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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

PwC’s UK partners took home an average of £862,000 this year, a drop on the previous 12 months as sales growth at the Big Four firm slowed and rising costs dented profits.

Partners at the UK firm, which also encompasses its Middle East operations, received a 5 per cent pay cut on average as total revenue growth slowed to 9 per cent compared with 16 per cent in 2023 amid a more difficult economic backdrop.

The firm’s performance was bolstered by its business in the Middle East, which reported a 26 per cent surge in sales, compared with a rise of just 3 per cent in the UK.

Total profits for PwC UK also fell 14 per cent to £1.1bn during the year to June after staff costs swelled by nearly a fifth during the period. Total revenues for the year came in at £6.3bn.

PwC is the first of the Big Four to publish a breakdown of its UK results for the 2024 fiscal year. Rivals are also expected to report a slowdown in growth as a difficult economic environment prompted companies to cut spending.

Marco Amitrano, senior partner of the UK and Middle East firm, said: “We’ve achieved growth in a tough UK market while investing in the technology and skills that will help our clients evolve [and] improve how our people work . . . core services such as tax and audit have proven particularly resilient.”

THOUSANDS of people have just days left to apply for up to £400 free cash ahead of the winter.

The latest round of the Household Support Fund (HSF) is due to close on September 30, so if you’re eligible for help you need to make your application now.

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The HSF provides financial help to struggling households, and has been extended several times since it was first introduced by the Government in 2021.

The latest round saw £421million given to local councils to distribute to those most in need in their area.

The current round of funding is due to end on September 30 – but applications are still being accepted by some local authorities, so if you’re quick you can still get in.

Earlier this month, it was announced that funding would be extended for the sixth time.

The news means that thousands more will be able to access support when schemes reopen in October, with the new round of funding in place until April 2025. 

The support available through the HSF varies across the country and what you can access depends on where you live.

But funds could be paid out as a direct cash transfer or shopping vouchers.

The amount you receive is usually based on your financial circumstances and what benefits you receive.

For example, East Devon District Council is offering a one-off payment of £100 to households receiving full Housing Benefit or a full Council Tax reduction, with less than £3,000 in capital and someone living in the household who is disabled or a carer.

The cash is also available to care leavers in receipt of Council Tax relief or other benefits including discretionary Housing Benefit.

Meanwhile, Shropshire Council provided a one-off payment of £400 to households in receipt of Council Tax support with a dependant child.

Those eligible who have missed August’s payment run can still apply to have the funds added to their Council Tax account.

And Blackpool Council has already announced its support scheme will be extended until April 2025.

Households struggling with living costs could be able to access a £200 payment if there are one or two people living in their property, or £300 if three or more are resident.

To be eligible, applicants will need to be over the age of 16, experiencing financial hardship and responsible for paying energy bills.

Many councils have warned that funds many close early if all of the cash is allocated, and some have already stopped accepting new applicants.

But it’s always worth checking your local council and, if schemes are still open, it’s best to apply sooner rather than later before all the funding is gone.

Every council will receive funding from the HSF in the next round of support, so if you’re worried about making ends meet, keep checking your local council’s website for further details.

To find your local council, use the Government’s council locator tool.

What is the Household Support Fund?

The HSF was first set up in October 2021 and has now been extended six times.

Councils in England are now able to benefit from the latest round of funding which amounts to £421million.

Nationwide councils have received a portion of the cash to distribute to households in need.

But there is a postcode lottery to determine who qualifies and each local authority can set its own eligibility criteria.

Yet, if you have a limited amount of money or savings in the bank, or are deemed to be vulnerable or on benefits, you will probably qualify for help.

The HSF’s fifth round of funding will close on September 30, but the government has extended the scheme until April 2025 with the injection of a further £421million.

Applications may still be being accepted for the fifth round of funding, so it’s still worth checking with your local authority.

Councils will determine how the cash is distributed. For example, households in Leicestershire have been able to apply for a financial award of £300 per household, which was paid in the form of vouchers to support with gas, electricity and food.

