Details of a new government-backed, low-interest loan scheme to help households pay for heat pumps, solar and batteries have been unveiled.
Launched on Tuesday, ahead of Chancellor John Healey announcing his first Budget, the scheme is designed to encourage more households to invest in green tech to lower their energy bills.
The majority of larger lenders will offer loans in the region of 2-4 per cent, according to multiple sources, with the scheme covering heat pumps, solar panels and batteries but not insulation.
Channel 4 to bring its shows to Disney+ – what we know
Channel 4 and the Walt Disney Company have struck a deal that will bring the British broadcaster’s shows to Disney+ in the UK and Ireland next year.
What you need to know
The agreement includes multiple Channel 4 shows being made available on-demand each year on Disney+, at the same time as their release on the station.
These include drama starring Bella Ramsey, comedy featuring Denise Welch, and reality show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins – along with Channel 4’s main TV channel and additional on-demand content.
How will it work?
When can you watch?
From 2027, Disney+ customers will be able to watch Channel 4’s linear HD channel, plus scripted and unscripted content at no extra cost.
What will be featured?
Channel 4 shows available “day and date” on Disney+, and access to new Channel 4 shows each year.
Where can you find it?
There will be a dedicated Channel 4-branded section intergrated into Disney +.
Why Putin will welcome Trump’s post-midterms mayhem
Even while Vladimir Putin does what he can to help Donald Trump salvage something from this month’s midterm elections, the Russian President is working on the assumption that the Republicans will lose badly.
The Kremlin’s goal
The Kremlin’s goal is to see the West paralysed by internal division and dispute, and it sees a humiliated Trump as a disruptive one.
Mired in a badly conceived and legally questionable war in the Gulf, with petrol and other prices rising and his erratic personal style increasingly counting against him, Trump has looked to Moscow for help.
Putin’s token efforts to aid Trump
- 1Trump’s deal to buy Russian diesel gave Putin the opportunity to pit Kyiv against the White House.
- 2Last week, Putin also freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old US citizen who had been given seven years in prison on charges of being a mercenary fighting for Ukraine.
- 3The Kremlin has also made much of the fact that a ceasefire it has agreed with Kyiv to allow residents of the beleaguered town of Oleshky to receive aid or simply flee the fighting, was driven by the First Lady, Melania.
Why Russia doesn’t care about Trump’s losses
Russians themselves have long regarded Trump as periodically useful, but never reliable.
“We’ve always known that [Trump] was self-indulgent and self-destructive,” a Russian political commentator told The i Paper. “The only question was when he was going to sink his own ship.”
- Moscow has had to see its Venezuelan client toppled and seen European countries ramp up their defence spending at Trump’s behest.
- Trump may press for a peace process as a last chance to secure his legacy and the Nobel Peace Prize.
All the supermarket staples having import tariffs removed
The Chancellor will soon cut tariffs among other cuts to give families “breathing space”.
Budget announcements
Making higher tax-free mileage rates permanent and removing import taxes on some food items are among the measures being announced ahead of Wednesday’s Budget.
The announcements are part of Chancellor John Healey’s pledge to give families what he is calling “breathing space” with the cost of living.
Which foods will have their tariffs cut?
Citrus jams, marmalades and pastes (20% + £19 per 100kg)
Cough drops, boiled sweets, toffees and caramels (8%)
Baked beans (16%)
Other measures announced
- A 55p per mile tax-free mileage rate for those driving up to 10,000 miles for work, with the rate rising from 25p per mile
- Allowing carers to earn more than an existing earnings limit without losing their entire allowance
- Giving two weeks of paternity pay to self-employed fathers
- Rolling out hundreds of additional Post Office drop boxes to make sending parcels easier
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A minimum wage rise
Healey will also announce the new National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds on Wednesday as well as the National Living Wage for those aged 21 and over.
has reported that the National Minimum Wage is likely to rise by 3.9% from £10.85 an hour to around £11.27.
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Why Jimmy Carr thinks comedy should be taught in school
Stand up comedian Jimmy Carr has said comedy should be taught in schools.
Here is everything we know.
Comedy is a ‘teachable skill’
54-year-old Carr is known for hosting 8 Out Of 10 Cats and as well as performing his own stand-up comedy shows.
Carr said he thinks no one is born funny and that comedy is a “teachable skill” that can help young people find their “authentic voice”.
Comedy is a ‘valuable skill’
Speaking on the podcast, he said: “I think comedy should be taught in schools, well drama more generally, but comedy specifically.
“It is a teachable skill. Is it an innate ability? Are you born funny? I don’t think so.
He added: “You will write down and order your thoughts. You’ll learn to communicate them and you will speak in your own authentic voice.
“It’s a valuable skill to learn.”
Everything you need to know about Israel’s election
Today, Israel is due to hold its first elections since the 7 October Hamas attacks in 2023.
What you need to know
Many Israelis have described the upcoming election as the most important one in their country’s history.
Polls show current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trailing in the race behind his main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
However, it may take weeks or months before it’s clear who will be designated the winner.
More about the key players
Netanyahu has led Israel for 19 of the last 30 years at the head of a far-right coalition. He is currently on trial for corruption, so losing power could risk jail time for him.
