Some funny numbers that caught my eye this week:
1. The average shortfall on the average endowment policy in this country is £5,000, which is a huge shame as most people would not have understood why they had this policy in place – but sadly they sure as heck now understand that they have to find the difference! If you think you were mis-sold one of these policies contact the Financial Services Ombudsman on 0845 080 1800.
2. We spend huge amounts of money on buying clothes and accessories for our babies and the total wardrobe value of our under ones in this country is estimated to be £446 million – don’t tell Emma but she was born in July 1989 which must have been quite hot because I remember that as a baby all she ever ‘wore’ was a nappy plus a (clean) tea towel over her head to keep her shaded.
3. The government’s costs of running the tax credit system have risen from £36.1 million in 1999/2000 to £403 million in 2003/4, and apparently this has highlighted some huge inefficiencies. So for example over 65 million letters were sent out in two years informing people of the tax credit opportunity when only 6 million qualify for the relief, meaning nearly 60 million letters and postage costs were unnecessarily incurred.
What the Inland Revenue lack I often feel is a massive dose of common sense – because clearly if somebody just thought that type of thing through properly it wouldn’t happen, but sadly it seems that many people, when becoming an employee of the government, just seem to turn their brain off.
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