The payment could be delivered as a Post Office voucher, which can be redeemed for cash to help with gas, electricity or water, or an e-voucher to help with food costs that can be converted to a gift card for major supermarkets.

Meanwhile, residents of Leeds could receive council tax support with those with dependent children able to claim up to £100, while those without children could receive £25.

You should get in touch with your local council to see if you might be eligible for help.

You can find what council area you fall under by using the Government’s council locator tool on its website.

The help you can get varies, depending on who your local council is, as well as your personal situation.

You may be able to receive free cash or vouchers to cover the cost of heating your home, or the weekly food grocery shop.

If an applicant is already receiving benefits, these will not be affected by the HSF.

Additionally, you do not need to be getting benefits to receive vouchers or funds from the HSF.

Check with your local council to find out what support is available and the eligibility criteria.

How do you apply?

To get the help, you’ll need to look it up with your council because local authorities are the ones responsible for distributing the funding.

To find your local council, use the gov.uk council finder tool.

Once you’ve identified your local council, there should be information on how to apply for the funding online.

Every council has a separate application process, meaning specific details regarding how to apply depend on where you live.

The eligibility requirements to access the fund might vary in addition so it’s best to check with your local council for further details.

Some councils won’t need you to apply for help and will get in touch instead if you qualify.

If you can’t find any information on your council’s website, it’ s a good idea to call them and ask for further information.

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

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

Keir Starmer has said he believes that people claiming long-term sickness benefits should be expected to look for work.

He added that there would be “hard cases” and that the government and businesses should help those who may feel anxious about re-entering the workplace, but that the “basic proposition that you should look for work is right”.

The prime minister was speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, following his party conference speech in which he said he wanted to “level” with the country about the “trade-offs” people would face.

He told Labour activists: “If we want to maintain support for the welfare state, then we will legislate to stop benefit fraud, do everything we can to tackle worklessness.”

Following the speech, he was asked in an interview with the Today programme if he agreed with the proposition that virtually no-one should claim benefits without trying to get back to work.

“The basic proposition that you should look for work is right,” he replied.

“People need to look for work, but they also need support.

“That’s why I’ve gone out to look at schemes where businesses are supporting people back into work from long-term sickness.

“Quite often, I think what lies behind this is a fear for someone who’s been on long term sickness that – ‘can they get back into the workplace? Are they going to be able to cope? Is it all going to go hopelessly wrong?’”

The inactivity rate – the number of people out of work and not looking for a job – surged during the Covid pandemic and has since remained at a persistently high level.

Nearly 3 million people are out of work due to ill health, a 500,000 increase on 2019.

The Office for Budget Responsibility says the cost of sickness and disability benefits will increase by £30bn in the next five years.

Following Sir Keir’s conference speech, Labour announced that doctors, expert in speeding up operations, would be sent to areas with the highest number of people out of work due to ill health.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting will set out the measure to Labour activists on the last day of the conference in Liverpool.

He is expected to say that “the best of the NHS” would help “get sick Brits back to health and back to work”.

Speaking to the BBC, the prime minister was also pressed on other trade-offs he listed in his speech including the argument that the public had to accept pylons if they wanted cheaper electricity.

He said people with concerns should be listened to but added: “We want cheaper electricity, we need cheaper power, we can’t pretend that can be done without the need for pylons above the ground.

“Politics is about being honest with people, saying: ‘If you want xyz then we are going to have to do the following things’.”

On illegal migration, Sir Keir said there was a backlog of tens of thousands of asylum seekers waiting to have their claim processed, while the government was paying for their accommodation.

He accused the previous Conservative government of “pretending there’s some magical way to wish away that number”.

He said his government would process the backlog and return those who had no right to be in the UK.

“But I was being clear, if you have that process, there will be people who are processed, who then are able to claim asylum.”

Around 97,000 people claimed asylum in the year to the end of June 2024, with the largest number coming from Afghanistan. Other nationalities applying in large numbers include those from Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh.

In the same year, 7,190 people who were not granted asylum were returned to their home country.

One of the prime minister’s first decisions was to scrap the Conservative government’s Rwanda scheme, which aimed to deter people trying to get to the UK illegally by crossing the Channel in small boats.