Gadi Eisenkot is the former head of the Israeli military. He’s positioned himself as the opposite of Netanyahu, naming his party Yashar, or “Honesty”.
What are the polls saying?
Netanyahu in decline
Most polls show Netanyahu’s Likud and his current coalition parters losing their majority.
Anti-Netanyahu majority
Polls also show a clear anti-Netanyahu majority, but opposition seats are divided.
Palestine parties
Palestinian politicians have indicated they might support a minority government to unseat Netanyahu.
Voters disenfranchised
In the occupied West Bank, more than 500,000 Israeli settlers can vote.
In occupied East Jerusalem more than 230,000 Israelis with voting rights live among 350,000 Palestinians who cannot vote.
Two million Palestinians in Gaza, who live under Israeli military occupation, according to the international court of justice, also have no vote.
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What the result could mean
Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the foreseeable future. Their most significant differences concern democratic institutions, the West Bank and Israel’s relationship with the rest of the world.
- Netanyahu has governed with ultra-Orthodox parties that support settlement expansion in the West Bank. Eisenkot presents himself as a more pragmatic alternative. He has also taken a tougher position against violence by Israeli settlers.
The key detail Spotify is asking family plan users to prove
Spotify has outlined a new verification process for family plan users to prove they live in the same household.
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The process
What has changed?
Spotify will now ask family plan users to verify their address using a QR code.
How will it work?
The plan manager opens the QR code which needs to be scanned. All users on the plan need to be in the same place to scan.
What if you don’t?
If verification isn’t completed in seven days, the member can’t join a different Family or Duo plan for 12 months.
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the quality and value of Premium we implement measures to ensure appropriate use of Spotify accounts. This includes reviewing Household Plans to ensure they are used only by primary account holders and those living at the same address, as stated in our terms and conditions.
a spotify spokesperson told sky news
Citizens Advice have warned that limitations within the scheme risk leaving behind a “squeezed middle” that can’t access support.
Meanwhile, it comes amid rumours that the Government is preparing to cut its Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers non-repayable grants for heat pumps.
How does the new loan scheme work?
The Government is funding participating lenders to help them provide green loans with lower interest rates than the deals currently on offer.
Previously, there were a limited number of low-interest rate loans for green upgrades on the market, and they usually have tight restrictions. For example, Nationwide offers a zero per cent green upgrade loan for its mortgage customers for a duration of two or five years.
Mainstream personal loans tend to have higher interest rates, with the best rates sitting at around 5.9 per cent APR.
The Government’s new scheme will see the Treasury pay lenders up to 20 per cent of the loan amount, in turn allowing lenders to offer deals with rates several percentage points lower than they otherwise would have.
For example, if a lender currently offers solar panel loans with an interest rate of 7 per cent, then they could offer deals with an interest rate of 2 per cent by joining the Government’s scheme.
The loans are available to households across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
What can you fund using the loans?
The loans will be for a minimum of three years and will cover the following technologies:
- Solar panels – up to £15,000
- Electrical storage battery – up to £15,000
- Air-water source heat pump – up to £20,000
- Air-air source heat pump – up to £10,000
- Ground source heat pump – up to £35,000
- Biomass boiler – up to £20,000
- Heat network connection – up to £7,500
- Micro-renewable system (such as domestic wind turbine) – up to £20,000
The Government has said that installing a heat pump, battery and solar panels could help families save up to £550 a year on their energy bills, rising by an additional £300 a year with a time-of-use tariff.
What are the limitations?
The loans will not cover insulation, which is often recommended for households installing heat pumps in order to help the device work efficiently.
James Dyson, senior researcher at the climate change think-tank E3G, said the loans will be “helpful” for people looking to “protect themselves from high gas prices”, but added that it was “a shame they can’t be used to pay for insulation, which helps people to stay warm and keep their bills low.”
Gillian Cooper, director of energy at Citizens Advice, said the scheme will help “households who can afford to borrow” but that this “cannot distract from the serious threat of cuts elsewhere within the Warm Homes Plan.”
In the lead-up to this week’s Budget, there have been reports that the Government is considering cutting the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers subsidies of up to £7,500 for households switching from a gas boiler to a heat pump.
The cuts are being considered as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) looks to shave £2bn from its budget to fund an increase in the UK’s defence spending.
However, the Government’s announcement of the new loan scheme noted that homeowners “will also be able to combine a loan with a grant of up to £9,000” through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (and Home Energy Scotland in Scotland), “further reducing the cost of installing a heat pump”.
Cooper said: “We’re particularly worried about ‘squeezed middle’ families who risk being left behind by this loan scheme. They earn too much to qualify for low-income support towards efficiency upgrades, but don’t have enough disposable income to take on new debt or cover the upfront costs.”
The Government offers grants to pay for green upgrades via its Warm Homes scheme, but this is typically for households on means-tested benefits or with a combined income below £36,000.
Who are the participating lenders?
The list of lenders currently participating in the scheme, published on Tuesday, includes a range of organisations, from high street banks to Buy Now Pay Later lenders:
- Homeserve (partnering with E.On)
- The Money Co-op
The Government said that further lenders and products are expected to join the scheme as it develops.
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said in a statement: “Energy is an everyday essential that must be affordable for everyone.
“These government-supported loans will help families across the UK upgrade their homes with no upfront costs to make them warmer and cheaper to run.”