36% of working-age people have a long term health condition – up from 31% in 2019. 2.5 million people are economically inactive because of long term sickness – up 400,000 since the onset of the pandemic. Following usual patterns, the aging population would have meant 40,000 extra people would have been inactive because of long term sickness between 2019 and 2022. In fact 462,000 were.

The ONS has released data on ill health and economic inactivity: Rising ill-health and economic inactivity because of long-term sickness, UK – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance, Hargreaves Lansdown said: “Nobody wants to consider the possibility they’ll ever get sick. It’s why we tend to make plans for a long, healthy, active life and try to forget about any alternatives. Unfortunately, with a third of people carrying a long-term health condition, and 2.5 million who are too sick to work, it means there’s every chance you’ll need a plan B.

The rise of sickness absence means we all need to consider what would happen if we were too sick to work. This includes looking at what you might get from your employer, in terms of sick leave for shorter illnesses and income protection if you’re off for longer periods. If it’s nothing to write home about, you may need to consider personal cover – like personal income protection, which will cover a proportion of your income for a period if you’re too ill to work.

The good news is that the HL Savings & Resilience Barometer shows 77% of people have enough of this cover in place. However, among self-employed people this falls to 33%, among the lowest earners it drops to 23%, and among those aged 20-24 it’s only 62%. You could also consider critical illness cover. This is a lump sum that pays out on the diagnosis of specific illnesses. Only 22% of people have this insurance, according to the Barometer, and they tend to be focused within the top two fifths of earners.

If you are unable to work for a period, your emergency savings safety net can also provide vital support. It’s why those of working age should have 3-6 months’ worth of essential expenses in an easy access account, just in case. The Barometer shows that almost two thirds of us have enough emergency savings (64%). However, lower earners, singletons, and younger people are more likely to fall short. Only 31% of those aged 20-24 and 56% of those aged 35-39 have enough savings to be resilient.

You also need to think about your pension, and whether you could make it stretch if you were forced to stop work earlier than planned because of ill-health. Unfortunately, this is likely to be an uncomfortable calculation for many people, because the latest HL Savings and Resilience Barometer found that only 39% of households are on track for a moderate retirement income – down from 42% just six months ago. It means that if most of us were forced to retire earlier, our pensions would fall even further short.

The key is not to see your position and panic. Consider whether you can afford to boost pension contributions to put you in a better position further down the line. If that’s too much of a stretch right now, you could make sure that next time you receive a pay rise, or a lump sum, you consider your pension as a priority. You can also think about any other assets you could call on at that point – and whether you would need to dip into savings or the value of your property. It’s not an ideal approach, but it’s only going to kick in if you’re too sick to work, in which case you won’t be looking for ideal – just the best possible outcome in horrible circumstances.”

Almost two out of 10 buy-to-let landlords (18%) said they would not raise rents for their tenants if their own mortgage rate increases when they come to remortgage.

Two out of 10 landlords (21%) were unsure what to do and 61% said they would raise the rent, according to research undertaken by Landbay.

Over the past year, three quarters (76%) of landlords said they have raised the rent with the main reason, cited by half of them (51%), being to cover higher mortgage costs. A quarter of landlords (24%) said they raised rents on the advice of their letting agent.

Other reasons were to cover maintenance and repairs, an increase in taxation or energy bills, while some landlords always raise rents once a year.

The most likely rent increase, according to 38% of respondents, is between 6% and 10%, while 27% said they would only increase the rent by up to 5% maximum.

For those landlords who are not raising rents at the moment, they don’t need to as their rental income covers their mortgage and other outgoings. However, some said they are out of pocket but have taken the hit because they don’t want to lose good tenants. Meanwhile, others are delaying the rental increase for as long as they can.

Paul Brett, managing director, intermediaries at Landbay, said: “Many landlords, whose mortgage interest rates are increasing, find themselves in the position of having no alternative than to put the rent up in order to cover their outgoings.

“Mortgage costs obviously play a big part in landlords’ expenditure and there is a lot of remortgage activity this year. Our latest product development of like-for-like two-year fixed rate remortgages will help landlords, as the stress test we have to apply for affordability is based on pay rate plus 1%, instead of the more usual 2%.

“In fact, we are seeing more landlords opting for two-year terms, which is why we have also launched two-year discounted trackers with no early repayment charges. Borrowers can leave their options open with the opportunity to move onto another product at any time if mortgage rates improve.”

FICO has been named one of The Innovators 2023 for its use of blockchain to manage and monitor AI development. The 11^th annual awards from Global Finance honor the world’s most innovative banks, most innovative fintechs, and the greatest financial innovations of the past year, as determined by a team of Global Finance editors and researchers.

Developed and patented by FICO’s AI Innovation and Development team, Blockchain for AI Model Governance uses an immutable blockchain ledger that tracks end-to-end provenance of the development, operationalization and monitoring of ML models. The technology enforces the use of a corporate-wide responsible AI model development standard by organizations, and demonstrates adherence to the standard with specific, requirements, people, results, testing, approvals and revisions. These are all tracked to an immutable blockchain to solidly demonstrate compliance with model development standards, compliance testing, and responsible AI. The AI model governance blockchain enables auditable AI requirements to support governance, regulators, monitoring, and remedy of production issues. This technology is used across FICO’s analytics teams, and is being made broadly available to FICO clients via FICO^® Platform.

“This innovation was inspired by a need to ensure that data scientists and their corresponding organizations follow the defined responsible AI development standard supporting robust AI, interpretable AI, ethical AI, and auditable AI standards,” said Dr. Scott Zoldi, chief analytics officer at FICO and co-author of the patent. “This is used during the AI model development process – not a post-hoc process – and the AI model governance blockchain provides the essential metrics and data to meet operationalization standards for compliance, governance, and production monitoring for responsible AI usage.”

