Monday 31 July 2023

How can you get food vouchers for the school holidays?

How can you get food vouchers for the school holidays?

The school summer holidays are in full swing, and children everywhere are basking in the thrill of time off school. But it can be difficult during the school breaks for those who claim free school meals during term time.

Feeding children when they are away from being able to get free school meals daily can place strain on the wallets of parents everywhere, as well as bringing a new stress to them daily. Thousands of struggling households can get up to £390 in food vouchers for the holidays.

The Household Support Fund (HSF)

The Household Support Fund (HSF) was introduced by the government in 2021, and is a pot of money allocated to councils across England. The fund is worth over £2 billion so far, helping vulnerable households across the country.

Part of the fund is allocated to food – and helping those who claim free school meals or certain benefits receive support during the school holidays. What you can receive from the HSF depends on where you live – different council have received different amounts of money from the government. Similarly, some help is targeted at those who claim free school meals specifically, whilst other support is for those on certain benefits.

Food vouchers

Local authorities tend to deliver the scheme through a variety of routes – however many give vouchers to households. Other councils may provide food or goods directly, or issue grants to third parties. Vouchers can be redeemed at a number of food outlets including supermarkets and foodbanks.

The HSF is different from the Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF). The HAF programme provides free holiday club places with enriching activities and healthy meals to eligible children from low-income families. 

To find out more about accessing support during the school holidays, click here.

England

The HSF is only available in England at present. Below you will find the support available for every county in England.

Avon

For those in Avon, you can gain access to free support with money, including help with food, housing, energy bills, training and general wellbeing. You can apply here.

Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire Council has been allocated £2.9 million of funding from the Department for Work and Pensions to support households in Central Bedfordshire between April 2023 and March 2024 with food, energy and water bills, and other wider essentials. Click here to apply.

Berkshire

West Berkshire Council has been allocated funding to assist with costs such as energy bills, food, clothing and housing in exceptional circumstances. Priority will be given to households who are ineligible for other government support and vulnerable groups regarding the cost of living crisis. Click here to apply.

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire Council provide free digital food vouchers to families with children eligible for free school meals, early years’ pupil premium or a 2-year-old funded free education place. If your family is eligible you will receive a voucher code from your school or early years setting. Find out more here.

Cambridgeshire

In Cambridgeshire, you are eligible to accesssupport through the HSF if all the following apply to you (and your spouse/partner):

  • Currently live in Cambridgeshire
  • Have £16,000 or less in money, savings and investments
  • Have low income levels
  • Have not applied within the last 3 months

Find out more here.

Cheshire

Cheshire East Council have loads of help available here.

Cheshire West Council will be allocating £15 per week for each free school meal pupil to ensure families have the necessary financial support for food during the school holiday periods. There is no need for families to apply for this support as schools in Cheshire West and Chester will distribute the vouchers to eligible families prior to the following school holiday periods. Read more here.

Cornwall

Cornwall Council has secured £9 million pounds from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for the HSF. The Fund will mainly be used to provide one-off cash payments to help with the increased cost of living. £160 per child to families with children eligible for benefits related free school meals in Reception to Year 11 is available. 2 payments of £80 will be made, with the first payment being made in June 2023. A second payment will be made in November 2023. Payments will be made direct to families and you do not need to apply. Find out more here.

  • Cumbria

  • Cumberland Council has a limited amount of money available through the Household Support Fund to help people who are in financial crisis because of rising prices. Payments will only be made to help households in immediate crisis – for example, those unable to buy food, pay energy bills or buy other essentials. Click here to apply.

Derbyshire

Households facing financial hardship in Derbyshire can apply directly to the Derbyshire Discretionary Fund for help towards their food, and energy costs. Households can access up to 3 awards in a 12-month period. Payments are £64 per household plus an extra £20 will be provided for a partner or spouse, and each dependent child aged under 19. Click here to apply.

Devon

If a child or young person in a household qualifies for free school meals in term time then, currently, they automatically qualify for free school meal holiday vouchers from Devon Council. Households currently in receipt of free school meals are eligible for a supermarket voucher to the value of £15 per child per week of the school holidays to help pay for groceries over the break.

The vouchers will automatically be distributed to eligible households prior to the summer holiday. Find out more here.

Dorset

Citizens Advice in Dorset are managing some of the Fund on our behalf via a voucher scheme. Supermarket vouchers of £150 will be issued to residents who meet the eligibility criteria within 6 to 8 weeks of their application date. Applications are limited to one per household. Click here to apply.

Durham

Durham council has been allocated £9.3 million to provide support to low income and vulnerable households who may be struggling with their energy and food costs, or who need other essential household items. You should automatically receive help. If you haven’t, click here.

Essex

If you are facing hardship, you can get help with your essential household costs. The organisations on this page can help you to access support through the Department for Work and Pensions’ Household Support Fund. You do not need to be claiming benefits to get support.

Gloucestershire

The DWP has provided Gloucestershire with of funding of £7,384,966. This will provide support to vulnerable households in most need of support, to help with significantly rising living costs. Click here to apply.

Hampshire

Households in Hampshire who are struggling to afford necessities such as food and fuel can get extra help from the connect4communities programme, funded by the HSF. Click here to find out more.

Herefordshire

Food vouchers will be provided for free school meal or pupil premium children during the school holidays. The vouchers are based on a minimum of £15 per week for each week of the holidays and schools should have organised directly with families who are entitled. Click here for more.

Hertfordshire

To support with the cost of living, Hertfordshire Council has been provided with funding from the government’s Household Support Fund. This will be used to help people in need with things like the cost of energy and food. Click here to apply.

Isle of Wight

Those on the Isle of Wight can find out more about receiving food vouchers from the HSF here.

Kent

In Kent, you will be eligible for food vouchers if one or more of the following apply:

  • Aged 16 or over
  • Be permanently living within one of the 12 local authorities covered by Kent County Council (this excludes Medway, Bexley or Bromley)
  • Be in receipt of means tested benefits or have a household income of less than £40,000 a year before tax
  • Have less than £1,000 in savings
  • Not get means-tested free school meals for any of your children

Find out more here.

Lancashire

If you are a parent or carer of a child attending school (5 to 16-year-old) you will receive an electronic shopping voucher from your child’s school. If you are eligible, and have any questions, please speak to your child’s school. Find out more here.

Leicestershire

Households with children are eligible for up to £20  per adult per week and £15  per child  per week (for maximum of 2 weeks). Single households can get up to £25  per week (for maximum of 2 weeks). Multiple adult households can get £20 per adult per week (for maximum of 2 weeks). Find out more here.

