Call me old fashioned, but April Fool's Day used to be about whoopee cushions and butter on door handles, not price hikes left, right and centre. I wish I could tell you that the cost increases are all a big joke which will expire at midday on Wednesday but unfortunately they are here to stay. You can pretty much blame the tax year for everything going up at once as many companies and public sector bodies being their new budgets at the same time. I've tried to come up with tips to dodge the extra expense where possible.....
1. Stamps - Prices rise on April 6. A first class stamp for a letter is up from 36p to 39p and second class rises from 27p to 30p. Avoid the increase by stocking up on stamps now as they are inflation-proofed if they have just '1st' or '2nd' on them. Why not stock up for Christmas while you're at it? You will save £1.50 for every 50 letters or cards you send with the cheaper stamps.
2. Prescription charges - Currently £7.10, the price rises to £7.20 in England on April 1. You may think that 10p isn't much but it adds up if you need several or regular prescriptions. The first thing to check is whether you can avoid paying altogether. Under-16s, over-60s, pregnant women, students aged under 19 and in full-time education plus cancer patients (who will need to apply for an exemption certificate) and anyone on benefits and tax credits does not have to pay for prescriptions. If you're not in one of these categories then consider a prescription pre-payment certificate (PPC). A 3-month PPC will cost you £27.85 (£28.25 from 1 April) and a 12-month PPC £102.50 (£104.00 from 1 April). If you need to fill two prescriptions a month, the annual certificate will save you £70 over the year. For details call 0845 850 0030, get a form in a post office or pharmacy or online at
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk. Prescriptions are free in Wales and there are plans to slowly phase them out in Scotland and Northern Ireland. As a result Scots will pay £1 less from April 1 (£4 per prescription, with even greater saving on PPCs) and those in Northern Ireland will pay £3.
3. Phone calls - BT raises the phone line rental cost from £11.50 to £12.50 per month on April 1. I wrote about this back in February so click here for further details of the new costs and plans.
4. Council tax - Aaah, my favourite topic. Prepare for even bigger bills from April 1 as councils bump up what you owe by around 3%. Check you're getting due discounts such as for single occupancy, students or empty homes and you're claiming relevant benefits and read my blog on council tax to find out how you can check whether you're in the wrong band...
5. Nintendo games consoles - expected to increase by as much as £20 a pop in April if retailers pass on the extra costs they are paying to the Japanese manufacturers because of the yen's strength against the pound. Apple and Dell may also be in for currency-related price rises.
6. Water - An island nation we may be but our water bills are soaring on April 1 by an average of 4.1% to a typical £340 a year. You could save a fortune by switching for free to a water meter if your home has more bedrooms than people. Find out more from the Environment Agency and USwitch.
7. Visiting the dentist - as if we needed any more excuses to put off a visit (not that I do, my dentist Lawrence is a charmer). Anyway, from April 1, the cost of visiting an NHS dentist will go up. Frankly, I think you deserve a lifetime of freebies if you can even find an NHS dentist but the government will expect you to pay. In England the cost of a check-up or basic treatments such as a scale and polish is up 30p to £16.50. Extractions or fillings will rise by £1, to £45.60. Ouch. In Wales, costs for those items are being frozen. 'Band 3' treatments such as crowns, dentures and bridges will remain fixed at £198. If you need to go private a crown can cost as much as £406. If you're spending a lot of time in the dentist's chair then consider dental insurance. Tesco offers a £9.95 per month package that means you get a 100% reimbursement for routine check-ups, hygiene treatments and X-rays, when treated as an NHS patient and pays for NHS remedial and restorative treatment such as fillings. Call 0800 678 1793 or go to
www.tescofinance.com. 8. ISA allowance - You can stash away up to £3,600 in a cash ISA every tax year but once you miss the deadline, you lose the entitlement for good. So you have until April 5 to use yours. At the time of writing, Barclays' Golden ISA was paying the most at 3.55%.
9. TV licence - From April 1 the cost of a colour television licence will be £142.50 and a black and white licence will be £48.00. Another of my favourite topics - click here to read and rant.
10. Bus travel for over-60s - there was a big hoo-hah about this last year when the government made a big deal of giving 'go anywhere' bus passes to pensioners. Well they never really got off the ground as so many local authorities couldn't be bothered so they will be dropped from April 1, when you will probably have to pay if you want to go county-hopping. First they ruin your savings, now they spoil your fun.
Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:35 pm by Lorz
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