Money Box

It's six months until changes bringing unspent pension pots into Inheritance Tax come into force. From 6th April, any money left in pension pots will be added to the rest of the deceased’s estate and be liable for Inheritance Tax. This will be due if the total estate exceeds the threshold where the tax begins, which can be as low as £325,000. At the moment pension funds can be passed to heirs free of Inheritance Tax. The government has said that pension funds were being used not to live on in retirement but to pass wealth on to heirs tax-free instead. What might this mean for your plans? Criminals stole more than £900 million from tens of thousands of victims of investment fraud in the last financial year according to the latest report from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. The amount stolen was up a fifth and the number of victims also jumped up - by a staggering 37%. This is why the National Crime Agency has this week started a campaign aimed at cutting this most devastating of crimes. And, why are some disabled people who already receive support through the government’s Access to Work scheme having their funding reduced or removed? Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Jo Krasner and Amber Mehmood Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast on Radio 4 at 12pm Saturday 3rd October 2026)

Cohabiting couples are the fastest-growing family type in the UK. There are three and a half million couples living together without being married or in a civil partnership. Sharing a home, and perhaps a family and finances, is a huge commitment, you might assume that years of living like this would give you similar protection to a married couple. But in England and Wales, it doesn’t. However, big changes could be on the way, the government is planning to give cohabiting couples more rights when it comes to property and finances and has been consulting on what that might look like. There are already frameworks in place for those living in Scotland and Ireland. In Northern Ireland there are fewer protections. Felicity Hannah is joined by Hannah Saxe, a specialist family solicitor at Brabners law firm who also sits on Resolution’s National Cohabitation Committee and Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 30th of September, 2026)

Almost half of people in work don't know how much their employer is contributing to their workplace pension. That is one finding from a survey by the consumer group Which? It also found that people looking for a new job are more likely to value things like holiday allowance and flexible working than what the employer paid into their pension. What can be done to help the hundreds of thousands of low income pensioners who're missing out on benefits they're entitled to? We'll hear from one pensioner on the Isle of Wight who boosted her income by nearly £400 per month after finding out she qualified for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction. If you're a pensioner due to receive the Winter Fuel Payment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland you have until 20th September to opt out if you want to. And, the UK's biggest lenders put up mortgage rates. What’s the best advice for first-time buyers or those who need to refix their deal? Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researchers: Catherine Lund and Eimear Devlin Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm on Saturday 12th September 2026)

New research published this week found that free AI chatbots gave inaccurate answers to financial questions more than half of the time. This research was carried out by a company called Saturn AI which works with financial advice firms. It ran a series of financial questions through 18 different AI platforms more than 10 thousand times, checking them against key criteria to decide whether they passed or failed. The research identified errors relating to student loans, mortgages, pensions, tax, savings and debt. What's the best advice for using AI to help with your personal finance? The price of heating oil has risen sharply this month to around £1,100 to fill a 1,000 litre tank, £400 more than it cost in early July. The price spiked in March to as much as £1,340 because of the Middle East conflict. Before that prices were stable at around £600 for a tank. What should people do now as we head into winter? Is there enough information available when it comes to choosing your home or travel insurance? And, the government has paid out more than £300 million pounds since the start of a scheme designed to help those on low incomes to build up a savings pot. This week new figures show that more than 650,000 people are now using the Help to Save Scheme, which was set up in 2018. Who's eligible and how do you apply? Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Amber Mehmood. Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 26th September 2026)

There can be a lot of financial pressures when you're first starting out in your career, paying the rent, saving for a home and clearing student debt to name just a few. So the idea of saving for a retirement that's decades away can seem like a very low priority. Research fromthe People's Partnership suggests 1 in 8 young adults now say that engaging with their pension feels pointless because they don't think they will ever retire. Meanwhile others are saving hard into workplace pensions now, because they're worried there won't be a State Pension by the time they get there. We talk to Maisie, Rebecca and Ruaridh, who're in their late teens and twenties about their financial priorities and where savings and pensions fit into that. Felicity Hannah is also joined by Sarah Pennells, Consumer Finance Specialist at Royal London and Shantel Okello, Policy Researcher at the Pensions Policy Institute to answer your questions. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson (This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 23rd of September, 2026).

