Helen Nugent

Women do ask for pay rises - they just don't get them. That's according to research by Cass Business School and the universities of Warwick and Wisconsin. The theory that women get paid less than men because they are not sufficiently pushy in the workplace is not true. Women are as likely as men to ask for a pay rise - but are less likely to get one, the study, which looked at 4,600 workers, revealed It found 'no support' for the 'reticent female' theory, whereby women avoided asking for more money. For what it claimed was the first time, the study eliminated any impact from part-time workers earning less than their full-time counterparts, by comparing full-time males with full-time females, and part-time males with part-time females.

I have no recollection of my first day at school. I was four-years-old so it's not surprising that I can't dredge up the memory. I do recall, however, refusing to return to nursery after being scared witless by Father Christmas. Back then (late 1970s), kids were dropped off at a new school and expected to get on with it. Today it's markedly different. Ahead of my four-year-old niece's foray into education, she has visited the school at least twice and had a couple of home visits from her teachers. Luxury! But there were still tears this morning, from daughter and mum. And I'll be fretting all day, desperate to know how she's getting on and whether she's making new friends. I'm lucky, though. As Aunty Helen, that's all I have to worry about.

Companies have cut new graduate jobs for the first time in four years because of fears about the economy since the Brexit vote. The number of vacancies has fallen by 8 per cent compared with last year, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters’ annual survey. The Times reports that the latest figures follow four years of growth and last year the number of graduate jobs increased by 13 per cent. This year’s fall also reflects nervousness about the effect of the incoming apprenticeship levy, which will be introduced in April with the aim of raising cash from business to fund expanded training in the workplace, the association said.

The gap between the best and worst performing energy firms is the widest ever, according to Citizens Advice. Small energy firm Extra Energy attracted 80 times more complaints than the best performing supplier SSE between April and June. Extra Energy received 1,791 complaints per 100,000 customers, which was worse than its record low of 1,682 complaints in the previous quarter. SSE improved its ratio to just over 22 complaints, the charity found. Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: 'The latest league table shows some suppliers are getting much better at sorting out their customers' problems, but it's disappointing to see others getting worse at dealing with complaints.

Pensions advice allowance. It's not the sexiest of phrases but, if all goes to the Government's plan, this new proposal could help millions of pensioners. So, what's it all about? Well, it goes back to George Osborne's final Budget earlier this year. At the time, he said that the existing tax exemption for employer arranged advice would increase from £150 to £500. Yesterday the Treasury published a consultation document setting out plans for something else: a new pensions advice allowance. Under the proposals, consumers aged under 55 would be able to take £500 tax-free from their defined contribution pension to redeem against the cost of advice.

We Brits love a good anniversary - and a round number. This year we're celebrating, among other things, the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë's birth and the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. It's also been 350 years since the Great Fire of London, the devastating blaze which burned for four days and in the process wiped out more than 13,500 homes and 87 churches in the capital. Its destruction was such that it is credited with creating the modern property insurance industry and, in turn, the fire service. Thanks to the plethora of insurance plans on offer in the 21st century, we're no longer reduced to burying cheese in the back garden in the event of a fire (although admittedly that worked a treat for Samuel Pepys).

Pensions: about as easy to understand as the theory of relativity. Successive governments have pledged to simplify and clarify the UK pensions system. Each one has failed. If anything, the financial ins and outs of our retirement have become ever more complex. Now the powers that be have made changes to the state pension. If, as is likely, the new rules pass people by, many risk missing out altogether. So, what's happening? In a nutshell, ministers have increased the number of years of national insurance contributions needed to qualify for a full state pension. From April this year, individuals are required to have 35 years of national insurance payments under their belts, five years more than the previous system.

There's nothing like the issue of the gender wage gap to get people going. Research published yesterday by the Institute of Fiscal Studies revealed that women earn 18 per cent less than men on average. The IFS also found that the gap widens after women have children, raising the prospect that mothers are missing out on pay rises and promotions. According to the Institute, the pay differential widens consistently for 12 years after a first child is born, by which point women receive 33 per cent less pay an hour than men. Although the IFS points out that is partly because women who return to work often do so in a part-time capacity. Well, colour me surprised. Women returning to work part-time earn less than men? What will they think of next.

Women who return to work part-time after having a baby continue to earn less than men for many years afterwards, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The wage gap between men and women becomes steadily wider in the years after babies are born, the IFS says. Women miss out on promotions and accrue less experience than men, which holds back their earning power, it adds. During the subsequent 12 years, the gap grows to 33 per cent of men's hourly pay rates. A second report from the Chartered Management Institute suggests men are more likely than women to have been promoted into senior roles last year.

Britain's obsession with property has propelled the country’s net worth to an estimated £8.8 trillion, an increase of 6 per cent (£493 billion) compared with the end of 2014, The Guardian reports. A surge in house prices in 2015 offset the UK’s decline in savings, the slow recovery of the banking sector and the Government’s growing debt mountain. Overall, house prices increased by 7 per cent in 2015 to add a further £355 billion to the already huge value locked up in Britain’s homes. The Office for National Statistics said in its annual assessment of Britain’s assets and liabilities that the value of dwellings was estimated at £5.

It's A level results day, the final hurdle for teenagers hoping to fly the coop and go to university next month. But new research suggests that parents with children approaching university years could find their youngsters living at home for years to come. Figures obtained by Aviva reveal that the number of students living with parents while at university rose from 247,965 to 327,390 between academic years 2004/5 and 2014/15, now accounting for around one in five students in higher education. The total number of UK students taking full time and sandwich courses has risen from 1,391,180 to 1,697,150 over the same period. Earlier this year Aviva reported that there could be 2.2 million people living in multi-family households and 3.

As acronyms go, it's a good one. PANK. It stands for 'Professional Aunt, No Kids'. I'm a fully paid-up member of this group, a 40-something professional woman with little interest in kids of my own but an overwhelming love for my sister's four-year-old daughter. Now I can't pass a newsagent without buying the latest Peppa Pig magazine. Browsing the shelves in toy shops for Nemo and Dory has become a popular past-time. And I know all the words to the Sofia the First theme tune. New research, conducted by Opinium for Spectator Money, shows I'm not alone. PANKs lavish an average of £352 a year on their nieces and nephews, with some spending considerably more (yes, I'm in the latter camp).