According to this article ministers have backed plans to give restaurant workers fair pay. Under new rules restaurant workers could face jail or a £5,000 fine from October if they use tips to make up staff wages. Currently some restaurants pay workers a low wage but use staff tips to make the wage up to the legal minimum. In some cases waiters are being paid as little at £3 an hour by employers and have to rely upon tips to make up the rest of their salary. It is estimated that around 60,000 staff could see their salaries increase after the new rules come into force.

Sainsbury’s have posted better than expected profits with a 11.3% rise to £543 million. The supermarket has said that like for like sales rose by 4.5% in the year to the 21st of March. The rise is put down to the increasing population of their Basics range and the Jamie Oliver Feed Your Family For a Fiver campaign which has been running on TV. The profits mean that Sainsbury’s staff will share a bonus pot of £60 million, compared to last year’s £47 million.

New guidelines are being brought in to give tenants and home owners who use lettings agencies more protection. The Association of Residential Lettings Agents is introducing a licensing scheme for its UK members and a code of practice for lettings agents. Under the new rules licensed agents will need to hold a professional qualification related to lettings, take part in continuing professional development, have professional indemnity insurance, have plans in place to protect any money they are holding for clients and have an independent audit carried out on clients funds. This would mean that if the licensed agent went out of business any money it owed to its clients would be protected.

According to this article Sales of beer in the UK have fallen at their fastest rate since the recession of the early 1990s. The British Beer and Pub Association have said that off trade beer sales fell by 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 contributing to a total decline of 8.2 per cent in total beer sales. On trade beer sales (those in bars and restaurants) also fell by 6.3 per cent that’s around 753,000 fewer pints every day over the first three months of 2009. The message here is clear, your local pub needs you to drink more beer.

According to this article a new type of tomato has been produced that won’t make your sandwiches go soggy. It has been produced by Tesco who claim it is the world’s first non leaking tomato. The tomatoes have been grown in Holland under a seed breeding programme that began in 1986. Unlike normal tomatoes which lose 8 per of their weight when sliced the non leaking variety loses less than one per cent of moisture meaning less juice ends up seeping into the bread of the sandwich. At 99p for four they are not cheap but if you are sick of eating soggy sandwiches then this might be the answer.

Since I heard that the government was introducing a scrappage scheme to encourage people to trade in their old cars for a newer model I have watching with interest. My car has now reached the 20 year old mark and its a miracle every year when it gets through the MOT. I would happily trade my car in a for a newer one, the only thing that is really stopping me is that I simply cannot afford to get a new car. I was hoping that the government scheme might give me an extra little bit of help to be able to purchase something a little newer, perhaps a car that is only five years old rather than twenty. It appears, however, that the scheme only allows you purchase a car that is less than a year old. I have been looking around at the prices of new cars and even if I were to purchase one with finance it is simply too expensive. I don’t want a particularly big car perhaps a Ford Fiesta or similar but prices of these start at around £12,295. It looks as though my car will be on the road for some time yet whilst I continue saving for a newer one.

This article suggests that shoppers are using their debit cards and cash rather than relying on credit cards. Spending on debit cards increased 6.8 per cent last year from £108.7 billion to £116.1 billion whilst spending on credit cards dropped to £61.1 billion. Cash purchases also increased in the same period. The news comes as credit card companies are being accused of making it harder for people to pay back their debts as well as increasing their rates.

In an unusual incentive a Spanish property company is offering customers a free divorce lawyer when they purchase a new home. The offer is open to couples who buy one of their three bedroom houses priced at 68,000 Euros. The company Geimsa realtors are hoping to cash in on those people who are delaying divorce proceedings because they cannot afford to set up a new home in the current difficult economic climate. The same company is also offering brand new apartments for 100,000 Euros which includes an all expenses paid wedding. In other schemes around 30 estate agents in Spain are offering discounts of up to 40 per cent for buyers who are going through a divorce or separation. Some deals also include a years free mortgage.