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire has been awarded a further £10,929,370 from the HSF. Approximately 43% of the funding will be delegated to schools and early years providers to support for children eligible for benefit-related free school meals, early years pupil premium and families with a 2-year-old eligible for early years entitlement. Click here to find out more.

London

Those in London can check with their local council to find out what support is available. Find your local council here.

Merseyside

Those in Liverpool can find a host of financial support and food help during the school holidays. Click here to find out more.

Norfolk

Norfolk was given £13.39m from the Government to support residents who are struggling to pay their energy and utility bills. This includes support for single households, families with or without children, older people and disabled people. The council have also provided an extra £400,000 to support people further. Click here to apply.

Northamptonshire

North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire Councils have different provisions for residents, depending on your location. Click here to find out what your council has to offer.

Northumberland

In Northumberland, the HSF can support with food, energy and bills, housing costs and more. If you are awarded a food e-voucher, you will need to go online to convert this into a gift card for Aldi, Iceland, Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. Click here to apply.

£11.2 million in total has been given to Nottinghamshire to be administered by Nottinghamshire County Council in partnership with local district and borough councils. Summer and Winter support payments, both worth around £100 per household (based on number of eligible household occupants), will continue to support families with children entitled to Free School Meals as well as other households and individuals struggling with rising costs. Click here for more.

Oxfordshire

  1. Those who receive Housing Benefits but do not also receive other qualifying benefits will not receive the national cost of living payments in 2022/23 or 2023/24. The County Council is using the Household Support Fund to make an expected payment of £450 to these residents. Those eligible residents will receive a letter from the Council during the summer. Click here for more information.
  • Rutland

Those is Rutland may be able to receive a food voucher for households with school aged children for the school breaks, a one-off payment of £100 to eligible households in receipt of Local Council Tax Support, or a one-off payment of £100 to care leavers. Click here to apply.

Shropshire

Shropshire has been given a grant of £4.1 million from the Government’s national HSF Grant Scheme. Children in receipt of benefits-related free school meals in Shropshire will continue to receive support, usually through meal vouchers. Funding is for 10 weeks in total, which includes summer half term, 3 weeks of  the summer holiday, October half term, Christmas holiday, spring half term and the Easter holiday. This would benefit around 7,500 children, who will get an equivalent to £15 a week of support during these holiday periods.increases. Click here to apply.

Somerset

In Somerset, you can get help regardless of your work situation, provided you show that you are struggling to pay for essentials. The Household Support Fund will not affect your benefits. Click here to apply.

Staffordshire

Education Settings in Staffordshire will be provided with £20.00 supermarket eVouchers for their children that meet the eligibility criteria. Click here to find out more.

Suffolk

Where a child is eligible for income related free school meals, families will be contacted directly by their child’s school regarding supermarket voucher grants, available to them during the school holidays from April 2023 until March 2024. Further information is available here.

Surrey

The county of Surrey has been given £10.6m of funding from the HSF. The council decided that £5.232m of the fund would be used to enable the continued provision of food vouchers to eligible children over the school holidays. Read more here.

Sussex

Those in West Sussex can apply for the HSF here.

Residents in East Sussex need to contact their local council for support.

Click here to find out more. If you are located in Mid-Sussex, click here for info on getting the financial support you need.

Tyne & Wear

Those under the jurisdiction of South Tyneside Council may be eligible to  a single payment of £150 per household. Click here to find out more. 

North Tyneside has been awarded £3,219,996 to help our most financially vulnerable households in the borough over the coming year. Those entitled to income related Free School Meals will receive £15 supermarket vouchers for each week of the school holidays per child. Click here to find out more.

Newcastle City Council will also provide food vouchers for those entitled to free school meals. Read more.

Warwickshire

Due to the limited amount of funds Warwickshire Council has available, they will prioritise items necessary for day to day living such as food, energy and water and particularly those who may not be eligible for other support the government has recently made available. Find out more here.

West Midlands

Applications for Birmingham City Council Hardship Grant Community Fund open on Monday 31 July 2023. The Council will distribute grants of up to £200 to Birmingham households facing financial hardship. The funds are intended to help with food and energy costs. Click here to apply.

Wiltshire

Wiltshire Council has been allocated £5.4 million in round four of the HSF. The funding will be distributed through partner organisation and council departments. Families and young children can receive food vouchers and parcels. Click here to apply.

Worcestershire

Worcestershire City Council is supporting people who receive free school meals in the holidays. You will need to contact your school directly regarding the issuing of Free School Meal vouchers during school holidays. Find more information here.

Yorkshire

Those in the City of York will be invited to apply for the HSF. If you think you are eligible but have not been contacted, click here.

In North Yorks, you can receive food e-Vouchers to use in-store and online with supermarkets. More information will be released in the coming months here.

If you are in East Riding, your school should have already given you a supermarket voucher for the holidays. Get more info here.

Wales

The Welsh government recently axed support for those receiving free school meals. However, three district councils – Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Powys councils have found the cash from their own budgets for the school break.

It is also worth contacting your local council, as they may have an allocated budget for this.

Scotland

If you get free school meals you may also be able to get help during the school holidays. To qualify you need to get one of the benefits in the eligibility section. You need to contact your local council to find out how to apply. This does not apply if your child gets free school meals due to only being in primary 1 to 5. You need to also get the benefits in the eligibility section. Contact your local council for more information.

Northern Ireland

Those in Northern Ireland are encourage to contact the Education Authority to receive help.

The post How can you get food vouchers for the school holidays? appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

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Make Money Today … Transcribing

Transcription Jobs 

Working as a transcriptionist can be a great way to earn some extra money from home, so as long as you can type, you won’t need much training.  

The plus points are that the jobs generally use entirely web-based software – so there’s no need to download anything – and it should be compatible with all modern laptops. 

WHAT IS TRANSCRIBING? 

Transcribing is the typing up of audio conversations so that they can be logged and used digitally. All kinds of audio needs transcribing into text, from the more formal ones such as HR disciplinary meetings, interviews from the national press, as well as other noteworthy events or interviews. But there’s also some really interesting content like audio books, discussions of entertainment or academic content as well as business meetings and focus groups. 

HOW IT WORKS 

transcribing

After an initial training phase, jobs come in on a dashboard and you have to claim a job to start work. You can only claim one job at any one time, and the jobs either need to be typed from scratch or you edit an auto-transcript. 

All jobs are paid by the audio minute in US $, generally from $0.30-$1, though can range far above that.  

