Both the Conservative and Labour parties promised billions of pounds in domestic spending this week as campaigning got in full swing and election pledges dominated the news.
Closer to "home" the taxman made headlines when HMRC lost its latest contractor battle and was criticised in a report by MPs over its loan charge policy.
1 Loan charge issues
MPs warned the attitude of HMRC towards its controversial loan charge was "wreaking havoc" on taxpayers when those facing the loan charge described homelessness, deaths and other hardships allegedly caused by its demands.
A survey report, published by the Loan Charge All-Party Parliamentary Group, included claims that more than 60 families were believed to have lost their homes while two respondents said they had been made homeless.
But HMRC said it has put in place dedicated resources, including specially trained officers, to support customers affected by the issue.
2 Rollercoaster for Woodford trust
The Woodford Patient Capital Trust rocketed to one of the most bought trusts on the Interactive Investor D2C platform in October following the announcement that Schroders would take over the management role.
Data from II showed the trust saw more sells than buys for most of the month but that a late surge propelled it to third place on its platform after the Schroders announcement on October 24.
But it wasn't all good news for the trust as investors were hit by a fresh blow when a £67m holding, IH Holdings International, saw a revaluation which impacted the trust's net asset value.
3 HMRC defeat
The taxman's IR35 legislation made the news again this week when HMRC lost its case against an IT consultant.
HMRC deemed Richard Alcock liable for £243,000 under the rules as he had entered into a series of contracts with a former employer, arguing this implied he was carrying out continued work.
But the First Tier Tribunal sided with Mr Alcock and accepted his decision to work as a contractor was legitimate.
4 Tenet troubles
Advisers who are part of the Tenet network have been grappling with problems since the company moved to the Intelligent Office system last month.
One adviser said he has not been able to see any of his clients for the whole month of October while others said they had not received commission payments.
Tenet has since claimed it has fixed the software issue which was trapping 16,000 adviser payments in its system.
5 Top 100 revealed
Quilter made it to the top spot of FTAdviser's Top 100 Financial Advisers list for 2019, jumping five places since last year.
The other firms to make the top 10 were Close Brothers Asset Management, Grant Thornton, Wilfred T Fry, Mazars Financial Planning, Charles Stanley, Progeny Wealth, St James's Place Wealth Management, Tenet and LEBC Group.
Guests and winners celebrated at an event held at the Financial Times building in London on Wednesday evening (November 6).
imogen.tew@ft.com
