it's the first research of its kind carried out by the office for national statistics. s nearly half that for people in stable housing, with homeless men and women dying on average at the age of 1m. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. matthew died in a public toilet. martin hyde was tragically murdered while sleeping rough. david was holding down a full—time job but living in a small vehicle and died in the fire. at this charity in stockport, they have long remembered those who died homeless. they were friends who cared for them, helped them and in many cases attended theirfunerals. them and in many cases attended their funerals. when homeless people pass away they leave friends and associates behind and people are loved and missed. mark is a regular visitor to the charity. a few months ago he fell out with his brother, and was rough sleeping in manchester. the 31—year—old was hooked on drugs, and died. he was asleep in an alleyway or on a bench or something with a blanket. somebody thought he was sleeping but he was dead. this reason the jewel in

in the last half hour, the office for national statistics has released retail sales figures for novemberendously difficult year on the high street, retailers havejust tremendously difficult year on the high street, retailers have just got a christmas present from the office of national statistics which say retail sales were up 1.4% month on month, far above what anyone was expecting. they say this is down to black friday and the way we are shopping. that event in their shopping. that event in their shopping calendar at the end of november when we tell as this holding out for that and spending our money there. that has shown up in household goods, 5% month on month up. is it a christmas present or has itjust moves the point in the year when people are spending because we don't know what the figures will be for christmas? that is absolutely right. we are starting to see other bits of data coming out and these are back saying spending is down 0.7% —— and visa saying. at full in the high street is at the lowest point since the financial crisis. it will be a sigh of relief for retailers —— ma

it's the first research of its kind carried out by the office for national statistics. at for people in stable housing, with homeless men and women dying on average at the age of 1m. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. matthew died in a public toilet. martin hyde was tragically murdered while sleeping rough. david was holding down a full—time job but living in a small vehicle and died in the fire. at this charity in stockport, they have long remembered those who died homeless. they were friends who cared for them, helped them and in many cases attended their funerals. when homeless people pass away they leave friends and associates behind and people are loved and missed. mark is a regular visitor to the charity. a few months ago he fell out with his brother, and was rough sleeping in manchester. the 31—year—old was hooked on drugs, and died. he was asleep in an alleyway or on a bench or something with a blanket. somebody thought he was sleeping but he was dead. this recent vigil in manchester remembered some of those who had died homeless. the nort

it's the first research of its kind carried out by the office for national statistics. f that for people in stable housing, with homeless men and women dying on average at the age of 1m. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. matthew died in a public toilet. martin hyde was tragically murdered while sleeping rough. david was holding down a full—time job, but living in a small vehicle, and died in the fire. at this charity in stockport, they have long remembered those who died homeless. they were friends who cared for them, helped them and, in many cases, attended their funerals. when homeless people pass away, they leave friends and associates behind and people are loved and missed. mark is a regular visitor to the charity. the last thing, i wished him dead, which i regret. a few months ago, he fell out with his brother, and was rough sleeping in manchester. the 31—year—old was hooked on drugs, and died. he was asleep in an alleyway or on a bench or something with a blanket. somebody thought he was sleeping, but he was dead. this reason vigil in man

some breaking news from the office for national statistics concerning student loans, they‘d made a rulingof the outstanding loans will be paid off by the taxpayer in 30 years time when graduates finished making repayments. around half of students don‘t ever repay all of the loans because they don‘t reach the threshold in their earnings. the office for national statistics singh student loans in england will add 12 billion pounds to the government desk at the set. hunting for honey in the wild is one of the oldest traditions in rural nepal — and it‘s also an extremely dangerous one. the hunters have to make a difficult and trickyjourney to the beehives which hang from the rocks high in the mountains. a bbc team travelled to the remote lum—joong district of nepal to find out why so many villagers are willing to risk their lives to collect the honey. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. here‘s simon king. thank . some sunshine across the uk at the moment. decent start, many of us clear skies at the moment, walk out the further west you go. into the atlantic, this swirl of cloud, a weather