Value is based on difficulty of audio. Scratch jobs generally pay much higher per minute, but they are significantly very difficult to do: once you use auto-transcript work, you may not want to focus on scratch jobs. 

The subjects of jobs vary widely, with a lot of business meetings, marketing focus groups, some media interviews (including nationals), and entertainment & education themes also feature very regularly. 

Jobs are often sorted by accent, with US accents being the majority of work, however this sometimes means that UK accents can attract a premium and a UK transcriber can find these easier than the majority working the site. So, for example, you may choose to specialise in UK accents and Irish and Scottish ones in particular because of this marginal premium. 

The ‘piece rate’ of a job can vary though. It’s not clear why it might vary, but you will see the cost of jobs going up and down. Often when there are only a few jobs on the site, their value can drop, and at peak points there can be over 1000 jobs to pick from, normally in the low 100s. 

HOW TO GET IN 

We spoke to transcriber Dan Phillips, who advises: “There is a brief test on grammar and then a training period where you complete some past videos. These are then graded out of 5 on various metrics. You need to achieve on all metrics to pass into the main job site. 

Your work will be graded randomly, though I found it tended to be highly regular and then drop off. Again you need to maintain 4.5 on accuracy metrics. Feedback tended to be pretty good where you didn’t get things right. All these quality controls are done by other transcribers.” 

TOP TIPS 

transcribing

Dan Phillips provided some good advice for getting into transcribing: “Audio from one interview is often split into several jobs sections, so get one done and try to nab the other ones, as that will reduce your need for background info research. 

If you have a subject specialism in real life, try to find clips that reflect that. So, if you know about football, or US Sport in particular, that will help target that niche. Initially at least, only pick clips that have two people in an interview situation. Focus groups tend to be very difficult to differentiate as you don’t know how many people are in the room.” 

Phillips does say that “Transcribing can be a good way to earn smaller amounts such as £50 a week, but it can be harder to earn over £100 without significant time investment or loss of sleep. 

Lower paying jobs do have far clearer audio. I tend to go for around $0.45-60 a minute stuff. Higher ones can be very hard, unless they’re UK accents. Also, the software can speed up and slow down audio if you want to go double-time or slow things down. 

As a UK national, you might find (for example) Australian clips easier to transcribe than US clips (this seems to be quite common), but if you know nothing about Australia, Aboriginal place names can be difficult to identify at first.” 

where to start 

One transcription company (not affiliated with this site: just for example purposes) is Rev, where you can ‘favourite’ different clients, and they often regularly post, which helps you narrow down your favourite accents or topic when there’s a deluge of work. Subsequently if you then get good ratings (4.8+), alongside other metrics for meeting deadlines, you can be promoted to Rev+ where you get first pick of the jobs, where the best work is available 

It’s worth noting that these companies take their clients’ confidentiality very seriously ,and will ban for life those who breach it and publish gossip from clips on the web. So although you might be tempted to share something salacious you’ve been privy to, just don’t do it! 

 MoneyMagpie also have lots of other ways to make money writing here

 

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Having a child costs £96,000 – here are 7 tips for new parents

Having a child costs £96,000 – here are 7 tips for new parents

It has been revealed that couples with children spend an average of £5,356 more a year than couples without kids. Over the course of 18 years, this comes to an eye- watering £96,416, with parents less likely to have enough cash leftover at the end of the month. They are also far less likely to have emergency savings or life insurance, compared to non-parents. Figures from the HL Savings and Resilience Barometer also show those with kids are more worried about debt.

So, here are 7 top tips for new parents, to help you save money in the short and long term, giving both yourself and your children financial security and resilience.

Try to get into a better financial position before having children

You’re going to need to draw up a tighter budget when the child is born, so why not do it as soon as you start planning for a family? You can use the cash you free up in order to pay down expensive short-term debts and build up any savings you can.

Make decisions about childcare

Often the biggest challenge in the early years is childcare. In some cases, a parent will want to give up work for a while, but in other cases they would prefer to work, but don’t feel they can afford the cost of childcare. It’s worth considering all the options before deciding.

Take the time to explore everything that’s available in your area – the difference between an expensive nursery and a childminder can be significant. You can also take steps to cut the formal care you need to pay for. This can include asking grandparents for help, juggling shifts with your partner, or sharing care with other friends.

See what help is available

Check if the government will offer help too, because both tax credit and universal credit have childcare allowances. Today’s babies will also benefit from the change that means from April 2024, working parents of two-year-olds can access 15 hours of free childcare. From September next year, this will be extended to babies from the age of nine months.

From September 2025, this will be expanded to 30 hours. In the interim, if you don’t already use childcare vouchers, you can’t sign up for them, but you can still get tax-free childcare to make your money go further.

Protect your family

Make sure your will is up to date and takes all your children into account – including establishing guardians if something was to happen to both parents. You also need to make sure you have enough life insurance, so they’re financially cared for if you pass away. Check your sick pay too – what it covers and how long it lasts for. If it’s not very generous, consider income protection, which will provide cash for you and your family if you are unable to work for a period.

Widen your safety net

We should all have a savings safety net of 3-6 months’ worth of essential expenses in an easy access savings account, in case of nasty surprises. When you have children, your essential expenses will increase, so you need to build your net bigger to account for this. If you already have emergency savings, consider the impact of inflation too – which will mean you’ll need more emergency cash to cover any expenses.

Set up a Junior ISA for gifts

If family and friends want to buy a present to celebrate your child’s birth – or for any subsequent birthday or Christmas – you can ask them to pay into the JISA and help build up a nest egg for when they turn 18. You can choose between a cash or stocks and shares JISA.

Parents may worry about investing, because they see it as a risk. However, while investments will go up and down in value in the short term, over an 18-year timescale, share-based investments will offer far more potential for growth than cash.

Don’t neglect your own needs

Children can easily soak up all the cash available, but it’s vital to keep your own needs in mind too. If you put your savings and long-term investments on hold, you’ll have an enormous amount of ground to make up later – particularly when it comes to pensions.

Where one parent works part-time for a longer period, there’s a risk they have a long break from paying into their pension, which can have serious repercussions for their retirement income. Some parents will choose to make extra contributions into the pension of the person working full time to make up for it, but it’s worth understanding the implications of that – particularly for unmarried parents. It makes sense to consider your household finances in the round and talk about ways you can free up cash so you can both pay into a pension if possible.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance, Hargreaves Lansdown, says:

“Children may be priceless, but they come with a shocking price tag. Couples with kids spend an average of £5,356 more every year than couples without – which over 18 years comes to an eye-watering £96,416. And as a result, their financial resilience suffers across the board. For single parents, life is even tougher, and they face far lower resilience on almost every measure.

