Groceries via delivery apps like UberEats, DoorDash and MilkRun can be up to 39% more expensive

Convenience can come at a steep price, Choice has found, with Australian consumers paying up to 39% more for groceries ordered through rapid delivery apps.Choice compared in store prices of 13 common grocery items available at Coles, Woolworths and Aldi with their equivalents on third party apps UberEats, DoorDash and Woolworths-owned MilkRun.They found that items including pasta, milk and fresh vegetables cost on average 11% more on third-party apps and delivery charges of between $5 and $11 significantly drove up bills.Seven out of 13 items at Aldi were priced higher on DoorDash than in store, while MilkRun charged more for 11 out of 13 items from Woolworths.“Not all items are increased in price,” the editorial director at Choice, Mark Serrels, said, but “the majority of them are”

Barclays plays down £20bn exposure to private credit industry

Barclays has insisted it has the right controls in place to manage a £20bn exposure to the under-fire private credit industry despite warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank of England.The bank’s chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, said it ran a “very risk-controlled shop” and was comfortable with its lending standards for the private credit industry.That was despite taking a £110m loss over the US sub-prime auto lender Tricolor, which collapsed amid fraud allegations last month.Losses stemming from the dual collapse of Tricolour and the US auto parts company First Brands have raised fears over potentially weak lending standards in the private credit industry. There are concerns that the potential fallout could destabilise traditional banks that issue loans to the shadow banking sector

‘It’s 3p on a pack of sausages’: UK food firms say packaging tax adds to inflation

A packaging tax designed to end our throwaway society is under fire for inadvertently adding to food price inflation as it pushes up the cost of everything from sausages to soft drinks.“It’s about 3p on a pack of sausages,” says Andrew Keeble, the co-founder of Heck, of the new extended producer responsibility (EPR) tax.This year’s packaging tax bill for the family-run food manufacturer, based near Bedale, North Yorkshire, which landed this month, is £153,000.Heck has already absorbed the increases in employer national insurance contributions and the “national living wage” announced a year ago by the chancellor, but Keeble suggests this new tax will have to be “passed on to a fairly cash-strapped nation”.The packaging levy – designed to end excessive packaging and create a circular economy – transfers the cost of recycling the ready meal containers and wine bottles in your kerbside bin from councils back on to the companies that sold them

Signs of peak inflation open door to earlier Bank of England interest rate cuts

Has UK inflation peaked? The latest official figures showing price growth in the UK stayed at 3.8% in September seem to suggest so.The statement cannot be made with absolute certainty yet but many economists reacted to the latest consumer prices index (CPI) data with a message that the only direction for inflation over the rest of the year was down.City economists had expected the Office for National Statistics to report an increase from August’s 3.8% to 4%, and they were in good company – the Bank of England also said inflation would top out at that level last month

Eurostar to run doubledecker trains through Channel tunnel from 2031

Eurostar is to start running doubledecker trains through the Channel tunnel to meet growing demand for international rail travel from the UK.The rail operator announced it had signed a €2bn (£1.7bn) deal for at least 30 – and up to 50 – new trains from the manufacturer Alstom.The doubledeckers will start operating from 2031, with each able to carry more than 1,000 passengers.Eurostar said the Celestia trains, the first high-speed doubledeckers to run on the UK mainland, would have about 20% more seats than its biggest existing trains

Real living wage to rise by almost 7% in boost for low-paid UK workers

Almost half a million workers are to receive a pay boost after it was announced that the real living wage paid voluntarily by 16,000 UK companies will rise to £13.45 an hour.Distinct from the national living wage, which is a statutory minimum, the real living wage is calculated each year based on the cost of essentials, and is paid by more than half of the companies in the FTSE 100.Born from a long-running campaign about the difficulties of making ends meet on poverty pay, employers can agree to pay the more generous rate. The Japanese clothing store Uniqlo, the University of Salford and Truro city council are among the latest to sign up