Money Box

Millions of households are facing a £700 a year rise in fuel costs from now with the increase in the energy price cap. This comes on top of other hikes in the cost of living like council tax and more expensive food bills. How are people coping now the cap has been lifted? An expert panel gives advice. Expert panelDhara Vyas - Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns Energy UK Abby Jitendra - Principal Policy Manager on Energy, Citizens Advice

Welcome to April, the season of rising prices and higher taxes - including the largest increase in energy bills. The first of two payments to help with those bills should arrive this month - a £150 rebate paid by local councils to all householders in Great Britain in council tax Bands A to D. (In Wales and Scotland the money will also go to Band E-H householders who benefit from council tax reduction schemes.) For those who pay council tax by direct debit, getting the money should be straightforward. But as Money Box's Dan Whitworth reports, others - including students - may find it more difficult. We hear from Abby Jitendra, principal policy manager for energy at Citizens Advice.What's going on at the pensions and insurance company Scottish Widows? Listeners ask Money Box for help with very long delays in accessing money and problems with funeral plans. We hear from Kirsty Stone, independent financial adviser at The Private Office.From Wednesday 6th April, divorce will be easier in England and Wales. No more

The cost of living crisis is fuelling valid fears about personal and household finances - but what happens when money anxiety gets out of control? Many young people worry about their own and their family's finances, but what can they do to conquer the fear? We hear from Iona Bain, musician turned financial author who specialises in millennial personal finance. She founded Young Money Blog after suffering with money anxiety herself. And we also hear from Sharon Davies, CEO of Young Enterprise, the national charity providing enterprise and financial education to young people up to the age of 24. Presenter: Bukiie Smart Producers: Paul Waters, Maggie Latham & Drew Miller Hyndman Production Coordinator: Janet Staples Editor: Emma Rippon

Inflation is the rise in the price of everything we buy. This week the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted prices would rise more than 7% this year, peaking at nearly 9% this winter. We hear from Isabel Stockton of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, on tax changes and the worst inflation most people have ever seen.Some very vulnerable people are facing an even worse cost of living crisis than the rest of us. The amount of money that working age disabled adults are allowed to keep from their benefits - the "minimum income guarantee" - has been frozen for 7 years, even though prices have risen. Money Box reporter Dan Whitworth investigates. And we hear from a family affected, and from Jackie O'Sullivan, Executive Director of Advocacy for the learning disability charity Mencap.The Chancellor is raising the income level at which employees start paying National Insurance. From July, anyone earning less than £12,570 will not pay NI contributions. How will this affect your state pension at retirement age?Money

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, gives an update on the health of the UK economy. What will it mean for your household finances?A panel of experts will analyse what he says and we want to hear your thoughts too. Are you cheered or concerned by the state of the nation's finances? And how will it affect the way you spend or save your hard-earned cash? Also, looking ahead to the new tax year, we'll discuss the tax rises which begin in April and the outlook for our personal finances over the next twelve months.Guests:Heather Self, Corporate Tax Partner, Blick RothenbergMike Brewer, Chief Economist, The Resolution FoundationLaura Suter, Head of Personal Finance, A J BellPresenter: Paul LewisProducer: Drew HyndmanEditor: Emma Rippon

We report on a man who was fed up with poor returns on his savings and tried to invest in cryptocurrency instead. But he ended up losing his savings, his car, and his house as thieves stripped him bare. Money Box reporter Dan Whitworth investigates.The government is about to announce changes to who is eligible to receive the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales. This £140 payment off one electricity bill will be raised to £150 from next winter. But charities are warning that there will be more than 200,000 disabled people who will no longer get the payment even though, overall, it will go to more people. We hear from Louise Rubin, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the disability equality charity, Scope.One in four households will not be able to pay their electricity and gas bills in October if prices rise again as they are expected to - that's according to Citizens Advice, as the cost of heating our homes rises much faster than our incomes. Already millions of households are in what is called fuel poverty —

How do you make sure your pensions and savings and invested ethically? Do you know where your pension is invested? How much of your money is invested in Russia? How can you put pressure on your pension providers to invest ethically?Felicity Hannah chats to listeners, guests and our panel of experts about how to make your money ethical.Panel:Lucy Coutts, Investment Director at JM Finn wealth managementBecky O’Connor, Head of Pensions and Savings at Interactive InvestorFind out more: https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/Producer: Drew HyndmanEditor: Maggie Latham