“It’s not what parents need to hear as they embark on one of the most expensive times of year, but everything is more expensive with children in tow. Even when you just boil it down to the absolute essentials, couples with kids spend almost a fifth more than those without (£2,266 a month vs £1,923), while single parents spend more than a quarter more than singles without (£1,428 vs £1,150). It’s no wonder that, at the end of the month, a couple with kids has an average of £227 left after paying the bills, while a couple without children has £382, a single person living alone has £34 and a single parent just £25.

“It’s no wonder that only among couples with no children do more than half of people have enough cash at the end of the month to be resilient. Only 44% of parental couples have enough cash at the end of the month – and 25% of single parents (compared with 34% of singles living alone, and 54% of couples with no children).”

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Monday 24 July 2023

Are you owed a vehicle tax rebate?

Are you owed a vehicle tax rebate? 

Motoring experts are warning UK drivers to take the necessary steps after selling their cars, after it was revealed millions of Brits could be missing out on money owed from the government in vehicle tax. 

After people sell their cars, they are not claiming back vehicle tax, according to LeaseCar and LeaseElectricCar. Vehicle tax payments can range from £0 for fully electric vehicles to a staggering £2,605 annually, depending on the vehicle model. 

Last year the most popular selling used car was the Ford Fiesta. The 2020 model has vehicle tax costing £155 per year – meaning motorists could be missing out on hundreds, or even thousands of pounds owed to them in tax refunds. Now, more than ever, claiming back money you are rightfully owed is important as the cost of living continues to bite. 

Of course, the amount that can be claimed back depends on what car they have sold – age, make, model, and how long ago. After informing the DVLA that the car has been sold, drivers need to apply for a tax rebate as soon as they can to get the maximum of cashback possible. Only full months’ worth of tax can be claimed – so time is of the essence. 

In 2022, almost seven million vehicles changed hands in the UK. Ford Fiesta topped the chart for the most sold used model of car. With automotive trade and creation restricted due to the pandemic and associated global lockdowns, the used car market has soared in recent years.  

As a result of increased demand for second-hand cars, however, the price of used cars has increased. The shortage of new cars over the Covid-19 years meant people were looking to buy from others. In fact, in July 2022, the average sale price of a used car in the UK was up almost 20% on the previous year – sitting at a cool £17,173. 

Tim Alcock from LeaseCar says: 

Any driver who has recently sold their car after paying road tax will be eligible for a refund from the government. If you’ve paid your road tax for a whole year yet sell the car after a couple of months – you will be eligible to receive most of the tax back into your bank account. 

“It’s important to note that the DVLA tax refund only applies for full months, so it’s best to apply for your refund straight away to avoid missing out on any cash. After selling your car, drivers should inform the DVLA as soon as possible to ensure they get as much money back as possible. 

“Before selling a vehicle, the logbook (V5C) should also be updated to reflect any change of name, address or modifications made to the car. Any details which are incorrect may prevent motorists from getting a tax rebate. 

“Also, ensure to tell the DVLA that you’ve sold your car, and provide the full name and address of the buyer. Failing to do so may also stop you getting any money back.” 

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Get your hands on FREE fish and chips this ‘Friday’ in Brighton!

FREE fish and chips in Brighton this Friday  

A nice portion of fish and chips has always been a staple of the British seaside. Since the mid-19th century, chippies have lined the shoreline of coastal towns and cities across the UK. This is no different for Brighton, where the shingle and stone-covered shore is packed with hundreds of thousands of tourists every summer, many of whom watch the sunset with fish and chips, the city’s much-loved dish. 

There are plenty of chippie hotspots to explore in the colourful and bustling city, including The Lanes, North Laine, and Brighton Pier – with each establishment offering a unique twist on the classic dish. However, sadly many chip shops along the Brighton coast are struggling to stay open, with rising operational costs forcing many establishments to shut their doors for good. Many are family run, having been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. 

That’s why Sarson’s, together with the National Federation of Fish Friers, has identified that by visiting your local chippy just twice more per year, the nation could help stem the tide of chippie closures in just 12 months. Now, they have created an extra saucy incentive to get Brighton backing their local. 

On the 28th July, Sarson’s will be popping up at Brighton’s famous chippie, Little Jack Fullers, handing out free chips between 12pm and 2pm. To help save your chippie, all you need to do is turn up, support your local and claim your fresh chips.  

It won’t just be this Friday, either. Sarson’s are giving people across the county to get their hands on a free Friday night chippy tea throughout the year. In fact, the famous malt vinegar brand has pledged to give away one tonne of free fish and chips. That’s a whopping 50 meals available to be claimed every single week, all year long! 

This year so far, Sarson’s have already provided over 500 portions of fish and chip to foodies nationwide – and they don’t plan on stopping any time soon! 

So, if you are in Brighton, the surrounding areas or just fancy a trip down south to the seaside this Friday, make sure you stop by Little Jack Fullers to claim your free portion of chips. There’s no limit, so you won’t miss out – but the offer will only stand from 12pm – 2pm on 28th July. Whether you’re a salt and pepper lover, like them plain or slather on the Sarson’s vinegar – enjoy! 

David Roberts, Owner of Little Jack Fullers, said:

“The fish and chip industry has survived countless challenges since its inception in the 1860’s – including two World Wars, recessions, and the pandemic,  but these last few years have been extremely hard from an operational perspective.   

“It’s alarming to see the industry in such decline and initiatives like Sarson’s Fryday really shine a light on the challenges myself and other operators across the city, and across the country are facing. We are delighted to be taking part in the Sarson’s Fryday campaign and look forward to welcoming customers old and new to join Sarson’s Fryday at Little Jack Fullers”. 

Katy Holder, Brand Manager, Mizkan Euro adds;

“Now in its second year, Sarson’s Fryday has one aim; to support the Fish & Chip shop industry during unequivocally challenging operational conditions – a result of which has seen many operators having to shut their doors and switch off their fryers in droves. 

“So far, we’ve reimbursed hundreds of free meals to households who are feeling the pinch themselves, whilst putting money directly into the tills of the hard-working Chippy operators who keep this iconic British culinary institution alive. 

“This summer, we plan to go one step further, by giving away one tonne of free chips to the nation. From Brighton, to Blackpool, Newquay to Newcastle, however Brits plan to slosh on the Sarson’s, we urge them to visit their local chippy…with the added incentive that their chippy tea, might just be free! Together we can batter this crisis, one chip at a time”. 

