Money blog: Teachers now qualify for Blue Light discount card - but not everyone is happy about it (2024)

ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper staff have voted in favour of a walk-out in an ongoing dispute over pay, the RMT union has said.

Union members at the two publicly owned rail operators were separately balloted for strike action following a pay offer that was described by the union as "derisory".

Bexley has topped the list as London's cheapest area to rent.

The average rent in the southeast London region is £1,297 per month, a study byBLG Development Finance and Online Marketing Surgeryfound.

In second place is east London's Havering, with an average rent of £1,350 a month.

The most expensive average rent is inKensington and Chelsea, with renters paying around £3,322 a month.

A secret advertising deal was struck between Google and Meta to boost Instagram's users, according to a Financial Times report.

Google had worked on a marketing project for Meta aimed at targeting 13 to 17-year-old YouTube users with adverts promoting Instagram.

That's despite Google's rules prohibiting personalising and targeting adverts to under-18s.

Google has since cancelled the project after being contacted by the FT and investigating its claims.

The chocolate maker is giving customers the chance to star in one of its classic ads from the last 200 years with the use of AI.

As part of the AI-powered tool, users will be able to upload a selfie and select their era from one of seven Cadbury ads.

Users can also select how they would like to be represented and the AI technology will then recreate their image.

Those who do give it a try will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win £200.

The My Cadbury Era campaign is being launched by the chocolate company's agency VCCP London to mark Cadbury's 200th anniversary this year.

You can find out more here...

Free Jude's ice cream is being offered for John Lewis reward members this summer.

Shoppers looking to indulge will be able to get one for free at The Place to Eat if they join the retailer's loyalty scheme.

The offer comes as a short-lived but intense spell of hot weather prepares to hit the UK this weekend, with temperatures expected to reach 33C in parts of the country.

The offer is valid until 27 September.

Eagle-eyed shoppers have noticed Heinz Ploughman's Pickle appears to have disappeared from supermarket shelves.

The popular condiment might have been a favourite for your cheese sandwich, but there's bad news - Heinz has confirmed the product has, in fact, been discontinued.

Concerned customer Sarah-Ann asked this on Twitter...

To Sarah-Ann's disappointment, Heinz replied: "Thanks for your message. Sorry to say but this product has now been discontinued."

So, is this one that should be brought back?

We've been running a weekly series called Bring It Back where we look at the discontinued food items that you want back on our shelves.

Here are the ones you've been calling for so far...

Teachers and school support staff can now apply for a Blue Light discount card - but the sudden surge in demand has caused the official website to temporarily crash.

The Blue Light card is a discount provided to emergency services, NHS workers, social care staff and members of the armed forces, and provides thousands of offers and discounts online and on the high street.It costs £4.99 to register for two-year access to more than 15,000 offers from large national retailers and local businesses.

But it seems demand was so high, with teachers rushing to grab the card, that it promptly crashed the website.

"Due to the high demand we've seen over the last 24 hours we experienced some issues with our website and app," the organisation wrote on X.

"Please accept our apologies for this error. We are in the process of refunding any duplicate payments and you should receive an email in the next 24 hours with more information."

However, the move to accept teachers into the scheme has been met with some criticism.

One A-level maths teacher wrote: "I'm not sure how I feel about this. Teaching can be hard, but we're not an emergency service, and our work isn't really in the same category as "blue light" jobs. If they're going to widen the eligibility criteria, it needs a name change, at the very least."

Another X user wrote: "This is precisely why fewer and fewer businesses accept the BLC. You really ought to rebrand to something like 'Key Worker Card'. The majority of jobs which meet your eligibility criteria are not 'blue light' roles -- the name 'BLC' is misleading now."

But Blue Light Card hit back, saying: "Teachers are not just educators; they are mentors, guides and inspirations that are helping shape the future for our children. They are fully deserving members of our blue light community."

What kind of offers can a Blue Light card get you?

Among the offers is 12% off at Fenty Beauty and 15% off at Bose.

Users can also get a £30 gift card if they spend more than £1,000 at British Airways or a £110 voucher if they sell their car via Carwow.

Or if getting fit is more your thing, you can get 50% off an annual subscription to the Body Coach.

The summer holidays are in full swing, with children facing an exciting six weeks off school in the sunshine (or the rain, it is the UK after all).

Many supermarkets and restaurants have deals available during the holidays to take some of the pressure off parents needing to feed their hungry youngsters.

Here are some of the supermarket offers out there:

ASDA

Children can eat for £1 at Asda cafes all day, every day - not just during the summer holidays.

There's no minimum adult spend or purchase required with this one.

Options include penne pasta, fish fingers and chicken nuggets.

Morrisons

Children and adults can grab a free bowl of cereal every day at Morrisons cafes.

No minimum spend is required but the offer is limited to one bowl of cereal per customer, per day. The offer is only on until 4 August, so you'll need to get in there quick!

As well as this, Morrisons is also offering children a free kids meal when they're with an adult spending at least £4.50 on a meal.

Tesco

Kids can eat for free at a Tesco cafe when an adult makes a purchase and scans their Clubcard.

The offer is available on weekdays until 30 August in England and Wales and until 16 August in Scotland.

There is no fixed minimum spend required.