Major reforms are needed in workplace pensions to increase the amount people are saving for their retirement, but it will take the next 20 years to get there. That's according to Professor Nick Pearce, one of the people appointed by the Government to its Pensions Commission to look at the problem and find solutions. Government figures show that around 18 million working age adults are not saving into a pension and nearly half of those have a job. Professor Pearce talks to Paul Lewis about what they're looking at to tackle that problem. Three of the UK's leading end-of-life charities have described the way bereaved families are being treated by the Capita-run Civil Service Pension Scheme as an "injustice". Last week the government published data showing more than 1,000 cases where loved ones had been waiting more than 100 days for survivor pensions and death in service payments. Capita has apologised many times already but faces the prospect of losing the contract of running the scheme, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, as the government looks to bring it back in-house. More than a trillion pounds of our savings is sitting in accounts that pay little or even no interest, when it could easily be earning 4% or more elsewhere. Those figures come from the Bank of England analysed by the investment platform Lightyear. They show £1.2 trillion is sitting in UK bank and building society accounts and a quarter of that amount is earning no interest at all. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researcher: Amber Mehmood Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 19th September 2026)

More than 320,000 households in England and Wales complained to their water supplier last year. A rise of 56% on the year before, according a report from the industry watchdog the Consumer Council for Water. It also says the number of people escalating complaints to them has rocketed 84% - the biggest rise in the watchdog's 20-year history. The topic of water is huge conversation right now, from who should control it, the price of bills and what happens when things go wrong. Andy White, from the Consumer Council for Water, which represents water customers in England and Wales and Jeevan Jones, chief economist at Water UK, which represents the companies responsible for getting water to our homes join Felicity Hannah to get answers to some of your questions and comments. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 3pm on Wednesday 16th of September 2026).

When someone you love needs financial help, lending them money can seem like the easiest way to support them. And when you're the one facing financial difficulties, turning to someone close to you for a loan can feel like the most natural solution. Around 1 in 4 of us borrow from family and friends when times are tight according to a survey from the not for profit, Fair4All Finance. It found many of those people were asking for smaller amounts of money of around £250 or less to help pay for essentials like food and bills. However, for some, it could be for a loan of tens of thousands of pounds, like children asking for money for a house deposit. The tension is, that if you don't get it right, you could damage relationships with people you care about. So what are the rules and what happens when things don't go to plan? Joining Felicity Hannah is Melinda Giles, a partner at the law firm Giles Wilson who specialises in family law and Peter Tutton, Director of Policy at the debt charity StepChange. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson (This episode first aired on Wednesday the 9th September, 2026).

A new survey has suggested nearly a third of people in the UK believe they lost money last year because of their poor maths skills. One estimate puts the cost of innumeracy at £25 billion per year. To try and tackle this the government has asked a House of Lords committee to investigate. We'll hear from its chair, Lord Agnew. The price of petrol is the highest it has been for almost four years. It was autumn 2022 when petrol last topped 160p a litre. We'll look at why that is and what you can do try and bring the costs down. It's 50 years since the creation of the first index fund for ordinary investors - spearheaded by John Bogle, the founder of the American investment company The Vanguard Group. What was its impact on investing today? And, why more than £1.5 billion languishing in unclaimed, government-backed Child Trust Funds will be the focus of a new review by the Financial Conduct Authority. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm on Saturday 5th September 2026)

Children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland return to school this week, with Scottish children already well into the first term of the year. Many parents and carers will have the cost of sending their children to school in mind this week, right as several changes come in on uniforms, free school meals and the continued rollout of free breakfast clubs. Parents could expect to spend more than £15,500 on a child's school years from reception to GCSE, with school clubs accounting for the biggest share of the bill, according to new Nationwide research. Felicity Hannah is joined by Carol Homden, the chief executive of children's charity Coram and Jasmine Birtles, director and co-founder of MoneyMagpie. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Will Harris Production co-ordinator: Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 2nd September 2026)

Tougher regulation about how bailiffs can operate in England and Wales have been announced by the government. The changes will make it mandatory for every bailiff to sign up to a code of practice. The idea is to drive up standards and stop poor practice - like intimidation, unfair treatment or pushing people into accepting excessive repayment plans they can't afford. Thousands of bereaved loved ones of former and current civil servants are still having to wait more than 100 days for pension payments. Those figures come 8 months into the ongoing scandal that is the Capita-run civil service pension scheme. Capita says it now has the processes, automation and technology in place to work through the backlog and remains committed to working through it as quickly as possible. The first 10p coins to feature King Charles' portrait entered circulation this week, but what can you buy these days for 10p? And, if you’re a parent whose child is aged 16 -19 and remaining in approved education, like T Levels, A Levels or Scottish Highers you have until Monday August 31st to extend your Child Benefit claim or risk losing the payment. Presenter: Dan Whitworth Reporters: Hannah Mullane, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott Researcher: Eimear Devlin Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast at 12pm on Saturday 29th August 2026)