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Friday 21 July 2023

How to make money while you’re on holiday

Unless you join the Navy or work for an airline, you will probably struggle to earn money while travelling in 2023.

Scrounging free flights and hotel stays is getting increasingly difficult in the post-lockdown, post-‘influencer’ world, and even professional travel writers now struggle to travel the world for free like they used to.

But there are still some ways to recoup the cost of your holiday, from renting out your home and driveway to looking after someone else’s pet while you sightsee.

Cut through the hype and discover what tips do and don’t work now, with our expert guide looking at how to:

Earn money renting out your home while you’re away

Renting out your house out while you’re away is a simple – and pretty lucrative – way of recouping the cost of your holiday, especially if you live in a tourist hotspot.

Airbnb has obviously cornered the market in casual holiday lets, but there are a whole host of apps and websites out there that you can sign-up to, including Holiday Lettings, Vrbo, and Booking.com, all of which are quite easy to create and manage a listing on.

General rental sites like Spare Room or Monday to Friday are another good way of finding people who might want a full two weeks in a city, where let’s face it most Airbnb guests only want to stay for a day or three.

Which site is best?

Spare Room and Monday to Friday tenants are usually young adults or business people looking for a stopgap while they find more long-term accommodation, so they not only want longer stays, but are less of a risk than some randoms from Airbnb.

You don’t earn as much as you would through Airbnb or one of the holiday booking sites, as you’re basically catering for people looking for a short residential let, which average a little over £250 a week. But it does mean you can rent out the property for the entire time your away without having to ask a friend to clean your house and make the beds every couple of nights.

There are just a few legalities to check before letting out your home, like whether you need to up your insurance. Airbnb, for instance, covers you for up to $1m in insurance, but your own home insurance provider may also need you to pay a small fee to include renters to your policy.

If you have a mortgage, you really ought to check if it’s okay with them too, as not all lenders allow you to offer your home out for short-term lets.

Airbnb

Airbnb makes it really easy and simple to rent out your house for a short period of time.

With Airbnb, you’re in full control of your availability, prices, house rules, and how you interact with guests. You can set check-in times and handle the process however you like.

Airbnb offers free listing on its site and leaves it up to you how much you want to charge guests.

Its messaging service also makes communicating with guests stress free, giving you the option of meeting them in person or just giving them your door details.

Guests must pay before they arrive and you are paid automatically when they check in.

Airbnb charges a 3% service fee which means if you were to let a property for £700 a week, its cut would be £25.20 and that means you’re almost guaranteed to make a hefty profit!

But the site also charges guests up to 14.2% on top of your asking price in ‘guest fees’, which can make your price less attractive, as that £700 listing will cost the guest up to £799.40.

Holiday Lettings

Holiday Lettings is very similar to Airbnb in the sense that you can advertise your lovely home on its site for no upfront cost.

The company does take 3% of any money you make, plus VAT where relevant, so, again, you lose£25.20 from a £700 listing. Like Airbnb, guests will also see some added guest fees on their final bill, which range from between 8% and 16% extra. That means that if you list your home for £700, the guest will actually pay between £756 and £812.

Holiday Lettings is a super useful site as it links to TripAdvisor.com which means it’s really easy for potential guests to find your place.

As Holiday Lettings put it, this partnership means that ‘our owners can now show off their guest reviews and get their properties promoted on a worldwide network of 25 TripAdvisor websites surfed by 340 million travelers every month’.

Booking.com

Booking.com is another great site you should consider when thinking about renting our your home. Surprisingly, more than 40% of overnights booked through the site are for stays in private homes and apartments rather than hotels and B&Bs.

The website has a handy feature which tells you how in-demand properties are in your area and how quickly your property is likely to be snatched up!

Booking.com takes 15% commission on the price that your guests will pay (which you set yourself!), meaning that if your guests are paying £700 for a week in your home, you will only be left with £595.00 in earnings. Meanwhile, the guest fees that are added on top of your listing can range from anywhere between an extra 10% and 25%., although they average around 15%.

Although this sounds like a lot more than the amount that Airbnb and HolidayLettings take, Booking.com is often the go-to booking site for travellers looking for nights away, and pulls in around 100 million visitors a month, so you’re paying for a premium service that can get lots of eyeballs on your listing.

Spare Room

Listings on Spare Room are free. It should only take a few minutes to create an advert, which can have as little or as much information and pictures as you feel necessary to include, and you communicate with interested renters through its messaging function.

Monday to Friday

Monday to Friday attracts a slighter older customer than Spare Room, as its clients are often businessmen and women who work in a different town to where their family live – and where they spend the weekend.

Unlike Spare Room, you have to pay to list on Monday to Friday, with prices starting from £34.95 for a two-month listing.

Rent out your drive while you’re on holiday

If your mortgage broker doesn’t allow you to let you rent out your house, or maybe you just don’t fancy having someone else stay in your home while you’re not there, you could always rent out your empty driveway instead.

Having a car on your drive will also do more to keep away would-be burglars than that hall lamp on a time switch ever could! You can also make a fair whack by simply letting someone else park on your property for a week or two. Again, the amount you could earn depends on where you live – if you’re live in a big city or near a major sporting venue, like Wimbledon or Aintree where parking is a major problem during certain weeks of the year, your drive will obviously be more in-demand than if you live on Dartmoor.

There are loads of companies that specialise in driveway rentals, including JustPark.com, ParkOnMyDrive.com, Stashbee.com and YourParkingSpace.co.uk. You’ll also find people listings their driveways on Gumtree, Facebook and other less-specialist sites, so it’s worth checking on those too to see if you could earn more by advertising on one of them.

Setting up an account only takes a minute or so, and the sites then either take a small cut from you, the leaser, or, in the case of JustPark.com, add an extra commission on to bill which the person renting your drive pays.

JustPark

In terms of fees and commission, it’s free to advertise your space on JustPark, but the site does charge a 3% commission on every successful booking. Also, be aware that for longer bookings (more than two months), JustPark deducts 20% from your first month’s payment, but after that it goes back to 3%.

Its service includes a professionally drafted contract to download and a completely flexible rental arrangement – you decide exactly when and for how long you rent your space for.

Park Let

Park Let is the most restrictive option as it deals only with five or seven-day contracts. This means that if you’re going away, you have to make sure your drive is available to use 24 hours a day Monday to Friday (in the case of a five-day contract) or all day and night Monday to Sunday (in the case of a seven-day contract).

