but first, here's our personal finance correspondent kevin peachey, with analysis on what's been a keyis week — working—age benefits and whether they should be linked to inflation. that's prices, rather than wages. working—age benefits cost the government £87.4 billion last year. now, to put that into context, the defence budget is about half of that, at 42 billion, while health and social care for england is more than double, at 192 billion. the benefits budget covers a range of payments, including housing benefit, personal independence payments, and employment and support allowance, so sickness benefits. but the biggest chunk of it goes on universal credit. around 5.7 million people claim this benefit. more than 40% of these claimants are in work. for those who are unemployed and older than 25, they get £77 a week. now, benefits are uprated each april, usually in line with the previous september's inflation figure, which is published later this month. but as you can see here, benefits didn't actually rise at all for a few years from 2016, and when they've risen since, that's not nece

kevin, thank you very much indeed, kevin peachey - tenants too. rted work, he has started to assemble his new cabinet. that is his first priority. there are a number of appointments into the top jobs in government. jillian keegan is in education. jeremy hunt is back as the chancellor. the most important appointment, with the markets, the instability. james cleverley keeps his job as the markets, the instability. james cleverley keeps hisjob as foreign secretary. and suella braverman is back as home secretary. so there is quite a lot of continuity from the liz truss government. ben wallace keeps his role as defence secretary. dominic raab is back in government and back asjustice secretary and deputy prime minister. and grant shapps, another big supporter, is rewarded with the job of business secretary. penny mordaunt, who dropped out at the very last minute, did not have 100 mps courting her, which then when she did drop out let rishi sunak get a clean run, she keeps her role as leader of the house of comments. she might have wanted a bigger role, t

many in the mortgage sector themselves were ever expecting. 0ur personal—finance correspondent kevin peachey his country's forces are making rapid and powerful advances into occupied territory, following successful attempts to disrupt russian supply lines. he says dozens of settlements have been liberated this week, including a string of villages in the southern region of kherson. 0ur correspondent hugo bachega reports from kyiv. slava ukraini. ukraine is taking back its land. village by village, soldiers are moving forward, also in the south. this is novopetrivka in kherson, now liberated from russian forces. the ukrainian advance has been quick. president putin's troops have been forced to abandon places they had held since the early days of the war. ukraine is also on the move in the east. we are going to win! but liberation often comes with destruction. lyman, a town in donetsk, was a major logistics hub for the invading forces. as the russians fled, this is what they left behind — anti—tank mines and even some of their own. in his evening address, president zelensky said the offensive w

i am kevin peachey, the cost of living _ you are.and look at some of the context here with the — look at some of the context here with the rising cost of living, we conducted — with the rising cost of living, we conducted a survey for the bbc of 4000 _ conducted a survey for the bbc of 4000 people and it found that 85% of those asked were worried about their finances _ those asked were worried about their finances. 56% said they thought their— finances. 56% said they thought their financial situation would worsen~ — their financial situation would worsen. now you compare that to a similar— worsen. now you compare that to a similar survey back in january, worsen. now you compare that to a similar survey back injanuary, then it was— similar survey back injanuary, then it was 30% — similar survey back injanuary, then it was 30% then. so you can see people's— it was 30% then. so you can see people's concerns are rising. we heard _ people's concerns are rising. we heard from — people's concerns are rising. we heard from carla and amanda,

to answer those questions, i'm joined by the bbc�*s cost of living correspondent, kevin peachey.ies. perhaps unsurprisingly, many are about the energy price cap. people are searching about when the rebate payments are due. they want to know how the energy price cap works. and — perhaps after some scary newspaper headlines — how high energy prices could go. let's answer some of those. judith, on the energy rebates, what is the answer to the question about when the rebate payments are due? rebate payments, people should have received those already in october and the next set are due in november and the next set are due in november and it is a £a00 rebate and they are coming in equal payments through your bill, through direct debit customers, it should come through your bill. prepayment customers should be getting it added to their prepayment card orfob, whatever they use normally. home prepayment card or fob, whatever they use normally.— they use normally. how does the ener: they use normally. how does the energy price _ they use normally. how does the energy price cap _ they use n

