upgraded Out of Default is a post from: Federal Management

The figures were released recently by the Credit Services Association (CSA), the trade body for debt collection agencies, who said that the figure grew by £6bn in the second half of the year and that the amount of outstanding debt had been steadily increasing over the past few years.

The CSA said the majority of the debts that were passed across to debt collection agencies were provided by mainstream lenders but utility companies and phone providers were also utilising debt collection services. Furthermore, government departments such as HMRC and the Treasury were also passing outstanding debts to private debt collection agencies. Additionally the CSA confirmed that payday loan companies made up just “a smattering” of those lenders using the 90% of the industry it represents.

A spokesman for the CSA said there had been “a cultural shift” which meant more government agencies were outsourcing debt collection.

President of the Credit Services Association, Sara de Tute, said:

“The economic environment has undoubtedly become more difficult and so it is no surprise that debts are rising.”

“But there are also other reasons, including ‘new’ creditors within the private sector and parts of national government who no longer see an issue with outsourcing debt for collection to professional and highly regulated agencies capable of recovering monies vital to the public purse.”

She added:

“The government has gone on record recently as reporting that overdue debts cost it between £7bn and £8bn – 95% of which resides with the Department of Work and Pensions and HMRC – and part of this has now been passed to our members for collection.”

At the end of 2011, the CSA said its members were handling 32m unpaid debt cases, the equivalent of at least one significant debt for every UK household. Six months previously the figure stood at 28m.

Of the total in debt collectors’ hands in December 2011, £31bn was placed by creditors with debt collection agencies to collect, and a further £27bn was debt owned by debt buyers.

The CSA said debt passed on by lenders tended to be “fresh debt”, which was less than six months old. It said the chance of recovering this debt was high, and often just a letter from the collection agency resulted in it being cleared. In contrast, that bought by companies was often old debt which had been sent out to agencies before and returned to lenders when it remained unrecovered.

Debt Collection Agencies Chasing £60bn in Unpaid Consumer Debt is a post from: Federal Management

The Office for National Statistics claim that a sharp fall in construction output was the primary factor behind the surprising reduction and follows a further reduction of 0.3% for the final Quarter of 2011. Some have questioned the validity of the ONS’ figures, particularly on the construction industry, which has been volatile in recent quarters.The ONS said output of the production industries decreased by 0.4%, construction decreased by 3%, and output of the service sector increased by 0.1%.

A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. The economy shrank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Wednesday’s figure is an early estimate and is subject to at least two further revisions in the coming months. It is compiled using 40% of the data gathered for later revisions.

The UK economy was last in recession in 2009.

Prime Minister David Cameron speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions said:

“I don’t seek to excuse them (the figures), I don’t seek to try to explain them away. “There is no complacency at all in this government in dealing with what is a very tough situation, which frankly has just got tougher.”

He said it was “painstaking, difficult” work, but the government would stick with its plans and do “everything we can” to generate growth.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the figures were “catastrophic” and asked Mr Cameron what his excuse was.

Mr Miliband said:

“This is a recession made by him and the chancellor in Downing Street. It is his catastrophic economic policy that has landed us back in recession.”

KPMG Chief Economist, Andrew Smith, said:

“It’s official, we’re in a double-dip.”

“The 0.2 percent fall in GDP in the first quarter, coming on the back of the 0.3 percent decline at the end of last year, confirms that the UK moved back into technical recession over the winter.”

“But worse, output remains broadly unchanged from its level in the third quarter of 2010 and, four years on from its pre-recession peak is still some 4 percent down– making this slump longer than the 1930s Depression.”

“Looking ahead, output is expected to remain weak in the second quarter and with extra holidays, the Jubilee and the Olympic Games distorting the picture over the summer it will be some time before the underlying picture is clear. But even if activity recovers in the second half, overall this looks like being – at best – another year of weak growth, held back by squeezed real incomes and public spending cuts. Recovery postponed (again).”

UK Economy Has Re-Entered Recession is a post from: Federal Management

Under current tax rules, life insurance policies are usually free of personal liability, however in certain circumstances your payout may be subject to inheritance tax.  In order to avoid this, individuals taking out life protection specifically to provide for their heirs need to make an important decision before signing on the dotted line.

Current tax rules mean that life insurance policies are generally from from personal liability but in certain cases the insurance payout could be subject to inheritance tax. In order to avoid this, individuals taking out life protection specifically to provide for their heirs need to make an important decision before signing on the dotted line.