the office for national statistics says the unpaid portion of loans should be counted as government spendingtal of national borrowing. when the issue was raised in the commons, the debate quickly widened to how students‘ education should be paid for. the shadow chief secretary said the government had been engaging this is a technical accounting decision by the ons, whose independence we support and whose diligence we commend. it's for the independent obr to decide how to reflect this decision in future forecasts. the ons decision yesterday makes the case for real reform of our higher education system more compelling. instead of tinkering around the edges, flirting with cuts in fees that would benefit the richest graduates and cuts in places that would only hurt the poorest students, isn't it time for real reform, a system that's publicly funded and genuinely free at the point of use? chief secretary. i've been very clear in my response. this is fundamentally an accounting decision. it doesn't affect our decisions on the policies of higher education and these bodies that we're talking about,

we will get that figure from the office for national statistics in about 15 minutes' time.pfizer we mentioned earlier. our business editor simon jack. we have got on bbc online panadol and cha pstick firms we have got on bbc online panadol and chapstick firms and megamerger. glaxosmithkline has two big units, one is the consumer products, things like sensor —— chapstick, and it has rnd pharmaceutical vaccines, oncology. a lot of pressure on glaxosmithkline to spin off the health care division and today we haveit health care division and today we have it doing it along with pfizer, two giants giving birth to a joint baby because it will have global sales of $13 billion. they have the rationale that the business is less risky, higher cash flows, and by splitting it off, you get more, the parts will be worth more than the sum was before. emma walmsley, she has not been at the helm of glaxosmithkline for a long time. really interesting, emma walmsley‘s background is in consumer products, she came from l'0real. it was thought she would have a focus on consumer products but what

the office for national statistics estimates that almost 600 homeless people died in england and walesarter more than five years ago. london and north—west england have the highest proportion of deaths. it's the first time the scale of deaths among the homeless have been revealed, more than 2,600 in england and wales over the last five years. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. we give thanks for all the lives of those named, and those whose names we do not know. at a recent vigil in manchester, a small group gathered to remember those who died in the city and elsewhere while homeless. hundreds of lives that ended early, talents wasted. stephan tomkins was a very bright young man who went to university and got a masters degree. daniel was a very talented footballer, went through manchester city's footballing academy. at this charity in stockport, they've long remembered those who died without a place to call home. drug addiction, alcohol misuse and suicide among the most common causes of death. this year i've been to five or six funerals, and i don't like to reme

the office for national statistics estimates that almost 600 homeless people died in england and wales alone. that's nearly a quarter more than five years ago. london and north—west england has the highest proportion of deaths. it's the first time the scale of deaths among the homeless have been revealed — more than 2,600 in england and wales over the last five years. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. we give thanks for all the lives of those named, and those whose names we do not know. at a recent vigil in manchester, a small group gathered to remember those who died in the city and elsewhere while homeless. hundreds of lives that ended early, talents wasted. stephan tomkins was a very bright young man who went to university and got a masters degree. daniel was a very talented footballer, went through manchester city's footballing academy. at this charity in stockport, they've long remembered those who died without a place to call home. drug addiction, alcohol misuse and suicide among the most common causes of death. this year i've been to five or six funerals

but following a ruling by the office for national statistics, student loans which are not expected tonditure. it could increase pressure on universities to reduce tuition fees. our education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports. when jewish and whenjewish and fees in england went up whenjewish and fees in england went up to £9,000, students took to the streets to protest. their loans became the main support for universities. six years on and many still worried about debt. nobilo has not borrowed, conner is borrowing forfees not borrowed, conner is borrowing for fees and living costs. there are some people who are thinking about it and considering, right, some people who are thinking about itand considering, right, i some people who are thinking about it and considering, right, i need to plan in order to pay it off. there are some people who do not think about it and i'm not sure what it means to have a student loan. how many students expect to really felipe of alone? with the current political climate as well, jobs are not as abundant as they used to be. but some are in a job and they can

