Paul Lewis: May money news
How to combat rising heating oil prices and find cheaper petrol, plus news about train refunds.
How to combat rising heating oil prices and find cheaper petrol, plus news about train refunds.
The government has found more than £50 million with which to help lower income people with the soaring cost of heating oil. Around 1.5 million households across the UK rely on heating oil for their central heating. But within days of the US and Israel attacking Iran the price of it had more than doubled, adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of filling up an oil tank.
In England, local councils will set their own rules about who gets help through their Crisis and Resilience Fund. If you cannot afford to buy oil to keep warm and cook, especially if you are running low, apply to your local council.
The Scottish government will give £300 from its new Emergency Heating Oil Scheme, partly funded by Westminster, to people struggling with the price of heating oil or Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). People on low incomes or those who have medical conditions will get priority. Apply through the homeheatingadvice.scot page.
In Wales, local councils will administer the scheme.
In Northern Ireland, where six out of ten homes rely on heating oil, your council is probably the best place to start.
If you are struggling with heating bills, we've got more advice from our Saga Money experts.
The price of petrol and diesel also rose sharply after the Middle East war began.
A new service called Fuel Finder was launched by the government to allow people to find the cheapest fuel locally. Several websites use it so you can put in your location and find the cheapest petrol nearby. It can save you pounds on filling up.
The experts at Saga Money have 8 simple driving tips to save money while driving.
From 1 May, private landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants without a reason. Previously, they could hand a tenant what was called a Section 21 notice to evict for no reason.
That ended on 30 April, but from this month landlords will still be able to evict you if you owe at least three months in rent or if they want to sell the property or move into it themselves.
In future, rent can only increase once a year and the rise must be reasonable. Blanket bans on pets are not allowed though requests can be refused.
If you buy an ‘anytime’ railway ticket and decide not to use it, you can now only get a refund if you claim by the day before the ticket becomes valid. Previously, you had 28 days to claim.
Always check your rights to delay compensation or refunds when you buy a rail ticket.
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