NESTLE is bringing back a Quality Street fan-favourite for the second Christmas in a row.

The coffee creme flavour chocolate was last seen in Quality Street tubs over 20 years ago, until the chocolatier reintroduced it last year.

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Nestle has confirmed that the sweet treat will be available once again this Christmas.

However, fans won’t find the iconic flavour in the usual Quality Street tubs.

Instead, the coffee-flavour fondant wrapped in dark chocolate will join the 11 other Quality Street sweets at pick and mix stations across selected John Lewis stores in the UK.

The first pick and mix station opened today (September 25) at John Lewis’s flagship store on Oxford Street.

Other participating stores will begin rolling out the sections throughout October.

However, if you don’t live near a John Lewis, you can still get your hands on Quality Street’s coffee creme chocolates.

They will also be available in a limited-edition cracker at Waitrose and John Lewis stores for £5.50.

Shoppers can also buy a bag of coffee creme chocolates to add to their current Quality Street tins for £4.50.

Emily Grimbley, brand manager for Quality Street, said: “It’s a pleasure to share the news that coffee creme will be returning for Christmas 2024.

“This is an absolute fan favourite, and we are delighted to have it on shop shelves for Quality Street fans nationwide.  

“We know how passionately Quality Street fans feel about their favourite sweets, so the pick and mix stations at John Lewis are people’s chance to fill up their own bespoke mix with just the sweets that they and their friends and family love.”

Fans of the discontinued chocolate will be delighted to hear it is making a comeback.

NEW TINS FOR 2024

Nestlé, has launched a new version of its 813g Quality Street tin for sweet-toothed customers this winter.

The £12 tub features all the usual classic flavours and plays on Quality Street’s Halifax heritage – where it was first manufactured in 1936 and still is.

The 813g Quality Street tin is available now across a host of retailers nationwide including Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, B&M and Sainsbury’s.

This is the full list of chains you can get it from:

• Asda
• Co-op
• B&M
• Morrisons
• Nisa
• Ocado
• Sainsbury’s
• Booths
• Spar
• Waitrose

But despite the shiny nature of the new tub, which contains 471 calories per 100 grams, plenty have been left saying one thing in particular – how they want the old wrappers back.

It comes after the chocolatier scrapped its old packaging in October 2022 and replaced it with eco-friendly waxed paper wrappers.

Commenting on the Nestlé post, one shopper said: “Yesterday I bought a box and I was surprised.

“Plastic and the paper (packaging) is so ugly and cheap.”

Another commented: “Please can we also have the old wrappers back. Those ones from last year were truly awful.”

A third added: “Nice tin but sadly the sweets and wrappers are dreadful now.”

But not all shoppers are downbeat about the new tin.

One said “I love the more traditional look” while another added “beautiful tin. Would love one”.

Meanwhile, a third piped up: “Love it!”

Shoppers can pick up the new 813g tin for £12, £1.48 per 100g, which can obviously be reused after all the chocolates have been eaten.

However, if you’re not fussed about the nostalgic tin, you’ll pay less going for a different tub or packet.

Shoppers can pick up a plastic 600g tub from Tesco for £4.50 – 75p per 100g – if you’ve got a Clubcard.

You can also pick up a 357g sharing bag of Quality Street from B&M for just £4 – £1.12 per 100g.

The launch of Quality Street’s new tin comes after a number of other retailers started stocking Christmas bits.

Tesco shoppers have been rushing to get their hands on Celebration tubs with just one iconic flavour in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, customers have been left in shock after B&M launched its new Christmas range.

Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Wednesday 25 September 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.

Women favour savings

Almost half of women (46%) are deciding to hold their long-term savings in a savings account instead of “more tax-friendly options” such as a pension or Isa.

This is according to research by Scottish Friendly and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

The research also found 33% of men opt to use pensions, compared to 24% of women.

Getting younger people involved

Becoming a financial adviser was not a lifelong career wish for me, says Samuel Allen.

Indeed — unlike those who dreamed of growing up to be a doctor or a sports star — few of us, I expect, aspired to be a financial planner.

Perhaps this is to be expected, given the relative profile of advisers. But this observation got me thinking about the visibility of our profession to young people, from the perspective of both the next generation of recruits as well as prospective clients.

In Conversation With Rory Albon

In this In Conversation With… episode, Kimberley Dondo chats with Rory Albon, founder of Albon Financial Planning.

Rory shares his journey to launch his firm and his approach to investment optimisation, retirement planning, and financial well-being.

He offers insights into balancing saving and investing, managing tax efficiency, and safeguarding assets through tailored insurance solutions.

Tune in now:

Quote Of The Day

It would be highly risky to legislate for particular investment allocations.

– Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, comments on the government’s pension investment review, which closes today (25 September)

In Other News

Benefits Guru has announced its tenth annual Workplace Pensions and Auto Enrolment ratings following Pension Awareness week.

This year’s ratings have a record number of overall gold awards, which demonstrates the industry’s strength within the pensions market.

Benefits Guru’s analysis has over 12,000 data points, and each year it includes ten categories of special interest or relevance.

The annual ratings are designed to assist advisers and employers in their decision-making process and highlight which providers perform strongest in different areas of their pension propositions.

Nine providers have been awarded overall gold awards across 24  product offerings. This includes a new entry for Aegon’s TargetPlan GPP offering.

