FM MONITOR MARKET INTELLIGENCE
INSIGHT
The figures on this page have been compiled from several sources and are intended as a guide to trends. FM World declines any responsibility for the use of this information.
WATER-DAMAGE INSURANCE CLAIMS
ECONOMY
VAT rates: Standard rate – 20% (from 4 January 2011) Reduced rate – 5% Zero rate – this is not the same as exempt or outside the scope of VAT
BURST PIPES ACCOUNT FOR 20% OF ALL PROPERTY INSURANCE CLAIMS
Source: HM Treasury (hmrc.gov.uk)
Bank of England base rate: 0.5% as of 6 September 2012. The previous change in bank rate was a reduction of 0.5 percentage points to 0.5% on 5 March 2009.
THE AVERAGE INSURANCE CLAIM FOR BURST PIPES IS
CLAIMS FOR BURST PIPES CAN REACH UP TO
£100,000
£25,000
Source: Bank of England (bankofengland.co.uk)
Source: ONS (www.ons.gov.uk)
EMPLOYMENT
National Minimum Wage The following rates came into effect on 1 October 2012: Category of worker
Hourly rate from 1 Oct 2012
Aged 21 and above
£6.19
Aged 18 to 20 inclusive
£4.98
Aged under 18 (but above compulsory school age)
£3.68
Apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship
£2.65
Source: VPS (www.vpspecialists.co.uk)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
ACCESS EQUIPMENT MARKET
As of March 2012, electric vehicles could be charged at over 3,000 charging points nationwide, 60% of which were publicly accessible. The majority were provided through government funding schemes, with 1,673 coming from one plan called ‘Plugged-in Places’. The increase in the size of the charging infrastructure is designed to reduce consumers’ range anxiety. The government has pledged to spend £400 million to promote electric vehicles, but growth of the charging infrastructure has been limited by a lack of standardisation, and the expectation that most vehicles will be charged at home or at work.
UK access equipment market size 2007-2014
Source: AMA Research (www.amaresearch.co.uk)
The UK market for access equipment was worth an estimated £237 million in 2012, a small growth of 1% since 2011. Further development is dependent on the performance of the UK economy as a whole and the impact of budget cuts on public sector spending. Nevertheless, it is forecast that the access equipment market will reach a value of £280 million in 2017, growing at 3-4% per year. Vital to this growth will be the continued impact of health and safety legislation, as well as exports and aftermarket sales.
3,000
CHARGING POINTS NATIONWIDE
£400M
TO PROMOTE ELECTRIC VEHICLES
350
VALUE (£M AT MSP)
Consumer Price Index (CPI) The rate of inflation remained unchanged for the fourth month in a row. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) showed that prices increased by 2.7% in the twelve months up to the year ending January 2013. This is the same annual rate as was seen in the previous two months and continues the trend of, broadly, flat inflation that has been seen since Spring 2012.
300
250
200
150 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Est Fcst Fcst
Source: AMA Research (www.amaresearch.co.uk)
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