between july and october they went up on average by 3.3% according to the office for national statisticsle in work continued to rise to record levels, but unemployment is also up. our economics correspondent andy verity is here. in the run up to christmas people can in the run up to christmas people ca n afford in the run up to christmas people can afford to spend more? in theory, yes, it should meant that. that 3.3% pay rise means wages are growing faster than prices. after inflation our wages grew by i%, the fastest improvement in living standards for two years. if your glass is half—full ahead of christmas that's great news. the average wage is now here and we can now afford to buy more than we've been able to since 2011. if your glass is half—empty, the average wage bought more than it does now before 2011. the other big question is who's taking the new jobs? well, on the latest figures there were 132,000 fewer eu workers in the uk than there were a year ago. whereas the number of uk nationals in the workforce grew by 448,000. some of that's pensioners working into retirement. but th

the office for national statistics says that slowing price rises could bring some relief to consumers3% over the year, the lowest since march 2017. banking giant santander has been fined nearly £33 million by the financial conduct authority for failing to process the accounts and investments of deceased customers. the uk arm of the spanish bank did not transfer £183 million to beneficiaries when it should have done. it says the failures affected over 40,000 customers. but we start with a deal announced earlier today. the drugs giants glaxosmithkline and pfizer are to join their health care divisions to create a business with combined sales of £10 billion. gsk will have a 68% stake and pfizer 32%. glaxosmithkline's chief executive emma walmsley will chair the newjoint venture. two giants giving birth to a new baby, but a giant baby because this thing will have global sales of $13 billion. and the rationale for this is that this business is less risky, it has higher cash flows and by splitting it off you will get more. the parts will be worth more than some was before. the uncertainty o

yet the figures for november from the office for national statistics paint a more positive picture.rim on the high street. asos saying something similar, are they all wrong? they cannot be wrong because those are the ones doing the trading. we are getting this message from different types of retailers. if you look more closely at the 0ns figures clothing retailers have made marginal growth and a large food retailers have only made marginal growth. but the 0ns comes out with different biggest what everyone else sees going on quite often then they get the rise but later. while there is going to be more positive growth because there's so much discounting going on, it is that the risk of margins, across the board. some figures came out not so long ago looking at football, in high streets, which is at its weakest level since before the recession. is that a better indicator of what is going on in retail —— footfall. that a better indicator of what is going on in retail -- footfall. it shows that the visits to physical stores is going down. we are seeing this big shift online but even onli

wages rose at their fastest rate in a decade, according to the latest figures from the office for national statisticsrecord number of people in work. our economics correspondent andy verity has the details. this american—owned engineering company in telford makes precision parts for manufacturers of everything from prosthetic limbs to aircraft. it employs 400, and it's got 40 vacancies. if it's going to expand as quickly as it wants to, it can't skimp on wages. particularly in those areas where we need to have high—skilled people, people who are really skilled in the art and who are master in the class, there you basically pay the upper level of the market rate. for the ones less skilled, you basically get across with market wages. however, the wages have been increasing over the last couple of years ahead of inflation. with record numbers of people in work, a shortage of skilled and unskilled labour is one reason pay is now rising 1% faster than prices. now, if your glass is half full ahead of christmas, that's great news, the average wage is now here and we can afford to buy more than we have been

the office for national statistics estimates that almost 600 homeless people died in england and waleslondon and north—west england have the highest proportion of deaths. it's the first time the numbers of deaths among the homeless have been revealed — more than 2600 in england and wales over the past five years. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. we give thanks for all the lives of those named, and those whose names we do not know. at a recent vigil in manchester, a small group gathered to remember those who died in the city and elsewhere while homeless. hundreds of lives that ended early, talents wasted. stefan tomkins was a very bright young man who went to university and got a masters degree. daniel was a very talented footballer, went through manchester city's footballing academy. at this charity in stockport, they've long remembered those who died without a place to call home. drug addiction, alcohol misuse and suicide among the most common causes of death. this year i've been to five or six funerals, and i don't like to remember people by going to their f