Buying things online will be more difficult from Monday. A new law means that every purchase will have to be authenticated by an extra process after you have put in your card number, expiry date, and CVV code on the back. It will mean better protection against fraud, but may exclude some people from online shopping. We hear from Rob Cameron, Chief Executive of Barclaycard Payments, and Helen Saxon, Deputy Editor at Money Saving Expert.Two not-for-profit lenders have come up with a way to help low income families get the state help they are entitled to. Millions of people miss out of billions of pounds in means-tested benefits every year. Now these lenders have built in a benefits calculator to their loan approval process to help customers claim money they didn’t know they were eligible for. We hear from Theodora Hadjimichael, Chief Executive of Responsible Finance.Thousands of people try to avoid paying care home fees by putting their house into a trust. They're told it's a way to avoid the local authority co

The average UK rent has broken through the £1000 barrier for the first time and inflation is starting to push up landlords costs.How do you beat the rush for viewings? Could rent controls be a short term solution? And could a good tenant and landlord relationship solve all your woes?Charmaine Cozier is joined by an expert panel for tenants and landlords to answer questions and offer advice.Ruth Ehrlich, Policy Manager at Shelter.Chris Norris, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the National Residential Landlords Association.Elsie Bradley-Middle, Member of ACORN Renters Union.For more information on renting and letting: https://www.nrla.org.uk/ https://www.shelter.org.uk/Producer: Drew Hyndman Editor: Emma Rippon

The telecoms watchdog Ofcom has drawn up proposals to make it harder for criminals to fake caller ID when they phone people. It’s called number spoofing and happens when crooks use technology to make the number that comes up on your phone appear as though the call is coming from a legitimate organisation like your bank or the police. We hear from Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s Group Director for Networks and Communications.Big changes to the way student loans are repaid in England could change the balance for parents who can afford to pay for their education. The government's plans would extend the repayment period for the loans from 30 to 40 years before any balance is written off and reduce the earnings threshold at which the extra 9% tax kicks in. We hear from Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.A listener who pays for energy via prepayment meters asks if it's worth topping up ahead of prices rises in April. We hear from energy suppliers and the regulator, Ofgem.Plus a David and

As Russian military forces continue bombarding Ukrainian cities and civilians, are your investments supporting the Kremlin's regime? International companies have been pulling out of Russian investment, and pension funds and investment firms say they are reducing holdings in Russian companies. But what can ordinary investors do? Are you aware that a tracker fund or an investment bond might help support Russian firms? We hear from Lucy Coutts, Investment Director at JM Finn Wealth Management.For 1.7 million people across the UK, funeral plans offer peace of mind that when the inevitable happens their loved ones will be spared having to pay for a funeral. But there is big change on the way for the industry and those customers. By this summer all firms in the sector must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, to raise standards in the industry. But an indirect consequence of this is that tens of thousands of customers could lose out. Money Box reporter Dan Whitworth has been investigating. We also hear

As the cost of living rises, more people are facing going into debt. Whether it’s your rent, mortgage, utility bills or credit cards, breaking the cycle of debt isn’t easy.Who can you go to when you’re struggling to pay your debts? How do you prioritise your spending? Can you even negotiate your debts down? And how can you avoid debt altogether?Felicity Hannah talks to Chloe, Chris, Manga, Christine and James about their debt woes and wins.And to help advise and guide us through the world of debt they are joined by:Amy Taylor, Chair of the Greater Manchester Money Advice Group.Jayashri Lowe, Money Advice Manager at Citizens Advice Stafford North and Stoke On Trent.Bola Sol, financial coach and the author of How to Save It: Fix your Finances.For more information on managing debt: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ https://www.bolasol.co.uk/Producers: Drew Hyndman and Sylvie Carlos Editor: Emma Rippon

Looking for the latest episode? New episodes of Money Box will now be available first on BBC Sounds for four weeks before other podcast apps.If you haven’t already, you can download the BBC Sounds app to listen to the Money Box podcast first.BBC Sounds is also available in lots of other places. Find us on your voice device or smart speaker, on your connected TV, in your car, or at bbc.co.uk/sounds.The latest episode is available on BBC Sounds right now. BBC Sounds – you can find exclusive music mixes, live BBC radio and more podcasts like this one.

