Staircase is a support network for residents of housing associations and local authorities in the UK. We bring residents together to support each other for personal and community advancement and to help shape the policies and services that affect us.
Energy suppliers make some of their biggest profits from their poorest customers, a watchdog has said.
Firms make about half a billion pounds a year in extra charges from prepayment meters, Consumer Focus estimates.
About 1,000 prepayment meters a day are being installed in households where people have got into debt over their energy bills, it says.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has raised the limit to the amount of deposits that are guaranteed should a bank go bust to £50,000. The new limit will come into effect on Tuesday 7 October. Previously, the first £35,000 of savers' deposits had been protected.
The price of an average first-time property rose from £52,674 to £159,494 in the decade to 2007, according to the charity Shelter. See this summary article on the BBC website.
The housing boom of the last decade has priced many first-time buyers out of the property market, according to the charity Shelter.
The charity's Roof Affordability Index found that the price of an average first-time property rose from £52,674 in 1997 to £159,494 last year.
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Shared Equity Home Ownership includes Shared Ownership, Homebuy and Key Worker Living schemes in the UK. These are the government's affordable home ownership initiatives delivered by housing associations in the UK.
Your home may be at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loans secured on it.
