the money doctor. Growing demand for outer and inner space
FOOD FIRM’S MOVE IS BOOST FOR CITY
Financial worries or just looking for better value for money? Consumer champion
Fergus Muirhead can help
QAT the end of the summer last year, you answered a reader’s question about business interruption insurance and I think you said that you were not able to give a definitive answer to the question because a test case was making its way through the courts and that the Supreme Court was likely to make a decision on it early this year.
Has that happened now, and if so what did the court decide?
ATHE Supreme Court handed down its judgment a month or so ago and found unanimously in favour of the claimants, and against the insurance companies. In simple terms that means that many of the claims that had been rejected will now have to be paid. The judgment is likely to cost the insurance industry an awful lot of money but it will be very good news for the thousands of small businesses, our reader included, who initially had claims rejected. I’ll start by refreshing your memory if you can’t remember what the original case was about. A Record reader who runs a bed and breakfast in the Highlands had to close last year due to coronavirus restrictions. He had his claim for business interruption rejected.
A REPORT by insurer Royal London has surveyed people who are either moving house at the moment or thinking about moving house. It asked them about the property features that have made lockdown harder as well as the features they were looking for in new properties, and the areas of the UK they’re looking to move to, whether these be more rural or urban. Spending so much time indoors has been challenging for all of us and the research shows that the top features that made lockdown harder were small gardens and outdoor areas, or indeed no outdoor areas, and lack of indoor space. It’s not only the amount of space that we need, indoors or outdoors, that has changed since lockdown started a year or so ago. In the last 12 months, there have been nearly 100,000 Google searches every month for “dogs for sale” so it is no surprise that 28 per cent of house movers are now looking for extra space for pets. Additionally, people moving house are starting to look for properties in a location with home offices and highspeed internet, as well as those with more open floor plans and more parking. One in six people actively moving, or
PET READY Buyers want extra room looking to move, to a new house in the UK said that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed where they want to live.
Mona Patel, consumer spokesperson at Royal London said: “The restrictions and lockdown measures have seen millions of households in the UK set up remote offices from their kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms and dining rooms.
“With so much time being spent indoors, it was inevitable that people would start thinking about their home environment.
“Unsurprisingly, space is the most desirable feature for home movers who want more room both indoors and outdoors.
“While cities have always been popular home buying locations, the pandemic has seen a shift in attitude as our research shows that there is a greater demand for rural locations.”
DELIVEROO has chosen London to launch a stock market listing that could value the business at £8billion.
The food delivery giant claimed it proved the firm’s “commitment to making the UK its long-term home”.
The move boosts Britain’s hopes of luring technology companies, and ensuring start-ups stay here.
Deliveroo tycoon Will Shu, the firm’s first rider when it started in London’s Chelsea area in 2013, is set to make a fortune from the stock market debut.
The company plans to use so-called dual shares, a change proposed this week which allows founders to retain control.
In preparation for its stock market listing, it appointed Lord Wolfson, boss of fashion giant Next, as a non-executive.
Online giant Amazon snapped up a stake in Deliveroo last year. Chancellor Rishi
Sunak took a break from this week’s Budget to back the business, calling Deliveroo “a true British tech success story”.
Shu said: “London is a great place to live, work, do business and eat. That’s why I’m so proud and excited about a potential listing here.”
As well as delivering for takeways and restaurants, the firm also has deals with Waitrose, Aldi, Morrisons and Co-op.
Roofoods, Deliveroo’s parent firm, saw revenue soar 62 per cent to £771million in 2019, but losses rose from £243million to £317million.
Deliveroo has drawn criticism in the past about treatment of staff, and in 2019 riders protested about its pay structure.
Alex Marshall of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, said direct action would “continue unless workers are listened to”.