Route out of lockdown

The 1-minute read to get the money news you need

Big news from Boris

The PM is set to announce the plan for England to come out of lockdown today. He’ll say that schools will reopen from 8th March, with new freedoms to socialise outside with one other person to start at the same time. 3 weeks later, we’re likely to see the return of sports and the rule of 6 for outdoor fun. Pubs, restaurants, shops will have to wait until later.

Hiring spree?

British companies are feeling better about hiring than they have for over a year. 56% of firms say they’re planning to hire people in the next few months, according to the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. The number of bosses planning redundancies has dropped too - down to 20%, from 30% at the end of last year.

Cosy home scheme

Only 2,600 homeowners have been able to access £5,000 vouchers* to make their homes warmer and more efficient. The target? 600,000. The scheme has been extended to March 2022- but the funding hasn’t. That means over £1 billion of vouchers will remain unclaimed. The funding for the 2021/22 tax year will be enough to go around 80,000 households.

Planes grounded

Boeing 777s across the world are banned from flying while the company investigates an engine failure that struck one of its jets in Denver. Many are out of service anyway because of the pandemic. In other bad news for the industry, demand for new planes has dried up with no orders at all for passenger planes in January.