While it’s free to advertise your space, they do charge a 25% to 30% commission on your rental earnings depending on whether you opt for one week or two. This falls to 20% for people who rent their drive out on a more long-term basis. If you do eventually end up renting out your drive on a monthly contract after your holiday is over, you will also have to pay a one-off fee of £25 as well as 20% commission of anything you earn.

YourParkingSpace

Renting out your driveway on YourParkingSpace is absolutely free and you won’t have to pay a service fee, as a 20% charge is added to your price automatically, which the person using your drive then pays to the website. YourParkingSpace also provides users with places to park by the hour, which can attract more interest, especially if you live in an area popular with shoppers or tourists rather than commuters.

How much can I charge to rent out my drive?

The three cities most in-demand by space-shy parkers are London, Edinburgh and Brighton, where parking near the centre typically goes from £9.50 a day (if you exclude the chancers charging £50+). Even in the suburbs, the going-rate starts from £5 a day in Brighton, rising the closer you live to bus routes.

It may not sound a huge amount, but added up over a fortnight, you could (conservatively) look to make between £70 and £133 renting out your parking space – and that’s assuming you list at the very bottom of the market. Most of those drives are not in the most in-demand parts of Brighton, like near the beach or station.

It’s a similar story with other touristy cities like York, where city centre parking could fetch you around £7.50 to £12.50 per space, while a drive in the suburbs typically nets enough to pay for one of two ice creams on the beach each day.

If you’re lucky enough to live in central London or Edinburgh, your drive will pay for more than a few Magnums. You can easily make £20+ a day for each parking space you have in the English and Scottish capitals. If you’ve a double drive or double garage, you’re looking at £40+ a day – which adds up to £560 in revenue during your two-week trip away. Have space for three cars? You could earn £840 to put towards your spending money.

Obviously, you will need to check with your home insurance provider to ensure that renting out your driveway or garage doesn’t affect your policy, and any extra cash you make must be declared to the Inland Revenue on your tax return.

Can I make money house-sitting and pet-sitting?

As well as renting out your own house/drive to make some money, you could try getting paid to stay in the place you’re staying – or, at the very least, stay there for free.

The obvious way to do this is by offering your services as a house sitter.

There are a number of reasons why someone would want you to stay in their house rent-free.

An increasing number of people own more than one property or spend long periods of time away on business, and would rather pay someone to look after the place than risk being burgled.

Burglary rates are highest during holiday periods, which, let’s face it, is probably when you are looking for somewhere too. Hiring a house-sitter also makes financial sense for home owners with lots of valuable contents, like priceless art and memorabilia, so having you on-site could actually help lower their insurance premiums.

What does house-sitting involve?

House sitting is typically very easy. Your job is to keep things dust-free and tidy, perhaps keep on top of the garden and water any plants, and, of course, you may be required to look after a pet too.

There’s quite a demand for those who are good with dogs, cats and other animals, given many pet owners don’t want to send their pets to expensive kennels and catteries, so if you enjoy walking and grooming animals, and can be trusted to keep them alive for two weeks, you’ll be ideal.

Not all house-sitting companies pay, but you’ll save hundreds of pounds on hotels and B&B by taking on the roll of unpaid dog-walker/night-watchman when you’re not off exploring the local tourist sites.

How do I register?

Most the main house sitting websites charge would-be sitters a small fee to register on their site. HouseSittersUK, for instance, charges £29 a year for access to its portal, which, as its website points out is ‘a fraction of the price of a night’s hotel accommodation’. You have to register with the site using Facebook, an email address or your Google log-in, which takes a few minutes. You can then begin searching for home owners in the area you’re hoping to stay, and chat directly with them to negotiate what they want and need from you. Most home owners do not offer payment, but some do. If they pay, they will typically mention this in the advert, but you can always ask about any remunerations or expenses when you message them.

Home owners are forbidden from asking you for rent during your stay, although they are technically allowed to ask for help towards electricity and other bills. However, it’s generally frowned upon given many sitters get paid.

Can I house-sit in another country?

If you’re looking for accommodation abroad, MindMyHouse.com has listings across the US, Canada and Mexico, which account for over a third of all ads, as well as lots in the rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

Again, you have to pay a small yearly membership fee of $29 (roughly £22) but there are lots of nice looking listings in exotic destinations. Of course, the home owners are generally looking for help on specific dates (usually when they themselves are going away), so if you’re looking to visit California, for example, it may make sense to look up who is listed in that destination – and when they are looking for house-sitters – and, organising your trip around that, rather than booking your flights first and then being disappointed when you discover there are no Californians looking for house-sitters the fortnight you’re going to be there.

Can I specify what I will and won’t do? 

The interesting thing about this site is house sitters and home owners sign an agreement detailing exactly what is and isn’t included in the agreement, covering everything from payment (or otherwise) to the situation regarding utility bills, damages, and any chores/responsibilities. The contract also guarantees your stay, although each party can cancel the agreement up to seven days before you are due to arrive, so there’s always a chance you may have to find alternative accommodation if they cancel more than a week out.

Another popular site is Trustedhousesitters, however its joining fee is a lot more expensive, starting from £99 a year for a ‘basic’ membership. If you go down this route, it may not be a bad idea to upgrade to the £129 ‘standard sitter’ membership, which includes accidental and third party liability insurance, in case anything goes wrong during your stay.

Again, you’re unlikely to get paid if you accept a gig on Trustedhousesitters, but given its popularity with home owners, it’s a great site if you’re looking to find a ‘free’ holiday, as there ought to be plenty of listings to choose from.

Can I charge a fee to house sit?

Although payments are not the norm, you may be able to negotiate a small fee if there are pets to look after or any other additional tasks, so definitely give it a try if you feel you deserve a small daily amount.

One lady we know of at MoneyMagpie regularly makes £50 a day as a house-sitter. She only spends the evening and night in the house, before going to work the next day.

The reason for this high rate of pay is the fact that the owner of the house has seven dogs.

It would cost at least £10 per dog per day to put these dogs into kennels. By paying £50 to a house-sitter who knows the dogs, the owner saves £20 a day.

Generally, though, pay is minimal and starts at £10 a day. Some sitters ask for a food allowance of £10 a day, much like an employee can do when having to travel for their company. These sitters will often ask for 45p per mile for fuel, again much like employees get paid for using their private vehicle for work. Both of these payments are non-taxable, unlike any actual remunerations, which should be declared to the taxman if you meet the minimum threshold.

If you are more focused on earning money rather than just finding somewhere free to stay, you’re probably better looking at a specialised pet-sitting site, although you probably ought to be a real animal lover to bother applying to these. Most owners aren’t going to leave their beloved pooch with any Tom, Dick or Harry.