the decision by the office for national statistics will add £12 billion to the government deficit.significance of this? this is a technical change, but one with major implications. under the current system, the government, the money given out in student loans is not recorded as public spending. the theory being that is it is a loan, it will eventually get the money back. this is being criticised as a fiscal allusion. in practice, around 45% of those loans are not expected to be repaid. students are now only paying them off when they earn about £25,000 a year. any amount that they haven't paid back in 30 years is then written off and the bill is therefore picked up by the taxpayer instead. today's decision from the office of national statistics means that from next year the amount of student loans that the government will pay off in 30 years' time will be counted as current capital spending, pushing up the deficit by about £12 billion. that is expected to continue rising. this could provide an incentive to cut tuition fees, or at the very least reduce funding to improve the deficit.

money flowing in and out of the uk was negative to the tune of £26.5bn, according to the office for national statisticsling for businesses that trade with the eu need to prepare for the possibility of a no—deal brexit, describing it as "a call to action now". later today, hmrc is due to publish an update to its advice on how firms should prepare for a no—deal scenario. production of cars in the uk tumbled by almost 20% in november compared with a year earlier, according to the industry's trade body. the society of motor manufacturers and traders blamed weaker demand in the uk and in export markets. uk consumer confidence has ended 2018 on five—year low, according to data from gfk. the index measures how brits feel about the outlook for their personal finances and the wider economic situation and declined by a point in december to minus 14. we spoke to director at gfk, joe staton. first of all, explain to me why exactly we have seen consumer confidence dropping like this? this isa confidence dropping like this? this is a pretty reliable survey and something the markets looked at closely. down to a five—

the data, released by the office for national statistics for the first time, shows an increase of 24%ve years. the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, has suggested that a second referendum could become a plausible way forward if parliament remains deadlocked over brexit. ms rudd said while she did not personally support another vote, the case for one would grow if mps could not agree another solution. the government has repeatedly ruled out holding another referendum, saying it was the government's duty to implement the result of the 2016 brexit vote. more money should be spent on changing the layout of our town centres, an independent report into the state of the high street has recommended. an expert panel, chaired by the owner of timpson‘s, says local authorities across england don't have enough money and central government needs to contribute more. victoria will have a discussion on this later in the programme. australian investigators have released the final pictures taken by a group of british tourists before the seaplane they were travelling in crashed in sydney last year

what do you make of the decision, then, by the office for national statistics that these written off off the actual money going onto the balance book for the 30 years until the actual loan gets wiped, but they already know a really large proportion of that debt would ever actually get paid off, so what that has done has incentivised the government to give students money in the form of loans instead of, say, grants, even though either way it will end up eventually being money the government has spent as opposed to what graduates are paying back. what that has actually meant, because of the abolition of maintenance grants, it has actually meant the poorest students have ended up with the largest debts, so students from the poorest backgrounds on average have to pay backgrounds on average have to pay back much more than students from richer households, who only to about £38,000 on average because they don't take those maintenance grants. what we would certainly hope for is that now the government is being more upfront about how that spending works, and that actually a lot of this money

the office for national statistics estimates that almost 600 homeless people died in england and walesthan five years ago. london and north—west england has the highest proportion of deaths. social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. we give thanks for all the lives of those named, and those whose names we do not know. at a recent vigil in manchester, a small group gathered to remember those who died in the city and elsewhere while homeless. hundreds of lives that ended early, talents wasted. stephan tomkins was a very bright young man who went to university and got a masters degree. at this charity in stockport, they've long remembered those who died without a place to call home. rough sleeping is the most visible and dangerous form of homelessness. it has risen rapidly since 2010, often caused by rising rent or problems getting help with mental health or addiction support. we do not need night shelters, we need a hostel, a place where we can stop carrying when we put in the night shelters, in the morning you are told to go out. you have to walk in the cold. and with your

