Skipton Building Society has joined the call for interest on savings accounts to be paid tax-free for UK pensioners.

As interest rates fall and pensioner inflation rises, the effects of the credit crunch are being felt hardest by the over 50s.

The Government has reneged on its promise to respond to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report on the Equitable Life disaster.

It said that it would respond in the autumn to the report by Ann Abraham on the near-collapse of the life insurer in 2000.

Credit card companies have yielded to government pressure to treat customers more fairly.

After meetings with the Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson, and Consumer Affairs minister Gareth Thomas, the card companies have agreed to a set of principles to help borrowers struggling with interest repayments.

The move falls short of getting card companies to reduce their rates in line with the Bank of England base rate. Many card rates have been rising as base rates have been falling.

The Government is threatening the domestic fuel companies with legal action if they fail to reduce the bills of those on the most expensive tariffs.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has said that the Government is considering passing legislation to force the power companies to fall into line.

Although the price of oil, which governs domestic fuel prices, has continued to fall over the past couple of months, the fuel companies have failed to pass on the price cuts to customers. They give  various reasons: they have already bought supplies ahead at higher prices, they need to invest in their infrastructure, including the production of environmentally-friendly supplies, and they need to pay dividends to shareholders.