In this special edition of Money Box Live, presenter Felicity Hannah has been out to Weeton Barracks in Preston to see how soldiers juggle their finances whilst leading an often unpredictable military life. We look at the benefits of life in the forces – from financial help to buy a home to generous pensions and special payments to encourage you to stay on longer. And we examine the challenges of a career which could see you being deployed to the other side of the world at a moment’s notice. There’s a general disgruntlement in the ranks that the pay does not step up to the mark. The latest official Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey shows that less than four in ten personnel agree that the pay and benefits they receive are fair for the work they do. We put that to the armed forces Minister for Veterans Calvin Bailey MP. Our expert panel includes Ann Griffiths, the Royal British Legion’s Head of Policy and Research, Kate Gannon, Vice President of the Personal Finance Society, and Sergeant Cameron Eden, a British Army soldier and the creator of The Savvy Squaddie - a financial education platform on YouTube that helps service personnel and veterans navigate personal finance. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (This episode was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday July 29, 2026)

This week has seen a new Prime Minister and a new Chancellor of the Exchequer. As soon as John Healey was appointed the announcements began. First came the announcement to cut VAT on household energy bills from October, next a plan to cap bus fares in England from January, then a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England starting from April. But what about that major issue on the doorstep when Andy Burnham was campaigning to be elected in his new constituency of Makerfield? The frozen personal tax threshold. We'll discuss what this might mean for your money. Nearly two million households in England and Wales are living in water poverty according to a new study seen exclusively by this programme. The technical definition of that is when people spend more than 5% of their income, after housing costs, on water bills. What it means in reality is being unable to afford to pay for water, and being in debt to a water company. We'll speak to the Consumer Council for Water, who commissioned that study. Plus, we'll look at the rules around gifts and inheritance tax as a new survey by the financial advisors The Private Office found more then 8 in 10 of its clients aged over 45 believe parents and grandparents should help younger generations during their lifetime rather than leave an inheritance after death. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Amber Mehmood, Catherine Lund and Jo Krasner. Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 25th July 2026)

Major reforms are planned to shake up house selling in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The government hopes the plans could end gazundering and gazumping and make buying and selling homes faster, cheaper and less likely to fall through. Gazumping happens when a seller switches buyer at the last minute, usually because someone else can pay more, gazundering is where a buyer suddenly drops their agreed offer just before contracts are exchanged. One in three house sales fall through before exchange. This costs sellers £400m and the wider economy £1.5bn each year, according to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Plans to reform the system include the introduction of a sellers’ pack, similar to the system operating in Scotland. Felicity Hannah is joined by Nathan Emerson, the CEO of PropertyMark (a professional body for property agents) and David Bridge, Head of Conveyancing at the Dorset-based solicitors Kiteleys . Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Production co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (This programme was first broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday July 22nd, 2026)

Urgent action is needed to help people in their sixties on low incomes who face a delay of up to a year before they can claim their State Pension. That is the main recommendation of a new report from the Work and Pensions Committee. Pension age rises over the next two years from 66 to 67 and the committee of MPs fears some of the people affected by that delay face poverty unless the benefit rules are changed to give them more money. The Department for Work and Pensions says in February, 0.02% of the Universal Credit caseload was aged 65 or 66. It also welcomed the report saying it will consider the recommendations in due course. There’s growing concern in the housing industry over the rise in a practice known as “gazundering”. It’s when people selling homes are told by buyers just days before exchanging, that they must drop the agreed price by thousands of pounds or risk losing the deal. The Conveyancing Association says it’s a growing problem and is urging the government to implement reforms which would stop the practice “without delay”. The government says it's stopping gazundering by introducing "legally binding agreements that prevent buyers from walking away at the last minute without a valid reason, with fines for those who do." Money Box has found that a grant which can be used to install a heating system than can also act as air conditioning is not up and running, despite being announced in November. We'll investigate why. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson Photo Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 18th July 2026)

