Pocket money... Drive smarter to cut costs

⬤ If you want to fight the rising cost of motoring, consider investing in the IAM RoadSmart advanced driving test, says Toby Walne in The Mail on Sunday. “Spending £149 on more driving lessons when I got my licence 30 years ago may sound like an unnecessary indulgence.

But getting this new qualification could be one of the best investments I ever make.” Many car insurance companies will offer you a 10% discount on premiums for having an advanced driving qualification, which could “soften the blow of rising premiums”. On top of that, the additional skills you learn could also help cut motoring costs as a result of smoother driving.

⬤ The government’s scheme to help pay childcare bills isn’t working, says David Byers in The Sunday Times. Parents can pay money into a tax-free childcare account and the government will add 20%, capped at £2,000 a year per child. Despite that “fewer than 316,000 parents have an active tax-free childcare account. Three out of four families are thought to be missing out on a total of about £2.8bn”.

So to find out why so few families are taking advantage of this free money, HMRC commissioned a research agency to look into the problem. “Its conclusion? Change the name, advertise it better and make it easier to apply.” Many parents found the scheme complicated, they weren’t clear on how it worked and didn’t like having to reapply for the top-up every three months.

⬤ The government has announced proposals to overhaul the compensation system if your UK domestic flight is delayed. Passengers would have the right to a partial refund of their fare after a one-hour delay instead of the current three-hour minimum – rising to 50% after two hours and a full refund after waiting three hours, says Gwyn Topham in The Guardian. However, if you got a cheap flight, you could receive less money. The old EU regulations, retained after Brexit, mean you get at least £220 after a threehour delay. Budget airlines say that the levels of compensation now often outstrips the fare. That would no longer be the case if the amount you get back is tied to what you spent.