decade betweenjuly and october — they went up on average by 3.3 per cent according to the office for national statisticsrity has more details. that is the fastest improvement in living standards the tee years. if your glass was half full of christmas, that is great news. the average wage is now here. if the glass is half empty, though, the average wage was more than it is now, before 2011. the other question is, who is taking the newjobs? there were 132,000 fewer eu workers in the uk, than there were a year ago. whereas the number of uk nationals in the workforce grew by 448,000. so some of that is pensioners into retirement. there has also been a big drop in the number of people who are economic inactive, in other words, number of people who are economic inactive, in otherwords, people number of people who are economic inactive, in other words, people of working age are not looking for age. asa working age are not looking for age. as a proportion of the nation, that group is now smaller than it has been since records began in 1971. let's return to our top story which is the shooting in strasbourg. the

the office for national statistics says that slowing price rises could bring some relief to consumersyal customers too much — and offering discounts to win new customers. it‘s now vowed to clamp—down on the so—called loyalty surcharge. banking giant santander has been fined nearly £33 million by the financial conduct authority for failing to process the accounts and investments of deceased customers. the uk arm of the spanish bank did not transfer £183 million to beneficiaries when it should have done. it says the failures affected over 40,000 customers. good morning. but we start with a deal announced within the last few hours. the drugs giants glaxosmithkline and pfizer are to combine their health care divisions to create a business with combined sales of nearly $13 billion. gsk will have a 68% stake and pfizer 32%. glaxosmithkline‘s chief executive emma walmsley will chair the newjoint venture. simonjack has simon jack has more simonjack has more details on that and we‘ll hear from simonjack has more details on that and we‘ll hearfrom him later. we will get an update on the officia

the figures just three from the office for national statistics.es you are watching at home, reading and sharing. the bbc website, the most popular stories. and number one, bake off‘s nadiya marries her husband again. they had an arranged marriage. she said it was nothing fancy, just ask, no frills. i did it again. she has posted pictures of the ceremony, a wedding cake, and her ring. she was 19 when they were introduced by her parents and she says she married a stranger. they got married, had two kids, then she fell in love. she said it was tough marrying a complete stranger. we had to live through the good under bad but we have come out the other side. loveis but we have come out the other side. love is strange, it creeps up on new and smacks you in the face. some the stories you are interested in this morning. my favourite, best christmas film of course. it is it's a wonderful life. my favourite too. it beat elf. the others were love actually, muppet christmas carol, home alone. if you have not seen it's a wonderful life, a man who has devoted h

slowed as car sales fell and the manufacturing sector stalled the latest figures, from the office for national statisticsh the numbers. nice to see. what you make of the figures, they are not terrible, but not great. absolutely, and we expected to see a slowdown this month. that is partly because the data we have seenin is partly because the data we have seen in the past months has been more difficult, along with the uncertainty that households and businesses continue to face. if we look for example at confidence, we can see consumer confidence and business confidence has dipped over the past couple of months and that has fed through to the household spending and business investment, also falling. and we are seeing that in data released today. i would say ona in data released today. i would say on a more positive note that at least october saw some positive growth, unlike august and september, which were flat. what we should be clear about is when we talk about growth figures we tend to look back, this is what has already happened. the important stuff is what is coming next. some forecasts suggesting in

i found those figures, they are office for national statistics figures and the sea between 2001-2016,hould take part in sport and physical activity for at least an hour every day. of all the children surveyed for the inaugural active lives children survey, those aged 13—16 are least likely to be active every day. 20% of boys surveyed were active every day. that's more than girls, of which 14% were active each day. earlier i spoke to tim hollingsworth, ceo of sport england, and i asked what could be done to encourage teenagers to take more exercise that's the next piece of work, looking at the motivations but i think we all know because this survey confirms a picture which has been seen more broadly that there area been seen more broadly that there are a range of challenges and it's about both sport and physical activity in school and out of school, so there is no one or the other which is going to make a change. i think it's the fact sport can work for some and it does and we must absolutely make sure they have that opportunity. but for others may be it's not as attractive or not some