New regulations begin today (Wednesday July 15th) for shoppers using Buy Now Pay Later. Consumers using services like Klarna and Clearpay will now be given more protection but also a greater risk of rejection, as new affordability checks begin. BNPL schemes often provide interest free payment options over several months and have proved immensely popular. Experian estimates that a 100mn transactions were made that way last year, adding up to about £7bn. Meanwhile, new data from one of the country’s largest free money advice services, Money Wellness, shows BNPL has become an increasingly common feature of customers' finances over the past four years, with June recording 4,520 customers seeking help with BNPL debt. That's the highest June on record and second only to the traditional post-Christmas spike seen in January. Presenter Felicity Hannah talks to the Financial Conduct Authority to find out if the new rules are going to improve things for shoppers. She’s joined by an expert panel answering listener questions – Mick McAteer of The Financial Inclusion Centre, a UK not-for-profit policy and research group. and Matthew Sheeran from Money Wellness. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson Photo credit: Pakorn Supajitsoontorn via Getty Images. (This episode of Money Box Live was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four at 3pm on Wednesday 15th July)

A deadline approaches for 860,000 self-employed people and landlords who must start reporting their income and expenses in a new way. It is called Making Tax Digital and it affects small businesses with a turnover or gross income above £50,000 a year. They have until 7th August to report their income and expenditure to HMRC. What do they need to know? It is “unacceptable” that the government has refused to commit to bringing the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme back in-house. That’s according to PCS Union, which says a rare joint committee hearing in Parliament this week highlighted the “catastrophic failures” of the scheme, leaving many members facing “unacceptable delays, errors and distress” when trying to access the pensions they have worked their entire careers to earn. The Cabinet Office, which has overall responsibility for the scheme, says immediately terminating the contract would cause more problems and severely disrupt the pension payroll, jeopordizing the financial security of hundreds of thousands of public servants. How are rules which make banks reimburse victims of fraud going? A new report evaluates the first year of Mandatory Reimbursement. And a major high street bank has changed its mind after deciding not to allow customers to deposit their cheques in a Post Office. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researcher: Catherine Lund Output Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 11th July 2026)

We look at whether artificial intelligence is a help, or a hazard when it comes to helping you with your personal finances. One in five adults in the UK - around 11 million people - are already open to the idea of using AI to manage their finances, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. But using AI to manage our money is not without risk. The FCA, the organisation tasked with keeping us financially safe, says that regulators are in an "arms race" to keep up with AI in financial services. We speak to the man behind its new report, Sheldon Mills. And with the increase in AI useage likely to attract the scammers and the deepfakers, just how will regulation evolve to protect us? Alongside presenter Ruth Alexander and taking listener questions is Simon Belshaw who is Chief Client Officer at the investment company Hargreaves Lansdown. And we hear from Elle Farrell-Kingsley, and advocate for AI ethics who has previously worked on artificial intelligence for one of the big tech companies. Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Craig Henderson Researchers: Niamh McDermott, Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson Pictured: Sheldon Mills, Financial Conduct Authority (This edition was first broadcast on Wednesday July 8, 2026)

Parliament was asked this week to help tens of thousands of young adults get access to their own money. It is sitting in the state-backed Child Trust Funds set up more than 15 years ago with contributions from the government, parents and other relatives. However, because these young people have learning disabilities the legal process for getting hold of their own money can cost more than the couple of thousand pounds typically in their fund. What happens next? New figures reveal that in a single year half a million people said 'no thanks' to joining a workplace pension. Like everyone taking up a new job they were automatically enrolled into a pension, but they opted out before it even began. How might that impact their future? Capita has missed the deadline to return services to normal for civil servants facing long delays in getting their pensions sorted. And, a major change to the Lifetime ISA could see it replaced with a new product designed solely for First Time Buyers. How will it work? Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Meghan Owen Researcher: Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 4th July 2026)

Buying a flat used to be a stepping stone to owning a house – but has this all changed? Research is telling us that the gap in price between flats and houses has hit a 30 year high. According to the property platform Zoopla, so far this this year two-thirds of one and two-bedroom flats listed for sale still haven't been sold. The leasehold system in England is being blamed, in large part, for the declining popularity of flats. There are concerns about the length of leases and the maintenance and service charges often involved when owning a flat. The Government is in the process of introducing new measures to deal with some of these issues. So today we're asking - what does buying a flat mean for your finances? Maybe you live in one and love it! Perhaps your children do? Or are you struggling to sell and feeling a bit flattened? Presenter Felicity Hannah puts listeners’ questions and concerns to an expert panel. Polly Gilbert is a director at the digital mortgage brokers Tembo, and Liam Spender is a trustee at the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 1st July, 2026)