The prime minister dismissed the policy as an expensive gimmick and have instead said they want to tackle the smuggling gangs that arrange the crossings.

Around 1.1million people in the UK living with a disability are missing out on £5,644 extra a year in benefit payments.

Attendance Allowance is a payment handed out by the Government to help those above State Pension age living with physical and mental illnesses.

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How much you receive depends on the severity of your disability, with the maximum payment working out as £434.20 a month.

However, a recent report by Policy in Practice found that 1.1million people may be missing out on the cash boost.

If there is a chance you or someone you know could claim the benefit then it is important to check your eligibility.

To qualify for the benefit, you must be aged 66 or over and live with either a mental or physical disability, or you require help looking after yourself.

You also must have been experiencing these issues for at least six months.

If you live in a care home, you can only claim Attendance Allowance if you pay for all your care home costs yourself.

If you do need an assessment, you’ll get a letter saying why and where you must go.

During the assessment, a medical professional will need to examine you.

If you are confused about your eligibility, it is worth getting in touch with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to ask for their guidance.

You are still entitled to your state pension even if you claim this benefit.

How much can you get?

Those living with less severe disabilities can get up to £72.65 a week, which works out at £290 a month.

You may be eligible for this if you require help or constant supervision during the day or at night.

The higher rate of £108.55 a week is given to those who require supervision throughout both day and night, or if a medical professional has said you’re nearing the end of life.

This works out as £434.20 a month or £5,644 a year.

If your circumstances change, you could get a different rate, so it is important to report any changes to the DWP.

You could get extra Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction if you get Attendance Allowance – check with the helpline or office dealing with your benefit to see if you quality.

How do I claim attendance allowance?

To apply, you’ll need to download the attendance allowance form on the gov.uk website and then send it by post.

It should be sent to the following address: Attendance Allowance Unit, Mail Handling Site A, Wolverhampton WV98 2AD.

If you’re unable to print the form yourself, you can call the attendance allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 and ask for a copy to be sent to you.

It’s worth applying, as you may get extra pension credit, housing benefit or a council tax reduction if you receive attendance allowance.

The application form is very long and asks for a lot of personal information.

If you think you’ll need help filling in the form, you should get a friend, relative or adviser to help you complete it if possible.

Entitled to has a full list of organisations that can help with claiming disability benefits on its website.

If you want to know if you are receiving the right amount of benefits, you can use a number of online calculators including on the EntitledTo and Turn2us websites.

FROM a “culture vulture” to a “cultural influencee”, what kind of traveller are you?

Now, you can find out in a fun travel quiz.

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If you’re all about the experience and only want to soak up the local culture, then you are no doubt a “Culture Vulture”.

But if your trip has purely been planned around your favourite influencer, then you are likely to be a “Cultural Influencee”.

The quiz comes as research from ibis Hotels revealed a wider look into the nation’s travel habits, with one in five Gen Z‘s only booking a holiday destination they have seen on social media.

A poll of 2,000 people who have been abroad within the last three years found three in 10 young adults take inspiration from what they see on Instagram.

Nearly a fifth (19%) also turn to TikTok, while 21% use YouTube, and one in 10 will trust the opinions of an influencer.

But across all age groups, going to see friends and family remains the most common reason for going away (44%).

Meanwhile, 28% will go somewhere based on their personal interests and hobbies.

A spokesperson for ibis Hotels, which has recently launched its new “Go get it” campaign for Global Tourism Day, said: “The world around us is constantly evolving and modernising, technology, social media, AI, it all impacts the way we engage with people and places, but the fundamentals of travel have remained the same.

“After 50 years of welcoming millions of guests a year, we understand that there are millions of reasons to travel and, fundamentally, they are all about making their mark on the world and having the world make its mark on us.”

The study found that 53% of travellers claim the experience is more important that “just ticking somewhere off the list”.

More than half (52%) feel it’s important for them to try new things, such as local cuisines (52%), and local cultures and traditions (52%).

And 21% think it’s key for them to feel like they belong in the destination they have chosen to travel to.