but separate figures from the office for national statistics showed borrowing fell to £7.2 billion — compared to this time last year. it is because there is weaker demand, not just time last year. it is because there is weaker demand, notjust in the uk but the export market is down 23% and that is the fifth month in a row. it is related to brexit but there are stricter regulations on emissions and what is going on in terms of trying to get cars that are right in terms of emissions so there is more testing going back is disrupting production as well. business investment has fallen again, is that also brexit related? it does seem like it, down 1.1%, the third quarter in a row and that is the most prolonged fall since the financial crisis. it is the car manufacturers, bmw, nissan who are saying there is uncertainty so they don't know if they will invest but we have had this trend in a downturn in business investment since the financial crisis, so it is a problem. turbulent year for the global stock markets? look at the ftse100 at the moment it is 11% down and the dowjones, at one point w

the office for national statistics says that slowing price rises could bring some relief to consumersre you saying? am i giving you a headache? no, i was talking about the lips, with the easterly wind. is anyone bothering? or have they left for the holiday? trading is thin. there is less buying and selling because there are fewer people around. however, those who are around will have seen glaxosmithkline. glaxosmithkline is still the largest riser. i know one person who hasn‘t gone on holiday yet. james hughes, chief market analyst, axi trader. surely it is time for you to go on holiday can have a party? you would think so, but not until we have covered today‘s stories was up the federal reserve. i know you are waiting for this, not because of what they are going to do today, but what they are going to do today, but what they are going to tell us about where the well‘s biggest economy is heading in the coming months. today‘s fed rate decision is probably one of the last big offence of the year that we get from a macroeconomic point of view. what we expect them to do later on today is

joining me now isjonathan athow, who is the deputy national statistician for the office of national statistics to come back? the idea is most loans get paid back, so there is no impact on the government's deficit. the challenge with student loa ns deficit. the challenge with student loans in particular is that we know a large proportion of them, just under half, doesn't ever get repaid. and at the moment, that doesn't show up and at the moment, that doesn't show up in the government's public finances. so the change we are making is to split student loans between the amount of money that the government will get back, and it is likely to be repaid, and we will treat that just like any all alone as it is at the moment, it doesn't affect the deficit. but that which isn't going to be repaid, we treat asa isn't going to be repaid, we treat as a transfer to students, a subsidy, and so that element, that will count towards the deficit. that is where you get the £12 billion figure from. is it likely to lead to any change? because it is kind of circular money if basically the government is giving money

showed a twenty two percent home increase in homelessness for twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen in the u.k. the office of national statistics says the number of human beings without housing who died on the streets has increased by twenty four percent over the past five years to five hundred ninety seven in two thousand and seventeen on wednesday a forty three year old me. and without housing died hours after he was found unresponsive it westminster station near the parliament building. we could talk about the state of venture capital it's been quite a few years to do so we're joined by a venture expert and former colleague of mine shane bauer mally who is the co-founder and managing partner of carbon shane well go thank you so much good to be here so it has been a couple of crazy years as you were telling me about give all the boom busters sort of the one hundred thousand foot view of venture capital there's tons of money out there right i mean it's on both ends of the spectrum both in the hands of investors also in the hands of the companies it's actually been at a decade high this year about eighty seven billion has alrea

after seven companies vying for project bid said the department's chosen process quote improperly created an unlevel playing field. meanwhile britain's office of national statistics or awareness has confirmed that major portions of that nation student debt burden will never be repaid the and us confirmed previous testimony to parliament that between forty and forty five percent of the current total of debt and interest cannot be paid by borrowers and should be written down as a loss on us and this change would add twelve billion pounds of writing to government accounts for twenty eighteen. and we now both talk about stocks and companies going forward into twenty nineteen to do so we are once again pleased to be joined by melissa r.-o. the c.e.o. of the starks wish so great to be with you in person was signed i am going to say i have a out and happy holidays so let's start with one that's made so much progress in the last two years although this year's been a bit of a downer lately that's a tech sector what do you see going forward i know it's unfortunate because that sector started out the year really with a bang i mean when you look at the fact that i'm. head up

