Ben Gordon, chief executive of Mothercare appeared on Working Lunch to talk about his company which also owns ELC, the Early Learning Centre. Mothercare is a well known high street retailer of baby products, but they also have a huge international presence.

Mothercare are now in 51 countries and planning to open over 100 stores a year. They stock everything from baby clothes to baby toys and equipment, prams, car seats – everything you could want for your baby or young child.

Visit Mothercare as seen on Working Lunch

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Working Lunch today examined child trust funds and the difference between stock based funds and cash based funds. Christine Ross appeared on Working Lunch to give her opinion, which was that in general stock market investments outperform cash overall. Best then not to switch your stocks and shares savings funds into cash ones at the moment, because the stock market will likely recover and outperform interest you could get from a cash savings account.

The maximum that can be added to a child trust fund every year is £1200 per child. Stock market tracker funds are worth a look. Important to leave the money locked away if you can – this way you maximise the overall returns for your children.

The Government has today launched the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme, abbreviated to HMSS or HMS. The HMSS allows homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage payments to defer their interest repayments for up to 2 years, subject to criteria.

The Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme would suit people who may be struggling to repay their mortgage because their working hours have been cut down, they can no longer work overtime, or if they are relying on one income instead of two. 

With much of the country in severe financial difficulty at the moment, the HMSS is designed to relieve some of the pressure on credit-crunch victims. More and more families are turning to debt management solutions, debt relief orders and IVAs in order to sort out their finances. Consolidation loans are being taken out to turn multiple credit card and store card debts into one affordable repayment. Housing Minister Margaret Beckett hopes the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme will provide temporary relief for hard-pressed families.  

To be eligible for the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme you must have experienced a temporary drop in income and be unable to meet your monthly mortgage payments. There are other conditions to be met depending on your mortgage lender.

You can get more information on HMSS or the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme as seen on Working Lunch here

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Skincare company Mama Mio, founded by four friends, was featured on the BBC’s Working Lunch today. Mama Mio are a rapidly growing skincare and beauty company and are looking to increase their web presence. Simply by appearing on Working Lunch must have helped the Mama Mio brand get some more exposure, and an expert from Google was on hand to explain how they could increase the web presence of their skincare products using advertising and images on their website.

Mama Mio has made many changes to its website already. You can see what the updated site looks like complete with images to promote their best-selling skincare products here

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The Chief Executive of Poundland, Jim McCarthy, appeared on Working Lunch today to talk about his blossoming business. Poundland is a shop that sells every item in it for a pound. It stocks a huge range of well-known brands and in this recession, shops like Poundland are doing very well because they are offering their customers very good value.

Poundland have plans for expansion and may move into some Woolworths high-street locations in the near future. At the moment Poundland do not have an online business, but you can visit the Poundland website by clicking here to locate your nearest Poundland store.

Working Lunch financial expert Gillian Lacey-Solymar was on hand to give viewers some tips on how to survive the credit crunch and save money, by doing a financial spring clean.

Gillian said you should first ask yourself 2 questions. Firstly, are you financially safe? Both in the short term, and the long term. Secondly, once you’ve established whether you’re financially safe – are you financially smart? ie are you making the most of your money?

Financial safety in the long term according to Working Lunch expert Gillian is down to a good pension. But how much should your pension contributions be? As a rule of thumb, the age you are when you start contributing to a pension, divided by 2, gives you the percentage of your salary you should be contributing towards a pension each month.

Insurance is another key to financial safety – are you covered by adequate life insurance, contents insurance, travel insurance?

Finally, try to pay your mortgage off as quickly as possible and make it a priority over credit card debts – you could lose your house if you don’t pay your mortgage.

How to be financially smart:

There are several ways to be financially smart. First, if you have been on a tracker mortgage and benefitted from low interest rates, how about using some of that extra money to pay back some of your mortgage, lowering your mortgage repayments even further.

Shop around for the best savings rates – there are savings rates of around 3% still out there, so you should not accept a 0% or close to 0% return on your savings.

Finally, haggle. Especially in today’s climate, haggling should be tried more to get bigger discounts off items, and retailers should be more receptive as they look to stimulate business and get things off the shelves.

On Tuesday’s Working Lunch Declan’s Tech Shed featured an innovative new table-top touch screen computer called Microsoft Surface.

Microsoft Surface is the latest interactive gadget to hit the UK. It is a table-sized, table-top computer that has no mouse or separate keyboard. Instead, thaere are 5 infrared cameras underneath the large surface screen to track your fingertips, and sensors record where they land. Microsoft Surface can handle up to 52 touches at the same time, so lots of people can use the same Microsoft Surface computer.

Some stores in the UK are already using Microsoft Surface as a sales tool. Barclays Bank for instance uses one that is loaded with info about its Premier Life Account service. At the moment Microsoft Surface is only available to businesses, but Microsoft envisage every home having one of these in the future.

To find out more about Microsoft Surface, click here

Patrick Hanly popped into the Working Lunch studios to talk to presenters Declan and Naga about Harvey Nichols. Harvey Nichols is famous for luxury and style and Patrick has been part of it for more than 2 decades.

Harvey Nichols is an internationally famous department store stocking an immense depth and breadth of fashion labels, home decor, accessories, beauty and food. Harvey Nichols has just opened a huge new store in Bristol at the new Cabot Circus. You can now shop online at Harvey Nichols.

Click here to shop online at Harvey Nichols

Simon Preswell is the Managing Director in Europe of Universal Studios Theme Parks and Resorts, NBC Universal. He appeared on Working Lunch to talk about Universal, in particular the Universal Theme Parks.

Jaws, Jurassic Park, ET and The Simpsons are just some of the rides and attractions on offer at Universal Theme Parks in Florida and Hollywood. Universal are planning to open new theme park resorts in Dubai and Singapore.

With Expedia you can plan a trip to Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida or Hollywood. Simon said that holidaying in the States was now very good value, with prices falling due to the recession.

Click here to book a trip to Universal Studios theme park in Orlando Florida as seen on Working Lunch

Navman Wireless were the subject of a special feature on today’s Working Lunch. Navman Wireless provide vehicle tracking devices and software, and mobile messaging. In today’s credit crunch climate companies are looking to cut costs and run as efficiently as possible. Navman Wireless sell tracking devices that can be installed into company vehicles so that the company can see exactly where their salesmen, managers etc are at any given time and can track their route throughout the working day.

Navman Wireless combines satellite technology with the internet to pinpoint their tracked vehicles. Even if it seems a little ‘Big Brother’, the Navman Wireless should improve the efficiency and cut the costs of businesses with several company cars on the go.

Click here to find out more about Navman Wireless as seen on Working Lunch