Cost is the biggest factor when choosing a travel destination (52%), while 43% are influenced by the surroundings, and 25% make a decision based on the type of cuisine.

A third of travellers globally prioritise the weather in their decision-making process about a given destination.

Unsurprisingly, this is a key factor for Brits, with 42% choosing a destination because of the weather.

The OnePoll data revealed beach holidays to be the most popular holiday experience (43%) – with 39% planning this type of trip in 2025.

A significant 42% are lining up a city break, as London, Amsterdam, and New York come out top on the list of places people intend to travel to in the next three years.

It also emerged 27% would like to travel more in 2025 compared to 2024, although 24% who feel like this are worried about being able to afford it.

A spokesperson for ibis added: “While the future of travel remains consistent, people’s intent to get away is likely always going to change.

“We are passionate about assisting for the different travel intentions and elevating convenience for the traveller.

“It’s important that people get exactly what they come for and get the most out of their experience.”

Brad Setser is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

Everyone seems to want a sovereign wealth fund these days. Even countries that have more sovereign debt than sovereign wealth are hot on the idea.

It’s a hot topic. Over time, less and less of the growth of the foreign assets of the world’s governments has taken the form of traditional FX reserves, and more and more has taken the form of swelling sovereign wealth funds (see the chart below).

However, the SWF term has gotten stretched to the point where it has almost lost meaning. So here’s a short(ish) taxonomy of the different funds, what they do and where their money comes from, before turning to the suggestion that the UK and US should get their own SWFs.

The OG SWFs

The original sovereign wealth funds were basically mechanisms for investing excess foreign exchange reserves abroad in equities and other assets that were too volatile or illiquid for traditional foreign exchange reserve managers.

The bulk were set up by countries with huge oil revenues. The proceeds were initially simply parked at the central bank and basically managed as foreign exchange reserves — ie in safe fixed income like Treasuries and other high-grade debt.

That’s how Saudi Arabia long managed the more transparent portion of its oil wealth — the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority reported large deposits from the rest of the government that offset its large reserves — and how Russia generally managed its oil surplus.

But Abu Dhabi — the most oil-rich of the United Arab Emirates — Kuwait, and Qatar all set up “investment authorities” (ADIA, KIA, and QIA) to invest in equities, not just traditional reserve assets. Over time they started to invest in hedge funds and private equity, and became very big.

Norges Bank Investment Management, also fits this model. Norway found oil and gas after it was already fairly rich, and decided to channel almost all its energy income into an endowment managed by Norges Bank (this sovereign wealth fund is in effect a subdivision of the central bank). However, NBIM diverges from other similar hydrocarbon SWFs in its transparency, strict rules and avoidance of high-fee fund managers. It is in practice a giant index fund.

Singapore doesn’t have a lot of oil but it does intervene heavily in the foreign exchange market. That has allowed it to set up the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) with its excess foreign exchange reserves. Think of the Yale endowment model of investment, but for a country. The GIC now has so much money that it won’t disclose the amount.

Singapore continues to intervene so heavily in the foreign exchange market that it has transferred another $200bn to the GIC over the past few years, albeit with a bit more transparency than in the past.

There’s also a smattering of other smaller, resource-funded sovereign wealth funds, such as the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan/SOFAZ (which isn’t really a pure sovereign wealth fund, given its domestic activity) and Botswana’s Pula Fund, where the assets come from diamond rather than energy sales.

All told, “traditional” sovereign wealth funds likely have over $3tn in external assets, which is pretty significant relative to the world’s $12tn in traditional reserve assets.

SWFs with Chinese characteristics

China’s formal sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corporation (CIC), broadly follows the classic model. But the CIC is a SWF with many Chinese characteristics.

It was financed out of funds that were bought from the central bank using yuan, raised through a special bond issue that was bought by the state banks. Most of its external assets (reported to be around $318bn; see the “Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss” line on page 91 of its 2022 annual report) are invested in foreign equities and alternatives (it has a ton of private equity, see the reporting of MainFT itself).