They can either decide to leave the payout to beneficiaries directly, or alternatively put these policies ‘under trust’, thereby removing the asset from the estate.  The former route could reduce a £100,000 life insurance payout by as much as £40,000 if an individual’s estate is worth more than £325,000, the current inheritance tax-threshold for individuals.

Karen Barrett, chief executive at unbiased.co.uk commented:

“Ensuring your life insurance payout no longer forms part of the estate is one of the simplest and most effective ways of avoiding ‘death tax’ wastage.  It also reduces the legal loop holes which beneficiaries are usually faced with thereby making it both quicker and easier to distribute the money to the right people.”

Unbiased.co.uk’s annual Tax Action campaign aims to educate the 85% of Brits who have done nothing to reduce the amount of tax they pay in the past 12 months and the 27% who claim they do not know how to go about being more tax efficient.  It also endeavours to help consumers think sensibly about their tax liabilities and take steps to avoid unnecessary tax payments.”

“Our 2012 Tax Action Report reveals that huge sums are being paid unnecessarily in inheritance tax every year because of poor tax planning, particularly when it come to looking at life insurance policies.  People spend their lives providing for their loved ones, yet their ‘lack of action’ when it comes to planning their affairs for after they have gone could lead to a hefty inheritance tax bill, not to mention additional stress for the family and potential delay in distributing assets.”

“If you think you could benefit from putting your life insurance ‘under trust’ to avoid a tax raid on your inheritance, visit an independent financial adviser. Seeking professional advice will help you ensure that your financial arrangements are as tax efficient as possible.”

Poor Inheritance Tax Planning Costing Britons Millions is a post from: Federal Management

With councils encouraged to utilise private debt collection agencies and then Councils Following Up On Debt Collection Agency Recommendation by utilising more debt collection agencies as a means of recovering outstanding debt it is evident that a tougher stance is being taken with those who do not pay.

Sheffield Council is looking to recover £6 millions of unpaid debts consisting of council tax, business rates, and parking and bus lane fines. The new measures are likely a result of a squeeze on its income due to Government spending cuts.

In the year to April, officials referred 10,225 cases to bailiffs, involving debt totalling £6,035,832. The council has not revealed how much of the money was actually recovered. The cases include 3,851 parking and bus lane fines during 2011/12.

The figure is down on the previous year, when 4,897 parking and bus lane fines were referred to bailiffs.

Sheffield residents’ groups today backed the council in its tough stance.

Speaking to the Terry Andrews, treasurer of Base Green Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, said:

“I’m flabbergasted by the number of people not paying up.”

“I think the council is right to send bailiffs to people’s houses and businesses.”

“If people who owe money do not pay, services end up having to be cut instead.”

Further Council Action Utilising Debt Collection Agencies is a post from: Federal Management

The amount of unemployed fell by 35,000 to a new figure of 2.65 million for the period of December to February and the rate of unemployment dropped slightly from 8.4% to 8.3%, the lowest level since summer 2011.

The amount of those claiming unemployment benefits saw an increase of 3,600 in March to 1.61 million which was, according to the Office for National Statistics, the highest total since October 2009.

Speaking to BBC News Nick Palmer from the Office for National Statistics said:

“If you look at the longer-term picture, unemployment rose quite strongly during the summer of last year, then the increases tailed off a bit towards the end of the year.”

“So despite this latest decrease, the level of unemployment is significantly higher than it was a year ago, in fact it is some 170,000 higher than it was at the same point a year ago.”

ONS: UK Unemployment Rates Drop is a post from: Federal Management

It is being reported that Stoke-On-Trent City Council is currently owed around £8.6 million from taxpayers for a variety of different services consisting of allotments, skip hire, use of sports facilities, room hire, licensing fees and planning costs, commercial rent, market rent and collecting rubbish from businesses.

A large proportion of this debt was incurred through the Council providing services which residents and tenants where allowed to us first and pay for later but, as a means of helping to eliminate future debt from accruing a large amount of services are now reported to be “pay up front.”

The Council itself is looking to sell off a debt package to private debt collection agencies which consists of  rent, tax and other debts in a last-ditch effort to recover the outstanding monies.

Details of the outstanding debt amount were revealed just weeks after the Labour-run council had confirmed there would be budget cuts of £24 million for 2012/13, following citywide cuts of £35.6 million last year.

Councillor Abi Brown, Conservative group leader said:

“We have got to make sure the city council is run like a business.”

“There are still services where charges are not being made up front. I just hope the council has learned its lesson.”

Councils Following Up On Debt Collection Agency Recommendation is a post from: Federal Management