How do I become a pet-sitter?

The pet-sitting platform Rover doesn’t charge you to register and instead takes 15% of any money you make, much like Airbnb does. A lot of the sitters on its site are pros who either own boarding kennels and catteries, or run professional dog walkers services, and they obviously charge big bucks. That said, there are others who offer a more traditional house-sitting service, which is obviously preferred by many pet owners whose animals are too nervous or old to go to a kennel or cattery, so you might be able to undercut the pros, and net yourself a decent fee to help offset some of your other holiday costs. If you have a police check and can get references from other pet owners attesting to your dog-whispering prowess, you’ll also seriously boost your chances of getting selected.

Again you’ll find listings across the UK on Rover, as well as in popular tourist destinations like the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and Norway – where hotels are notoriously expensive.

If you plan to look after someone’s pet, you really ought to look into getting public liability cover, in case the dog bites someone while you’re out walking them, for instance. Many professional house-sitters take out public liability insurance even if they never look after pets. You never know what sort of any blow-back you might get from the home owner if things go wrong, so it’s always better to be safe than sued!

make money while you're on holiday

Are freebies for blogs, reviews and social media posts still a thing?

Until recently, you could probably scrounge or ‘blag’ yourself a free stay in a luxury hotel if you had a large social media following (ie. tens of thousands of followers) or wrote a mildly successful blog.

But sadly (or luckily, depending on your point of view) the ‘influencer’ bubble has well and truly burst over the past few years. It had already started to deflate before the Covid lockdowns, as companies and marketing agencies became more and more aware of just how inflated most influencers’ follower and engagement figures are. Social media stars not often only pay for followers and likes in order to scrounge free goods and services, but, more generally, sites like Instagram and Twitter are full of so many fake or ‘bot’ accounts that even honest celebs, politicians and influencers have thousands, and in some cases millions, of fake followers, artificially inflating their ‘influence’.

Moreover, social media influencers are now increasingly seen as inauthentic, now people are aware they were being paid vast sums to wax lyrically about that dreamy holiday resort they just happened to be posting about.

Needless to say, all this has made getting that free flight, hotel stay or even a free meal while on holiday much more difficult, especially for people who previously might have been considered micro-influencers (ie ordinary people with relatively large follower figures).

The travel industry took also took a major financial hit due to Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates, so even professional travel writers working for national publications or in-flight magazines owned by the airlines find arranging freebies much more difficult now, too.

You can, of course, still chance your arm if you have a large, relevant and engaged following that you think a business might be interested in. A restaurant, for instance, might happily give a food blogger and their partner a free meal in exchange for a review and some social media posts. But don’t take it personally if they say no – a lot of businesses have been burned in the past, and a lot more are struggling to survive due to the ongoing fallout from Covid restrictions.

Be polite, upfront about what you want and what you can offer, and try not to sound like a diva. Influencers and bloggers are famous for being a bit stroppy and demanding.

Sign up as a mystery diner for free holiday meals

Don’t have a few thousands followers or a popular YouTube channel? You could always look to save money on your holiday by becoming a mystery diner.

There are lots of agencies out there that employ people as mystery shoppers or diners. Some pay but most offer enough money to pay for the service you’ve been asked to review.

It’s a good way of eating out without actually spending any money, and doesn’t require much in the way of actual work either, so shouldn’t feel like a distraction from your relaxing break.

Typically, mystery diners are given a simple questionnaire to fill-in after their visit, asking them to rate how friendly the staff were, how clean and presentable the restaurant looked, and other perhaps brand-specific questions, like did the meal arrive within a certain time after ordering.

Lots of students and retired people do mystery shopping or mystery dining work as a part-time job, but if you’re really only interested in doing it every so often to cover those dinners away, you could try signing up for a site like MysteryDining.

While most people who use the app review restaurants in their local area, it let’s you update your preferences if you’re travelling, meaning you can select to review restaurants and hotels, for example, while you’re elsewhere in the UK. They even have some international partnerships, meaning you could eat for free while on holiday in parts of Europe, the Middle East and America.

Can I get paid for reviews?

MysteryDining doesn’t pay you for each review, but offers ’capped reimbursements’ – ie. money to pay for the meal or hotel room you’ve been asked to review. It works on a tiered system (with bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels, depending on how many reviews you’ve done). Not surprisingly, the best gigs, like hotel stays, spa visits, meals at high-end restaurants, and afternoon teas, are reserved for people with more experience – which you gain, initially, by reviewing a lot of ‘quick service’ eateries, like Pret A Manger.

If living it up for free isn’t enough, you can find paid gigs here, although they require a bit more commitment and effort, and, are frankly, more of a job than something you can just casually do while enjoying a much-needed break.

If you’re the sort of person who likes to write reviews more generally, you might also be able to claw back few quid of the money you spent on your holiday by writing reviews of your hotel, too.

A lot of companies, like Tripadvisor, used to pay people to write reviews for them. These days, such gigs are few and far between. One website that does still pay for reviews of everything from hotels to airlines to toothpaste, tech and books is ReviewStream. It’s a really ugly website, but you could earn some spending money to put towards your next holiday by reviewing some of the places you visited on your last trip.

Again, the money’s not great – and there’s no guarantee they will pay for your your submission just because you posted a review on your portal for them to consider –  but you can earn a few quid for doing what you probably would have done for free anyway on Tripadvisor, Booking.com or Google anyway.

Make money selling your holiday pics

Another popular money-spinner in the past was to try to sell your holiday pics. Sadly, this too is much harder in 2023, as obviously most photo libraries are now saturated with images from all our old holidays.

If you’re travelling somewhere a bit unique or off the beaten track, however, and are a good amateur photographer with a DSLR camera, you might as well give it a go, as it’s surprising how few images the photo agencies have of vast swathes of Africa, for instance.

Obviously there’s very little demand for new images of Table Mountain or Kruger National Park. But you’d be surprised at just how few images there are of other relatively mainstream African destinations on most picture libraries.

For instance, if you type ‘fisherman + Gabon’, ‘hyenas + Namib-Naukluft National Park’ or the name of a beach in Zanzibar or Mozambique into a photo library search bar (like a picture editor looking to illustrate a story would do), very few images will likely come up.

Even if there are a few relevant images on the site, there’s a good chance those that those photos will already have been used by the picture editors at specialist publications (or even mainstream media houses), meaning your snap could be exactly what they’re looking for next time they search one of those terms.