let's get more from our personal finance correspondent kevin peachey. kevin, what has happened?ne? if we look back, we will see a typical _ have they gone? if we look back, we will see a typical two _ have they gone? if we look back, we will see a typical two year _ have they gone? if we look back, we will see a typical two year mortgage | will see a typical two year mortgage has reached the 6% mark since november 2008, has reached the 6% mark since november2008, rememberthe november 2008, remember the financial crisis, but november2008, rememberthe financial crisis, but now it has happened again, it's happened today, we are at 6.07% for a typical two year fixed we are at 6.07% for a typical two yearfixed rate we are at 6.07% for a typical two year fixed rate deal we are at 6.07% for a typical two yearfixed rate deal and people we are at 6.07% for a typical two year fixed rate deal and people are looking at that of course and seeing it has gone a lot higher than it was backin it has gone a lot higher than it was back in december, we've had a series of interest rate rises, it's g

kevin peachey, thank you very much, - pensioners over the winter, t. e for foreign, commonwealth and overseas development, and that is interesting because there was some talk going around parliament that, as you mention, penny mordaunt, possibly being attached to thatjob. she had been at that apartment before, clearly that is not going to happen now so, james cleverly stays in that role, so he continues there, which is interesting. so, that opening is not going to come. iii which is interesting. so, that opening is not going to come. iii the opening is not going to come. if the order of these _ opening is not going to come. if the order of these appearances is significant, that might suggest that penny mordaunt is holding on to her job as leader of the commons and will not be getting promotion, maybe she stayed in the race on sunday nightjust a little too long. this night 'ust a little too long. this will nightjust a little too long. this will be interesting _ nightjust a little too long. this will be interesting to _ night just a little too long. “in 3

exploring many of the issues around the cost of living with our personal finance correspondent, kevin peacheywe'll focus on issues such as practical ways you can cut bills, what support is out there, the strain on food banks and the difference it makes when certain benefits are linked to wages, rather than to prices. email us at yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet using the hashtag, #bbcyourquestions. so so that is at friday at 11:30am. sport now, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's our sports reporter. good evening to you. celtic have fallen to the bottom of their champions league group after losing 3—1 in germany to rb leipzig, and face an uphill battle if they're to make the knockout stages. having gone a goal down, celtic did get themselves back into the game just after half—time — capitalising on some sloppy play by the home side, with kyogo furuhashi squaring a pass tojota in the area for the equaliser. but leipzig would go on to win for the first time in the champions league this season, thanks to a brace from andre silva. ange postecoglu's side get a chance to exact

exploring many of the issues around the cost of living — with our personal finance correspondent kevin peacheyrts who'll form a panel to answer the questions you want answered. we'll focus on issues such as practical ways you can cut bills, what support is out there, the strain on food—banks and the difference it makes when certain benefits are linked to wages rather than to prices. email us at yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet using the hashtag—bbc your questions. we would love to hear from you. liz truss will attend the first meeting today of the european political community — an informal summit bringing together the leaders of eu states with 17 other countries. at the gathering in prague, ms truss will call for unity to ensure that ukraine can win the war against russia. she'll also say it's time to confront other challenges, such as energy and migration. i'm joined now by our political correspondent damian grammaticas. this comes obviously as the prime minister faces enormous pressure at home butjust tells a bit about minister faces enormous pressure at home but just tells a bit about this

exploring many of the issues around the cost of living with our personal finance correspondent kevin peachey answer the questions you want answered. we'll focus on issues such as practical ways you can cut bills, what support is out there, the strain on food—banks and what it actually means for people on benefits if rises are linked to prices or to wages. do get in touch with your thoughts and your questions. to be part of that conversation with us. email us at yourquestions@bbc.co.uk or tweet using the hashtag— bbc your questions. that is friday and we will have our guests answering the questions you want to put to them. you're watching bbc news and welcome if you're just joining us from bbc two. i'm joined now by the conservative mp for ipswich, tom hunt. ipswich is considered a swing seat, tom hunt won it with a majority of 5479 votes. welcome, thank you for joining us. what did you think about the speech? i joining us. what did you think about the speech?— the speech? i was pleased with it. i think wednesday _ the speech? i was pleased with it. i think wednesday morning - the speech? i w