Standard Life’s Group Flexible Retirement Plan was the only offering  to achieve a clean sweep of overall gold awards, and underlying gold awards in all sub-categories across both the Workplace Pension and Auto-Enrolment Ratings.

In addition to benchmarking against existing criteria, such as member app & portals and auto-enrolment functionality, this year saw the introduction of additional benchmarking criteria.

Cushon, Nest and The People’s Partnership asked to not be included in this year’s rating.

PwC UK partner pay falls to £862,000 as growth slows (Financial Times)

Starmer signals Budget welfare squeeze to tackle ‘worklessness’ (Bloomberg)

US accuses Visa of monopolizing debit card swipes (Reuters)

Did You See?

It may be surprising, but it appears more people have considered becoming a senior paraplanner than a financial adviser, says Amanda Newman Smith.

Research from recruitment platform Indeed, with the St. James’s Place (SJP) Financial Adviser Academy, found just 4% of respondents had considered becoming a financial adviser, while 9% had considered becoming a senior paraplanner.

The research looked at attitudes towards careers among over 4,000 UK workers, highlighting a good salary, work/life balance and the opportunity to work from home as factors that create the ideal role.

This data was combined with job searches to produce a list of 10 of the best careers people have never considered. Senior paraplanner was second on the list, while financial adviser was fourth.

MARTIN Lewis has issued a message to all pensioners over winter fuel payments.

The MoneySavingExpert (MSE) founder is urging households to check if they could be entitled to Pension Credit and unlock the winter fuel payment.

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Pension Credit is a government benefit made up of two parts, with one designed to top up your weekly income to a minimum amount.

Ordinarily, you have to be earning under around £218 a week if you are single or roughly £333 a week if you are a couple to qualify.

However, you can still qualify if you earn over these amounts and meet certain other criteria like being on disability benefits, needing extra money to cover housing costs or having a certain amount of savings stashed away.

In the latest MSE newsletter, Martin is urging pensioners not to assume that they won’t qualify.

He said: “Pension Credit is a critically underclaimed top-up of the state pension for those on lower incomes that I’ve been urging people to check out for over a decade.

“On average it’s worth £3,900 a year. Yet over 800,000 eligible pensioners likely still miss out.”

Martin added that it’s more important than ever check your eligibility for pension credit because it qualifies you for the winter fuel payment.

This is because in July the Government announced that only those who claim Pension Credit will receive the Winter Fuel Allowance, which is worth up to £300 a year.

It comes after one Martin Lewis fan has revealed how a quick check helped her mother realise she was eligible for Pension Credit.

Those who claim are also entitled to a free TV licence, help with NHS dental treatment and glasses.

What is Pension Credit and who is eligible?

Pension Credit is a government benefit designed to top up your weekly income if you are a state pensioner and on a low income.

The current state pension age is 66.

There are two parts to the benefit – Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit.

Guarantee Credit tops up your weekly income to £218.15 if you are single or your joint weekly income to £332.95 if you have a partner.

Savings Credit is extra money you can get if you have some savings or your income is above the basic state pension amount – £169.50.

Savings Credit is only available to people who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016.

Usually, you only qualify for Pension Credit if your income is below the £218.15 or £332.95 thresholds.

However, you can sometimes be eligible for Savings Credit or Guarantee Credit depending on your circumstances.

For example, if you are suffering from a severe disability and claiming Attendance Allowance, as well as other benefits, you can get an extra £81.50 a week.

Meanwhile, you can get either £66.29 a week or £76.79 a week for each child you’re responsible and caring for.

The rules behind who qualifies for Pension Credit can be complicated, so the best thing to do is just check.

You can do this by using the Government’s Pension Credit calculator on its website.

Or, you can call the Pension Service helpline on 0800 99 1234 from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

Those in Northern Ireland have to call the Pension Centre on 0808 100 6165 from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday.

It might be worth a visit to your local Citizens Advice branch too – its staff should be able to offer you help for free.

What is the Winter Fuel Payment?

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Consumer reporter Sam Walker explains all you need to know about the payment.

The Winter Fuel Payment is an annual tax-free benefit designed to help cover the cost of heating through the colder months.

Most who are eligible receive the payment automatically.

Those who qualify are usually told via a letter sent in October or November each year.

If you do meet the criteria but don’t automatically get the Winter Fuel Payment, you will have to apply on the government’s website.

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You’ll qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment this winter if:

• you were born on or before September 23, 1958
• you lived in the UK for at least one day during the week of September 16 to 22, 2024, known as the “qualifying week”
• you receive Pension Credit, Universal Credit, ESA, JSA, Income Support, Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit

If you did not live in the UK during the qualifying week, you might still get the payment if both the following apply:

• you live in Switzerland or a EEA country
• you have a “genuine and sufficient” link with the UK social security system, such as having lived or worked in the UK and having a family in the UK

But there are exclusions – you can’t get the payment if you live in Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal or Spain.

This is because the average winter temperature is higher than the warmest region of the UK.

You will also not qualify if you:

• are in hospital getting free treatment for more than a year
• need permission to enter the UK and your granted leave states that you can not claim public funds
• were in prison for the whole “qualifying week”
• lived in a care home for the whole time between 26 June to 24 September 2023, and got Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance

Payments are usually made between November and December, with some made up until the end of January the following year.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

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