If you’re going even further off the tourist trail to visit relatives in Nigeria, for example, then you could really clean up. You’d be shocked at how few good images there are of a country of 200 million people!

There are lots of online agencies. Some popular sites include:

When you register your details, the site will usually ask you to send between five to 10 photos so it can test the quality and type of photos you send them. If your photos don’t conform to the site’s requirements, they will be rejected.

If this happens, don’t worry – just try again, taking their comments into consideration. Sometimes it may just be because they already have too many of the sort of photo you’re sending.

After your pictures have been checked and cleared you’ll be notified when they go live on the website, usually after about 24 hours.

Then there’s nothing to do after that except wait until people buy your photos. Once your account reaches a certain limit you can get your hands on the cash.

Fotolia

This library, which is part of the Microsoft/Adobe empire, is a great place to start uploading your pics, not least because you can sign up for free.

One-off sales will earn you a 20% to 63% commission. Meanwhile, photos licensed via Fotolia’s subscription service attract a 33% commission each time your images are downloaded and used.

The amount you earn will obviously depend on the quality of your images and the demand for there is for that subject too, but we found a fairly uninspiring image of a beach in Gabon, for example, on sale for $79.99, which could theoretically net the photographer around $26 if it was downloaded by a picture editor. In reality, though, you won’t earn that sort of money per download. Most picture editors who use Fotolia  are signed up to reasonably priced subscription packages, meaning they actually only pay a fraction of that amount per download, we’re talking a couple of quid, if not pennies, per download.

However, the more you contribute and the more photos you sell, the higher you climb in rank and therefore the more money you can make on commission.

123RF 

This site operates in a similar way as Fotolia, as your commission is based on the package that buyers have – with the amount you earn varying from 30% to 60%. Again, photo editors tend to buy bundles of credits on 123RF, allowing them to download images for as little as 31p a pop.

Expect to earn between 10p and just under £2 each time your image is used.

iStockPhoto

The royalty structure on iStockPhoto is 15%, but you could make up to 45% for exclusive pictures when your ranking is high. That being said, its rates of pay are very low and, again, depends on the package the buyers have signed up, so you may not get anything for web resolution photos. This site is probably only good to look at when you can sell high resolution photos of very good quality.

Alamy 

Alamy supplies a high-end market of editorial, advertising and publishing companies, so it’s safe to say anything you submit has to be high quality that follows their submission guidelines strictly. If you do, you have the potential to earn 65% commission. Photos on the site cost between $20 and $500, but, according to Alamy, images sell on average for $30 – or just over £22.

Realistically, you are likely to earn about £3.50 per download on Alamy, which may not sound a lot, but is considerably more than most other photo libraries pay.

Shutterstock

An agency like Alamy may offer more per sale, but you’ll probably sell fewer downloads than if you list them on Shutterstock. The site pays less per pic but you could earn more overall thanks to the sheer volume of downloads made. With Shuttersock you should realistically expect to earn about 8p each time your image is downloaded.

Legal issues to consider

There are a few legal issues to consider before you upload any pics on to a photo library like Alamy, 123RF or iStockPhoto. For instance, pictures of identifiable houses or models (any person who is in the photo) will in most cases need a release form. This is signed by the model or house owner to cite that their permission has been given for you to profit from their personal belongings. Each website has a release form for you to download if you need it.

You should also avoid taking pictures of car registration plates, company logos (these might be Registered Trade Marks) and anything that could be considered inflammatory (racist graffiti, for example).

Travel for free by becoming a ‘group leader’

A lot of travel companies offer a discount if a large group is booking together. These include major brands like Virgin Holidays and Eurostar, which will give large groups of 10 or more a 10% discount. The practice is also common among specialist tour ops that arrange skiing trips, walking holidays, biking tours, golf breaks and safaris. These specialists often allow the tour ‘leader’ or person who arranged the group booking to travel for free, as a thank you/incentive for organising the trip and to encourage them to arrange more in the future.

If you set up a group holiday for friends or family you could be rewarded for your effort by pocketing that discount yourself (agree it with your friends first of course).

Not only will the travelling be cheaper, you might then be eligible for cheaper entry into attractions, too. These may be museums, amusement parks etc. It’s essentially just another way of buying in bulk.

make money while you're on holiday

Earn cashback on your flight and hotel booking

The other easy way to make free money on your holiday is by paying for as much of your trip on a credit or debit card that pays you money back every time you spend.

A lot of bank cards are now de facto ‘reward cards’ that pay you every time you use your card to buy goods and services. Often this reward cash is a flat percentage rate, which you earn each time you use your card. Other banks may team up with specific companies, which often change on a monthly basis, and offer money back or extra money back each time you buy something with one of their partners that month.

Obviously, if you’re travelling abroad, the small fee you earn each time you spend will (usually) be offset by foreign transaction fees, but you could make a fair chunk of cheddar if you use a reward card to book flights, pay for a package holiday, or if you book hotels and other holiday essentials through a UK website before your trip begins.

For example, with the Lloyds Cashback Mastercard you earn 0.25% cashback on up to £4,000 of annual spending and 0.5% on any spending over £4,000 a year, with no cap on how much you can earn.

If you were to pay for a £1,000 holiday at your local travel agent using your Lloyds bank card, your account would be credited between £2.50 and £5, depending on how much you spend on your card a year.

Other cards, like the American Express Platinum Cashback Everyday Card offer even more. For instance, you’ll get 5% cashback on the first £2,000 of spending in the first three months (up to a maximum of £100). After this expires, you’ll then earn 0.5% cashback on spending below £10,000 a year, and 1% cashback if you spend more that £10,000.

The account is free, and there is no limit on how much cashback you can earn in one year. However, you have to spend a minimum of £3,000 in one year to earn any cashback.

You will also get cashback for every friend you invite to join (up to £150).

Meanwhile, you could earn 5,000 bonus Avios points (to spend on future flights, hotel stays and car hire) when you spend over £1,000 in the first three months after taking out a British Airways American Express Credit Card.

You will also collect one Avios point for every £1 spent with this card. Rewards can add up quickly for those travelling or using a credit card frequently for business; you’ll need to collect 18,500 points to pay for a flight to Europe.

You can also get a free ‘Companion Voucher’ when you spend £12,000 each membership year on the card, which you can use to either take a companion with you on a flight, or if travelling solo, gives you a 50% discount on the Avios price you pay for your flight. Vouchers are redeemable when you book a British Airways, Iberia or Aer Lingus Reward Flight in Euro Traveller, World Traveller and economy class cabins only. Taxes, fees and carrier charges apply.

The post How to make money while you’re on holiday appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

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