But at times, it has dabbled in investments that support Xi Jinping’s policy objectives — for example, the Hong Kong-based Guoxin International Investment Co, which supports resource investment abroad. It’ also rumoured to have dabbled in supporting the domestic equity market at times as a part of the “national team” (it certainly can buy bank stocks).

Most importantly, the CIC bought (from China’s reserve manager) the stakes in the state banks that the People’s Bank of China received when its reserves were used as the “currency” of the initial recapitalisation of four of the big five state commercial banks. This, in fact, accounts for the majority of the CIC’s initial $200bn in seed capital. Those stakes are held by an entity that is fully controlled by the CIC — Central Huijin Investment — and now account for the bulk of its reported assets.

CIC is therefore probably best thought of as a bank holding company with a small traditional sovereign wealth attached to it. In fact, the CIC now also owns the “bad banks” that were set up to move the bad assets off state banks’ balance sheets prior to their recapitalisation with foreign exchange reserves. Red capitalism is full of ironies.

Amateurs often make the mistake of subtracting the CIC’s total reported assets — which include the $860bn (as of end 2022) stake in the state banks — from China’s reported reserves. That’s the wrong way to do the balance of payments maths. The right way is to add the CIC’s external assets to the State Administrator of Foreign Exchange’s reported reserves.

To make things more confusing, SAFE, China’s traditional reserve manager also invests a portion of its $3.2tn of foreign exchange in both equities and “alternatives”. As a result, some refer to its Hong Kong subsidiary, SAFE Investment Company Limited, as a sovereign wealth fund.

However, SAFE has used its reserves to recapitalise the policy banks (the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank) and thus created an entity — Buttonwood Investment — to manage that stake. It has also used reserves to capitalise some smaller Chinese SWFs that support the Belt and Road (The Silk Road Fund, the China-Africa Development Fund, the China-LAC Cooperation Fund, etc.).

Basically, China is so big, and the state so sprawling, that it ended up with multiple sovereign funds, almost all with Chinese characteristics.

Pensioner SWFs

There’s another type of sovereign wealth fund that has some of the attributes of a traditional one but typically isn’t funded out of reserve assets: sovereign pension funds.

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), which reports to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, is the best example, followed closely by the Korean National Pension Service (NPS) which reports to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Some include the North American subnational state pensions funds and Australia’s superannuation funds in this category, but they are typically one step removed from state government, and they have clear offsetting liabilities and thus don’t have a large net worth.

These sovereign pension funds typically start by taking pension contributions and investing them in domestic assets. Think of the US payroll taxes that were invested in the Social Security Trust Fund (which itself only bought government bonds).

But at some point, the big government pension funds have started to invest in external assets — typically bread and butter foreign equity indices and foreign bond funds rather than the real estate and trophy assets bought by the Gulf.

The numbers are big, given their size and the large international allocations. About 50 per cent of GPIF’s assets are invested abroad, and Korea aims to bring the foreign allocation of the rapidly growing NPS to 60 per cent. That means the foreign portfolio of the GPIF is about $750bn, and the foreign portfolio of the NPS now tops $400bn.

These funds are interesting because they can have a large impact on the foreign exchange market. For example, a few years ago the Bank of Korea’s governor Rhee Chang-yong (correctly) worried that the steady outflow from the NPS was undermining the Bank of Korea’s effort to prop up the won back in the summer of 2022, and responded with an innovative swap facility. The Koreans now are taking additional steps to minimise the market impact of the $2-3bn a month in foreign exchange the NPS typically buys.

Strategic wealth funds

There’s a final type of fund, one that is becoming increasingly common — you might call them strategic wealth funds, domestic development funds, public investment funds or perhaps even national development banks.

These “sovereign wealth funds” primarily manage the state’s domestic investments and typically invest in projects judged to be strategic for a country’s development plans (eg the “Saudi Vision 2030”).

One example is Singapore’s Temasek, which was set up to manage Singapore’s state-owned enterprises (for example, Singapore Airlines). However, lines get blurred: Singapore didn’t need to use the proceeds of the privatisation of many state firms to support its budget, so Temasek started investing abroad, just like a traditional sovereign wealth fund.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund is another good example. The PIF got its initial funding from Saudi Arabia’s foreign exchange reserves (it has received at least $40bn), but later on it received the proceeds from listing Saudi Aramco and money from PIF’s own external borrowing. The PIF’s 12 per cent stake in Saudi Aramco also gives it a new means of raising more funds for investment, but selling its stake would mean trading future income for cash now.