A BBC investigation has found that more than 50 people were tricked into working for a design agency that turned out to be fake. They were hired during the lockdown and convinced the company was a successful business. But it had an online universe of fake profiles, stolen work and lies. Workers were all Jobfished. Charmaine Cozier talks to BBC reporter Catrin Nye who investigated this story for the past 12 months and to former employee, Jordan Carter about what happened to him The programme also discusses what lessons we can learn to keep safe while searching & applying for jobs and what you can do if your job was not “as advertised”? We are offered guidance by: Keith Rosser , Co-Director and Chair of Jobsaware which provides free and independent advice on how to protect your rights as a non-permanent worker, whether that's through an agency, umbrella company or as part of the gig economy.John Clinch, an employment lawyer at 3CS Corporate Solicitors Ltd For further information https://www.jobsawar

Plans to cut back on face-to-face debt advice in favour of regional call centres have been scrapped - for now. We hear from Craig Simmons, Head of Debt Policy and Strategy at the Money and Pensions Service, and from debt adviser Amy Taylor, who is also Chair of the Greater Manchester Money Advice Group. (Debt Advice links below.)An estimated £75 million a year is stolen from people in the UK by online subscription frauds. You buy one thing and are secretly subscribed forever. Reporter Athar Ahmad investigates the scams designed to tie customers up into monthly payments without them realising. (And there's more on this story on File on 4 on BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 8pm.)Around four million people have been moved from their energy supplier to one of the remaining big ones as 29 energy firms have gone bust since January last year. And that has left many people not knowing where they are with their bills - how much they might owe and to which firm and of course what will happen to any credit they have built up with t

Valentine’s Day, this week, may have been good, bad, ugly or plain irrelevant – but for millions of people it will also have been expensive. So in today’s Money Box Live, Adam Shaw and guests look at the costs of dating. What do you spend on finding and hooking up with someone? Is it worth spending money on how you look on dating sites, plus for the date itself? And do you split the bill at the end of a date? Adam Shaw talks to listeners Jan, Roger, Fay, Georgie and Mike who tell us about their money & dating experiences. And to help guide us through the finances of dating they are joined by: James Bloodworth, journalist, author and host of a podcast called "The Modern Dating Economy" and Jo Hemmings, dating coach & behavioural psychologist, a woman who knows her way around the love & dating game. For more information: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-modern-dating-economy/id1539621613 https://www.johemmings.co.uk/Producer Smita Patel Editor Rosamund Jones

You could get the best Christmas present this year, cash you thought you had lost forever! Louise Cooper and guests discuss how to trace financial assets you may have forgotten about in old bank accounts, pensions, investments and perhaps insurance policies. Joining Louise Cooper to discuss how to locate your share of an estimated £50 billion languishing unloved and unclaimed in various places are:Kaya Marchant, Pensions Specialist at MoneyHelper Carol Knight, Chief of Operations at The Investing and Saving Alliance Janet Reid, Head of the Lost Accounts Project at Cambridge Building Society Producer Smita Patel Editor Alex Lewis

In April, benefits and the state pension will rise by just over three per cent. That is less than half the increase in prices which is predicted by the Bank of England. So people on benefits will be able buy less even with their increased benefits. One campaigner said it’s not so much choosing between heating and eating - more a choice between freezing or starving. What’s it like for people on the front line of the cost of living crisis and should taxpayers even be paying for a rise at all? Last week we learned that the price of gas to heat our homes was going to soar – but most people are protected by the price cap. That’s not the case for around 800,000 households which get heating from Heat Networks - or communal heating - where multiple homes, usually flats, are heated by one boiler. The residents pay for their gas through management agents or housing associations. And because these are commercial contracts they are not capped like for domestic fuel. Their bills look set to triple or even quadruple. We

The recent announcement of a huge rise in energy prices comes amidst wider worries about rising prices. Everyone is facing much higher energy bills and some are faced with the choice of heat or eat. The government has stepped in, offering some financial help.In today’s Money box Live Adam Shaw hears from listeners Peter, Mary, Tessa, Jacob , Jess and Sue about the impact of such measures on their lives and asks, Is it enough? And is everyone in the UK entailed to the money being offered by the state, to help with such pricey gas and electric bills? Adam also talks to Neil Kenward, from the industry regulator OfgemThey are joined by an expert panel who give information on where you can turn to for help and advice.: Alex Belsham-Harris - Head of Retail Energy Policy at the Citizens Advice And Dhara Vyas -Deputy Director of Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns, Energy UK For further help & guidance on the Energy Price Cap & what money you are entitled, you can access details here: https://www.citizen

A 54% increase in the energy price cap means a huge rise in what your provider can charge you to heat your home, keep the lights on and cook your food. The UK Government’s stepped in to help – many households will get several hundred pounds to lessen the bill shock. But what are the details about who exactly gets that money and how people can access it, what about households on low incomes and how does help vary across the UK? We put listener questions to a panel of experts to find out.A Court of Appeal judgement has huge implications for the plumber who is now owed £74,000 in holiday pay after the court agreed he was an employee as opposed to being a self-employed worker. But beyond one person being showered with money what are the wider implications for workers’ rights? We examine this case, where it might go from here and what it means for other people in similar situations.And as Britain’s biggest bank offers one of the lowest rates around for a 10-year fixed-rate mortgage we examine the state of the mort