"I was part of the team that took that decision to freeze benefits - and wages didn't go up in the way that we believed they would. Levels of poverty increased," he told BBC News.

"Getting a ping on your phone or constant unwanted messages on your laptop from a company you don't want to hear from is frustrating and intrusive," said Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations.

"Investors have never had more freedom. Technology has democratised the market, new products have become available and people have better access to their life savings than before," said Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets at the FCA.

The jump in prices in August was the highest on record. But experts say it was largely driven by discounts in the hospitality sector and that any increase will be "transitory".

The sector with most vacancies between June and August was health and social care, with 167,000 empty positions. This sector also had the highest number of unfilled jobs before the pandemic with 139,000 in the same period in 2019.

They are the 'must have' playground craze of the moment – as simple as they are irresistible. A rubber toy covered in small bumps which can be pushed in and out with a satisfying ‘pop’.

Nikki Humphrey, people director at the John Lewis Partnership, said: "We know that as the first Christmas after lockdown, customers will want to make it really special and we're throwing everything we can into helping them celebrate - our festive team will have a crucial role to play."

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: "No one should feel like a prisoner in their home, trapped by terms that mean they can struggle to sell or mortgage their property.

The new resources, which the company said will be rolled out globally in the coming months, include an expanded guide on eating disorders and a feature that will direct users to local support, such as a Crisis Text Line, if they search for the terms such as suicide.

New research from non-profit consultancy Pro Bono Economics has found that a worker with literacy skills classed as "very poor" would have to work an extra 18 months in their lifetime to earn the same amount as someone with basic communication skills.

"There were certainly eyebrows raised," says CEO of Heka, Steph Hinds, who, while in the process of trying to raise money for her company found out she was pregnant with her first child.

TikTok user Mr200m saw Balenciaga's sweatpants on sale in London and posted a video in which someone is heard saying: "This feels very racist... They have woven the boxers inside the trousers."

Citizen Lab also said the security issue was exploited to plant spyware on a Saudi activist's iPhone, adding that it had high confidence that the Israeli hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, was behind that attack.

The ONS deputy statistician, Jonathan Athow, said: "Early estimates from payroll data suggest that in August the total number of employees is around the same level as before the pandemic, though our surveys show well over a million are still on furlough."

He said: "There are commercial reasons that we have cancelled the contract, but what I can tell her is that it was also clear to us that the vaccine in question that the company was developing would not get approval by the MHRA [The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ] here in the UK," he said in response to a question from Scottish National Party MP Hannah Bardell, whose constituency is Livingston.

It also called for the government to reduce the traffic light system to just a small number of "red list" countries, purely for the management of known Covid variants of concern.