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The UK government has launched a highly anticipated consultation to bring “buy now, pay later” lenders under the scrutiny of the Financial Conduct Authority and the Consumer Credit Act.

The new regulation would allow the finance watchdog to apply rules on affordability, meaning that BNPL providers including Klarna and Clearpay would have to check that shoppers were able to afford repayments before offering a loan.

“We promised to take action before the election and now we are delivering,” said Tulip Siddiq, economic secretary to the Treasury. “Our approach will give shoppers access to the key protections provided by other forms of credit while providing the sector with the certainty it needs to innovate and grow.”

BNPL loans have soared in popularity in recent years by offering consumers the ability to spread their payments in short-term instalments with no interest. However, the sector has remained unregulated, meaning providers do not have to run affordability checks on prospective users.

Consumer groups have warned that the current regime can lead people to accrue large debts from late repayment fees on products from different providers.

Research commissioned by the Centre for Financial Capability, a UK-based financial education charity, found that almost a quarter of BNPL loans were charged late repayment fees in the six months to December 2023.

The UK government first said it would regulate interest-free BNPL loans in February 2021. The Treasury ran a consultation in early 2023 and announced plans to regulate the sector.

However, the previous Conservative government announced a delay in implementing draft legislation in July 2023, sparking criticism from the Labour party.

“Millions of people use buy now, pay later to manage their finances, but the previous government’s dither and delay left them unprotected,” said Siddiq on Wednesday.

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Israel said on Thursday it may have killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the deadly October 7 attack last year.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was examining the possibility that Sinwar was one of three militants it killed “during IDF operations in Gaza”.

“At this stage, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed,” the Israeli military said in a statement, noting that there were no signs of hostages in the building where the militants were killed.

If confirmed, Sinwar’s death would be a pivotal moment in Israel’s year-long war in Gaza, delivering a devastating blow to Hamas and a symbolic victory to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel has already killed many of Hamas’s military leaders over the past year in assassinations across the region. But Sinwar, who was believed to be hiding in Hamas’s vast tunnel network under Gaza, had been a more elusive target.

The circumstances and location of the Israeli military operation remain unclear.

The IDF is conducting a major ground offensive in Gaza’s north, primarily around the Jabalia refugee camp. But it has also said that it has recently killed militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and begun operations in the outskirts of the central refugee camps of Nuseirat and al-Bureij.

Sinwar took over leadership of Hamas this summer, after his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an alleged Israeli explosion in Tehran in July.

The 62-year-old Sinwar, also known as Abu Ibrahim, is widely considered to have masterminded Hamas’s devastating cross-border assault on southern Israel last October together with Qassam Brigades chief Mohammed Deif.

Deif, along with much of the top Hamas military leadership in Gaza, was killed over the past year in Israeli air strikes.

Israeli officials had vowed that they would get to Sinwar too, describing him as a “dead man walking”.

On Thursday afternoon, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant cryptically tweeted pictures of Deif and Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah who was killed in a massive Israeli strike in Beirut late last month.

“Our enemies cannot hide. We will pursue and eliminate them,” Gallant tweeted, leaving open a black square between the photos of the two men.

Sinwar, originally from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, had helped build Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, from its inception in the 1980s.

He then spent nearly two decades in Israeli prison but was released in 2011 as part of a swap deal for a seized Israeli soldier.

Once back in Gaza, he rose swiftly through the organisation’s ranks. He became the key interlocutor between the group’s political and military wings and ultimately assumed leadership over the entire Hamas-controlled territory.

MORE than a million benefits claimants with disabilities are set to lose out on the Winter Fuel Payment this year.

The cash, worth up to £300, is being dished out to people on certain means-tested benefits.

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Cuts made by Chancellor Rachel Reeves mean that only households claiming pension credit and a handful of other benefits are now eligible.

And now a fresh report has been published by the Social Security Advisory Committee looking at the impact of the Chancellor’s decision to change the eligibility criteria.

The move will reduce the number of people who receive a Winter Fuel Payment in England and Wales from 10.8million to just 1.5million.

The most recent available data from May 2023 shows that 2.6million State Pension recipients claim Attendance Allowance (AA), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

According to the report, at the same time more than half of Pension Credit claimants were also in receipt those three benefits.

While the committee found that people with a disability will be disproportionately likely to get the Winter Fuel Payment this year, the Department estimates that around 1.6million people with a disability will lose entitlement to the cash.

The report reads: “We consider it essential that the Department urgently reviews its current Pension Credit take-up campaign to ensure those receiving Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment are sufficiently engaged and aware of the options available to them.”

It’s important to note that claiming Pension Credit will not affect your cash from other benefits like PIP, DLA and Attendance Allowance.

James Taylor, Scope’s executive director of strategy and social change, said the charity is concerned by the government’s decision on the winter fuel payment, which it says “will make life harder for older disabled people”.

He said: “While some disabled pensioners receive pension credit, there are an alarming number who will miss out this winter.

“We’d urge anyone who thinks they could be eligible to apply, or to get in touch with our helpline for advice.

“We desperately need a longer-term solution for the eye-watering energy costs many disabled people face, which is why we’re calling for the government to bring in discounted bills for disabled households.”

What can you get?

Pension Credit tops up your weekly income to £218.15 if you are single or to £332.95 if you have a partner – this is known as “guarantee credit”.

If your income is lower than this, you’re very likely to be eligible for the benefit.

However, if your income is slightly higher, you might still be eligible for pension credit if you have a disability, you care for someone, you have savings or you have housing costs.

You could get an extra £81.50 a week if you have a disability or claim any of the following:

• Attendance allowance
• The middle or highest rate from the care component of disability living allowance (DLA)
• The daily living component of personal independence payment (PIP)
• Armed forces independence payment
• The daily living component of adult disability payment (ADP) at the standard or enhanced rate.

You could get the “savings credit” part of pension credit if both of the following apply:

• You reached State Pension age before April 6, 2016
• You saved some money for retirement, for example, a personal or workplace pension

This part of pension credit is worth £17.01 for single people or £19.04 for couples.

Pension credit opens the door to other support, including housing benefits, cost of living payments, council tax reductions and the winter fuel payment.

Claims for pension credit also open doors to a number of freebies and discounts.

For example, pension credit claimants over 75 qualify for a free TV licence worth up to £169.50 a year.

Claims for the benefit also provide eligibility to £25 a week cold weather payments and the £150 warm home discount.

We have a guide on all the state pension freebies and discounts you can get.

If you’re not sure if you will be able to get Pension Credit, you can use our handy tool to check what benefits you’re eligible for.

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