Money News

The last 12 months has shown how important it is for consumers to protect their finances with critical illness cover in case they are unable to work due to long-term illness. Consumers looking to take out critical illness cover or change their existing cover can narrow down their choices to those that have been awarded a Moneyfacts 2021 five or four star rating, which have been revealed today.

Amongst the critical illness providers that have been awarded the top five star rating from Moneyfacts today are Aegon, LV=, VitalityLife and Zurich.

Commenting on being awarded a Moneyfacts five star rating Steven Crosbie, protection director at Aegon, said: “We’re delighted that Moneyfacts has awarded our critical illness protection the maximum five-star rating. This impartial stamp of approval endorses the quality of our products – helping advisers recommend us to their clients with confidence.”

During April many tax allowances and thresholds will increase, which could see consumers gaining more in their monthly wages, but also may result in having to pay higher taxes.

To help consumers and businesses understand the key changes that are due to come into effect this month, we’ve highlighted the main tax changes.

For those who want to know all the tax allowances and thresholds for the 2021/22 tax year, including all business taxes, sign up for our free taxfacts guide.

Two premium bond customers will be starting April £1 million richer as the April premium bond prize draw winners have been announced.

The first £1 million winning premium bond number was 323PN679583, which belongs to a premium bond holder in Cumbria. This bond is part of a £50,000 holding that was purchased in February 2018.

The second winning number was 422PG980526, which belongs to a premium bond holder in Lothian and was purchased in November 2020 as part of a £50,000 holding.

In addition to these winners, a further five premium bond holders won the second-best prize of £100,000 and another nine won £50,000. Meanwhile, in this month’s draw a further 20 premium bond holders won £25,000, 48 won £10,000, and 96 won £5,000. Thousands more received prizes ranging from £25 to £1,000. A total of 3,068,376 premium bond holders won prizes in the April draw.

The Moneyfacts.co.uk Pick of the Week showcases the best of the latest products or rate changes to hit the consumer finance market.