The PIF famously has taken some big risks abroad — sometimes in companies that agree to invest in Saudi Arabia in return for a PIF investment, and sometimes in companies that the Saudis want to court for other reasons (Jared Kushner’s fund for example).

But PIF also invests heavily in purely domestic projects, particularly those that have the personal backing of Mohammed bin Salman and play a part in the Saudi 2030 Vision. MainFT has done some very good reporting here as well — notably highlighting how the PIF is pushing into sectors traditionally controlled by Saudi business families, as MBS considers state capitalism a means of modernising Saudi business culture.

The United Arab Emirates has its share of sovereign wealth funds in this tradition as well — Mubadala, the Royal Group (which controls IHC), ADQ (which is building a new city in Egypt), the Investment Corporation of Dubai and the like. Many of these funds blur the line between domestic and foreign investment.

The Turkey Wealth Fund (TVF) received the government’s stake in number of domestic companies (the state banks, Turkcell etc) and calls itself an “asset-backed” development fund. It raised some more funds when it sold 10 per cent of the Istanbul Stock Exchange to the QIA in 2020, and a dollar bond earlier this year, leading to quips that it is Turkey’s sovereign debt fund.

Ethiopia’s sovereign wealth fund is similar. As its name implies, the Ethiopia Investment Holdings serves as the holding vehicle for a lot of state assets — Ethiopian Airlines, a big local bank, local sugar refiners and an apparently profitable spirits distillery. It also aspires to be a conduit for Gulf funds looking to invest across the Red Sea.

Anglo “wealth” funds?

These models don’t really work for the US or the UK, however. The US doesn’t have a tradition of public ownership, and the UK sold its national champions a long time ago. Both have twin budget and current account deficits, so there are no surplus to stash away either.

The US could potentially sell off the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to fund a sovereign fund, but that goes against the Biden Administration’s (correct, IMO) recognition that the salt caverns are in fact a critical strategic asset. There are substantial economic (and financial) returns from the ability of the US to use its immense storage capacity to buy low and sell high and stabilise such a crucial market.

Of course, both the US and UK could sell a bit of debt to fund strategic investment funds. After all, not all public investment funds originate out of foreign exchange reserves. If the returns are greater than the cost of borrowing it can make sense, at least in theory.

Indeed, the most relevant model may come from a country that prides itself on its distinction from “les Anglo-Saxons.”

France runs persistent budget and current account deficits but still has a long-established de facto sovereign wealth fund, the Caisse des dépôts et consignations. And the French government has a tradition of investing in strategic sectors. Indeed, the history of France’s climate-critical nuclear sector shows that state-backed engineering projects can succeed even in a democracy (though there are obviously also plenty of cautionary tales).

At least in the US, the creation of a strategic public investment fund shouldn’t be ruled out. In many respects, having some kind of vehicle like this makes sense. In fact, it might even have been helpful in the past.

For example, it wouldn’t have been crazy for the US to have gotten some warrants in return for the $465mn 2010 loan that helped Tesla finance its initial transition from making a few sports cars into manufacturing sedans (the model S). The loan was repaid early in 2013, but the US government didn’t get to benefit from Tesla’s IPO, or its ca 380x growth in market value since then (which could in theory alone have capitalised a US SWF).

These days the US government provides lots of direct grants and loan guarantees (for example, to support domestic semiconductor investments), but it doesn’t have a tradition of getting potentially valuable upside exposure in exchange. The US did get warrants for its investments in the big US banks through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), which generally proved valuable. It should probably do so more often, especially if it more openly embraces a more active industrial policy.

However, a clean and robust governance structure will obviously be essential for any state fund designed to invest in strategic domestic sectors. The temptations for misuse are enormous. The classic SWFs generally originated in autocracies, and any British or American ones shouldn’t be reliant on a benign king or queen.