but the office of national statistics, which released the numbers, said much of it was due higher profits from british companies being paid out to foreign investors. the government is calling fors just published an update to its advice on how firms should prepare for a no—deal scenario. production of cars in the uk tumbled by almost 20% in november, compared with a year earlier, according to the industry‘s trade body. the society of motor manufacturers and traders blamed weaker demand in the uk and in export markets. hmrc has released an update to their "partnership pack" advising businesses on how to prepare for a no—deal brexit. it comes after the government made a plea to businesses that trade with the eu to prepare for the possibility, describing it as "a call to action now". let‘s speak to martin mctague, national policy chairman, federation of small businesses. at first glance it‘s a lot of extra paperwork isn‘t it? at first glance it‘s a lot of extra paperwork isn't it? absolutely. we have been warning the government that only about 15% of small businesses have made any kind of preparation for any type of brexit less lonely no—deal brexit and with less lonely no—deal br

for even considering another raise. the uk rate of inflation rate fell slight last month to 2.3%. big falls in petrol prices have mainly driven the 0.1% drop on the previous month. the office of national statistics drop. it appears it doesn't pay to be loyal. it turns out that millions of people who stay with companies for insurance and mobile phones for years are actually losing out by around £900 a year. that's the verdict of the competition watchdog the cma, as our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz reports. the loyalty penalty can grind off your hard—earned cash without you noticing. nick near doncaster found he was paying more than £1000 a year more than he needed to for house insurance. we were paying £1929.82 a year. loyal for 21 yea rs, the cost had tripled. shopping around got him a policy for less than £500. i think it's despicable, it's an easy way for them to make more money, so they'lljust constantly put the price up year after year after year. they assume that if people aren't making complaints, and they're not chasing it up, then it's a safe bet for them. insurers say they're taking action against the loyalty penalty. the provider santander explains nick made claims, th

research by the office of national statistics says there was a record 32.5 million people in work in october, while earnings are rising by 3.3% — their fastest rate for but the tuc point out that because of the way pay has lagged behind the cost of living on the whole over recent years, our real incomes are still below where they were ahead of the financial crisis. because of that workers have lost out an average of £11,800 over the last decade in real pay. the worst affected are londoners, who've lost out to the tune of £20,000 on average. joining me now from central london is stephen clarke, he is a senior economic analyst at the think thank resolution foundation — which aims to improve the standard of living of for low— and middle—income families. thank you forjoining us today. at the report in context for us. do you fundamentally agree with the tuc‘s findings? the context as we had a disastrous decade for pay, real wages are below where they were before the financial crisis, that's the bad news but the good news is, wages are rising and have done so strongly towards the end of this year. rising at the quickest rate in about a decade, and rising a

research by the office of national statistics says there was a record 32.5 million people in work in october, while earnings are rising by 3.3% — their fastest rate forelow where they were ahead of the financial crisis. because of that, workers have lost out an average of £11,800 over the last decade in real pay. the worst affected are londoners, who've lost out to the tune of £20,000 on average. stephen clarke, is a senior economic analyst at the think thank resolution foundation — which aims to improve the standard of living of for low— and middle—income families. he told me why workers are learning less. the context of this is that we have had a pretty disastrous decade. real wages are still below where they were before the financial crisis. that is the bad news. the good news is wages are rising and have risen strongly towards the end of this year. rising at the quickest rate in about a decade and rising above inflation. so there is good news but overall, it has been a pretty poor decade. and why have some areas been worst affected by this pay lag, if you want to call it that? i think there are different stories in different parts of the country.