Sainsbury's

Children can grab a hot main meal or lunch bag for free when accompanied by an adult buying a hot meal from £5.50 in its cafes during the summer holidays.

The offer is valid until 3 September.

According to the supermarket, its kids meals are suitable for youngsters aged five to 10.

IKEA

At Ikea, children can get a meal of pasta with tomato sauce, or mac and cheese, with a soft drink for 95p.

Other kids meals are priced at a reasonable £1.50.

This one's available every day from 11am, except for Fridays.

As well as supermarkets and stores, some restaurants are offering cheaper meals for children during the summer break.

Here are a few of the best offers we've found...

Bella Italia

Kids eat for free all day on Thursdays and for £1 between 4pm-6pm Sunday to Wednesday at Bella Italia restaurants.

The offer is available with the purchase of any adult main.

Beefeater and Brewers Fayre

Two children can get a free breakfast every day with one paying adult.

The Real Greek

Children can get a free meal on Sundays with an adult spending more than £10.

The offer is available to all children under 12, and is only valid for dine-in.

Pizza Hut

Kids can help themselves to a free kids buffet every day until 3pm when quoting the code SUMMERKEF.

They have to be with an adult spending at least £10 on other food to get the unlimited pizza, pasta and salad offer.

The buffet can be upgraded to include a bottomless soft drink and unlimited ice cream for an extra £2.

Yo! Sushi

Children are offered a free kids' bento box all day at Yo! Sushi restaurants when dining with a full-paying adult spending at least £10.

The offer is available until 30 August. A maximum of three children per booking can eat for free.

Las Iguanas

Children can get a free meal from the kids' menu with an adult ordering a main course.

The offer, for children up to 12 years old, excludes the lunch menu and is only available for customers with the My Iguanas app.

TGI Fridays

Children eat free with every adult main meal purchased.

The offer is available all day every day for members of its Stripes Rewards scheme.

The coffee shop chain has revealed it is giving bodyworn cameras to staff following a spike in shoplifting and attacks on retail workers.

It told The Telegraph it had launched a trial across six shops in London and had put up signs to let customers know.

The cameras are only being worn be team leaders and managers and will only be turned on in specific circ*mstances, a Pret spokesperson said.

The footage will only be accessible to Pret's security team.

Companies have reported increasing cases of shoplifting and aggressive behaviour towards staff in the years following the pandemic.

Record levels of shoplifting were reported in England and Wales last year, according to government figures.

Lidl recently spent £2m on body cameras for staff in all of its UK stores, while English Heritage - which manages historic sites across the country - has also deployed a similar tactic.

Vinted has made a U-turn on its delivery changes after it was met with a backlash from sellers.

The mobile app, where users can buy or sell new or secondhand items, had this month trialled removing sellers' ability to pick and choose the couriers they could send parcels through.

But the move caused confusion and anger among sellers, who argued that not being able to pick and choose shipping options would mean some people would have to cancel orders.

Some shipping options require sellers to be able to print shipping labels, while others may have drop-off points far away from the seller's location.

On X, one seller wrote: "This will ruin your platform if it doesn't get fixed quickly."

While another asked: "On what planet was that a good idea?"

In response, Vinted has now reverted back to its previous setting.

The company told the BBC that the change was made on Monday.

"We heard the feedback and can confirm the shipping options have returned to their previous settings. There are no further actions needed from the members," the company said.

The stock market slump at the start of this week, and fears of a US recession (as of yesterday, JP Morgan was putting the chances at 35%), prompted questions from readers on the important issue of what it all means for their holiday money ahead of US trips.

I am going to the USA in September for a holiday. Will the fear of a US recession mean that I will get more or less dollars for my British pound?

James

If the USA enters recession does that mean you will get a better exchange rate from GBP?

Sharon392

We asked business reporter Daniel Binns to take a look...

First, the current situation, and if you're heading to the US, unfortunately the pound has recently weakened against the dollar, so you will get less bucks for your bang, Binns writes.

The stock market turmoil has affected markets around the world, but it was the Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates last week that has had a big impact on the value of the pound.

Higher interest rates tend to attract foreign investors looking for a higher return on their money - and so lower rates are unappealing and can therefore decrease a currency's value.

At the start of the week, £1 could buy you $1.2811, but that slumped to as low as $1.2675 by Tuesday.

In the past few days the pound has recovered a little, and is back up to $1.2764 - but still down overall.

What will happen to the value of the pound if the US enters recession?

A recession in the world's largest economy will have a global impact – even fears about the possibility sent global markets from Tokyo to London into a mini-meltdown on Monday.

However, currency markets are influenced by a range of factors, including important domestic aspects such as interest rates.

It also depends on how a US recession affects the UK economy – it may not cause much damage here.

If America does experience a downturn, investors could flee the US dollar towards "safe" currencies such as the Swiss Franc or Euro. Whether they turn to the pound will depend on the amount of confidence they have in the UK economy.

The strength of the pound against the dollar is more likely to be affected by which out of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England makes quicker and deeper interest rate cuts.

There's a lot of unknown factors at play, so it's hard to make any firm predictions – a US recession, which is by no means a given, may not happen until much later next year, when the economic climate may have changed a lot.