Britons are set to pay £9 billion in unnecessary tax during 2010 as the majority of people fail to take simple steps to reduce their tax burden, research showed.

The biggest area on which people will overpay tax is through failing to claim tax credits, with consumers wasting £3.94 billion in this way, according to professional advice website Unbiased.co.uk.

At the same time, £1.97 billion will be paid in inheritance tax which could have been avoided through better planning, while a further £742 million will go through people failing to take advantage of the tax breaks available by saving money into a pension rather than a less tax-efficient vehicle.

People are expected to waste £516 million in capital gains tax that could have been avoided through better planning, while £328 million will be wasted through people failing to make use of their personal allowances.

Energy consumers in debt to their suppliers now owe an average £132 - 5% more than last year, according to a study.

However, the poll for comparison website uSwitch.com found the number of UK households owing money has dropped from 6.5 million last year to 5.5 million - or 21%.

Of those in debt, 41% now owe more than they did this time last year while 17% said they owed less.

The figures follow recent gas price cut announcements across the industry amid falling wholesale prices.

Gordon Brown has admitted that recession-hit Britain faces more "bumps in the road" - but declared he has the character to lead the country to economic recovery.

The Prime Minister used a speech to a City audience to set the stage for a May 6 general election, announcing that the Budget would be held in "two weeks' time" - taking it to March 24.

Mr Brown declared he had the "character" to lead Britain through to economic recovery and warned that "ideologically-driven" Tory plans for cuts risked tipping it back into recession.

He insisted that it was not a matter of voters choosing between "policy" and "character", as the two issues were inextricably linked.

The Prime Minister has announced a pay freeze for thousands of senior civil servants, NHS managers, judiciary and military top brass under moves aimed at saving £3 billion over the next three years.

Gordon Brown said in a speech in London that GPs and dentists will also have their pay frozen after a recommendation from the independent salary review body.

Senior Whitehall civil servants, NHS managers and consultants, judges, senior military staff as well as GPs and dentists are among those covered by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) report.

The SSRB has already been told by Chancellor Alistair Darling there should be no pay rise for those groups of employees because of the recession and the state of the public finances.

Housing affordability has remained at a seven-year high, despite the cost of property rising during 2009, research showed.

Slight increases in average earnings, combined with falling mortgage rates, helped to offset the price rises seen last year, to leave housing affordability at its highest level since 2003, according to property website Zoopla.co.uk.

The group said 58% of properties in the UK were currently affordable for someone on average local earnings, based on people spending up to a third of their pay on mortgage repayments. This compares with affordability levels of just 34% when property prices peaked in 2007.

Unsurprisingly, affordability levels vary greatly across the country, with homes typically more affordable in the north than in the south, despite the higher income levels of people working in the south.

Property services group Countrywide has launched a new reward scheme for mortgage customers.

The group believes it is the first company in the property industry to give people who take out a mortgage or insurance policy loyalty points that can then be exchanged for discounts and vouchers.

It has teamed up with groups such as Thomas Cook, Champneys and Virgin Wines to offer rewards ranging from discount vouchers for leading retailers to spa days, and even city breaks and free flights.

Customers can earn 1,000 points by taking out a mortgage with the group, or 200 points for taking out a buildings or contents insurance policy with it.

Utility group EDF Energy has become the latest provider to announce a gas price reduction as it unveiled a 4% cut in standard bills.

The firm said the reduction would take effect from March 26 and will see around 1.5 million gas customers benefit.

EDF is the fifth of the "big six" providers to lower prices in the latest round of cuts, leaving Scottish Power as the only group yet to announce bill changes.

The cut from EDF came after the group overhauled its pricing last October, which has seen gas-only customers benefit from two reductions in tariffs in the last six months.

A Mexican billionaire has been ranked as the richest person in the world, the first time the title has been held by a non-American for 16 years.

Telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim Helu saw off Microsoft boss Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett to claim the top spot.

Slim Helu controls a string of companies, including Telmex and America Movil, and has a net worth of 53.5 billion US dollars (£35.7 billion).

In the UK, the Duke of Westminster Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor was again the wealthiest man, as he has been for much of the past decade.

Fraud losses on UK credit and debit cards fell by 28% during 2009 as a raft of industry initiatives paid off, figures have shown.

Losses on all areas of card fraud dropped during the year to total £440.3 million, the first annual decline since 2006, according to the UK Cards Association.

But there was a 14% jump in online banking fraud during the year, as criminals used increasingly sophisticated methods to obtain customers' account details.

The UK Cards Association said the introduction of Chip and Pin in recent years had led to fraud on lost and stolen cards dropping to its lowest level for two decades during 2009 of £47.9 million.

Banks would have to disclose the number of employees taking home half a million pounds or more under draft Government plans on top earners, it has been revealed.

The proposals are thought to have lowered the level of disclosure to £500,000 - outdoing recommendations from a far-reaching investigation into bank pay and governance last year.

City Minister Lord Myners said that, while the issue of pay remained "contentious", the UK should not be open to accusations of "shirking" the challenge.

"From the outset of the crisis, the Government has been focused on eliminating rewards for failure and ensuring that remuneration does not incentivise excessive risk-taking," he said.