FICO’s third annual State of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Financial Services report, developed in collaboration with market intelligence firm Corinium, showed that while 52% of respondents say that demand for AI products and tools is on the rise, the vast majority (71%) have not implemented ethical and responsible AI in their core strategies. 43% of respondents said they struggle with Responsible AI governance structures to meet regulatory requirements.

“Regulatory challenges are certain to come, given the plans for an EU AI Act, as well as increasing possibilities of regulation in the US and other countries,” said Zoldi. “Businesses developing AI today need to get ahead of regulation by creating corporate standards for responsible AI development. They need to know how their models make decisions, what data goes into the models, what latent features the model is leveraging and show proof of compliance and governance testing.  Blockchain enables you to capture all of this in an immutable record and is essential for auditable AI practices.”

In deciding the award for FICO, Global Finance also noted the extensive number of patents granted to FICO for AI-related innovations. FICO was recently granted 9 patents related to digital decisioning in the areas of fraud, AI and machine learning technology. To date, FICO’s patent portfolio consists of 217 active patents, with an additional 72 patent applications filed and pending.

FICO’s use of blockchain for AI development and governance also received a “Highly Commended” status in the Financial Services Forum Awards 2023 in two categories: Best Innovation in Use of Technology and Most Innovative Company of the Year.

In May, FICO unveiled 19 major enhancements to its industry-leading FICO^® Platform, the most powerful and proven foundation for applied intelligence. FICO Platform powers enterprises to drive the most critical, strategic business outcomes across the customer lifecycle. FICO Platform received placement as a leader among top providers in “The Forrester Wave™: AI Decisioning Platforms, Q2 2023” report.

ONP Group, one of the UK’s leading conveyancing firms, has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of Sharon Beedham as Group Partnerships Manager.

Sharon joins from Optima Legal, and her distinguished 30-year career brings a wealth of legal and operational expertise to her new role. Sharon will report to ONP’s Group Partnerships Director, Mark Tosetti, who she worked with previously.

Working closely with ONP’s partners and internal stakeholders, Sharon will build on our existing strong relationships to further support the firm’s growth strategy. In addition, she will be responsible for overseeing the internal partnership management framework.

Industry veteran, Mark Tosetti, who spearheads ONP’s new approach to partnerships, commented: “I have known Sharon for many years, and welcome her to our team of brilliant people at ONP Group.

“Her dedication and remarkable achievements in the conveyancing space made her the ideal choice to lead our partnership initiatives.

“Sharon’s exceptional leadership skills and profound understanding of the industry will be invaluable as we continue to revolutionise the way partnerships within conveyancing are approached in a digital era.”

ONP Group has recently undergone a significant restructuring of its leadership team, marking a pivotal moment in the company’s approach to conveyancing. This strategic shift aims to redefine the industry landscape and create an exceptional level of service for both brokers and clients. Sharon’s addition to the team further reinforces ONP’s commitment to delivering exceptional quality and driving innovation.

Commenting on her appointment, Sharon Beedham stated: “It is a superb time to join ONP’s dynamic team and their forward-thinking, tech-driven approach to conveyancing.

“I look forward to working with Mark again, and leveraging my experience to develop strong partnerships that will drive innovation and deliver exceptional value to our clients.”

ONP Group has gained significant recognition for its use of innovative technology to streamline the conveyancing process, providing brokers and clients with a seamless and efficient experience.

The firm’s recent restructuring has further positioned it as a market leader, steadfast in its commitment in delivering exceptional service and embracing digital transformation.

Sharon’s appointment furthers ONP’s ethos of hiring brilliant people that share the firm’s transformative attitude.

Together has promoted experienced corporate finance expert Chris Baguley to a new role driving future growth for the £6.2billion specialist lender.

Chris has now taken up the position of Group Channel Development Director, a new role to provide strategic support and to launch new initiatives, aimed at further building the business’s brand across commercial and personal finance markets. Chris will continue to drive thought leadership across the industry and continue to build out the business proposition to its customers, colleagues and business partners.

Having joined the Cheadle-based property lender in 2006, his most recent position was Managing Director of Corporate. He previously held senior posts at Manchester Building Society and Yorkshire Bank, where he specialised in commercial banking, during a career spanning nearly 35 years.

In his new role, Chris will explore new opportunities for growth across Together’s established sales channels and raise its profile and strong reputation across the UK market. The role will support the group towards achieving its ambitious growth objectives over the next five years and also explore new markets, as the business continues to deliver record levels of growth.

Chris said: “It’s a huge honour to be taking up this new post within such an amazing business and I am proud to have been part of the journey to drive this forward over the past 17 years”.

“I’m looking forward to exploring ways in which I can help deliver Together’s growth ambitions across the wider UK lending marketing; driving a collaborative approach across each business area in the group as we deliver on our plans for the next five years.

“This is an exciting time for the business as we look to develop our presence across the UK, and continue the incredible growth we have achieved in recent times.”

Marc Goldberg, CEO of Group Sales and Distribution at Together said: “Chris is a long-standing and much-valued member of our senior team at Together, and we are incredibly excited to see him stepping into this new role.

“His experience, drive and passion for everything we do as a business will continue to be an asset to Together, and we are excited to see what he can bring to this new position.

“He will be ensuring that the Cheadle-based lender’s customers and partners remain at the heart of everything at Together, regardless of which channel they come through.”