From April water bills for millions of households in England and Wales will go up by record amounts. Exactly how much more you'll pay will depend where you live but, on average, bills will increase by more than £10 per month meaning a total average cost of over £600 a year. What can you do if you're struggling with those bills?There's just a month left for people in the process of buying a home in England and Northern Ireland to complete the sale before stamp duty rises on April the first. Some estimates suggest there could be tens of thousands of buyers who will miss that deadline by just a few days. What can you do if you're trying to hit that deadline?Train fares in England and Wales will go up on Sunday. At the same time, most railcards, which give you cheaper fares in England Wales and Scotland, will cost you more. We'll have more on that.And energy prices will also go up in April. We’ll take a look at the issue of standing charges. Why do they vary regionally, and how might Ofgem’s proposals to reform them work?Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Haider Saleem
Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 1st March 2025)
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24:51
Money Box Live: Home Ownership Dreams
Politicians, banks and builders all talk about the dream of homeownership, but it's not easy to get on the property ladder.New figures given to Money Box Live show that, even though the Bank of England has reduced interest rates, it's now more expensive for a first-time buyer with a 10% deposit than it was two years ago. In this Money Box Live we hear from someone trying to save enough for a deposit, someone trying to navigate through conveyancing to complete their sale - and someone who overcame the obstacles and challenges to move into their dream home.Felicity Hannah is joined by Sarah Tucker, Director and Founder of the broker the Mortgage Mum and Emily Williams, Director, Residential Research at the estate agent Savills.Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producers: Sarah Rogers and Catherine Lund
Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday 26th February 2025)
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28:27
Ofgem Back Billing and Pensions and IHT
The energy regulator Ofgem says suppliers must take urgent action to find out how widespread a problem back billing is. It's when suppliers send out new bills for electricity and gas from longer than 12 months ago, a practice that was banned in 2018. The development follows Money Box's investigation which discovered thousands of people have wrongly been receiving back bills. Paul Lewis interviews Tim Jarvis, Director General of Markets at Ofgem.And unspent pension pots will be subject to inheritance tax from 2027. This change, announced by Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget, means most unused pension funds will be included within the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax purposes from 6th April 2027. Money Box has been getting lots of emails from listeners who're now reconsidering their financial planning and are worried and upset about the new rules. The Treasury told us it continues to incentivise pensions savings for their intended purpose of funding retirement instead of them being openly used as a vehicle to transfer wealth. But how will the new rules work?Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Sarah Rogers
Researcher: Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 22nd February 2025)
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25:07
Money Box Live: Energy Debt Help
People owe more money for gas and electricity bills than ever before. New calculations from the energy consultancy firm Baringa reveal the average typical energy debt is £1,500 - that's up £300 in a year. The total owed to energy companies is 3.8 billion pounds, which is almost double what it was two years ago.Energy prices are also forecast to rise by 5% from April, adding £85 a year to household bills meaning a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity would pay £1823 a year.In this Money Box Live, we're finding out how to manage energy debts and how to avoid getting into the red in the first place.Ruth Alexander is joined by Matthew Sheeran from the free debt advice provider, Money Wellness, and Eleanor Taylor from Baringa.Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producers: Sarah Rogers, Catherine Lund and Neil Morrow
Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 3pm on Wednesday 19th February 2025)
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28:03
Banned Back Billing and Debt Help
The energy regulator Ofgem has been given less than two weeks to get answers for Parliament on the banned practice of back billing, which is when people are sent new bills for energy used longer than 12 months ago. In a letter written to the Chief Executive of Ofgem the chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero committee highlights Money Box's recent investigation into back billing, saying he considers there to be evidence of serious wrong doing on the part of energy suppliers and the need for intervention on the part of the regulator. Ofgem told Money Box it's reviewing supplier billing practices and "looking closely at supplier compliance with back billing rules to make sure customers get the service they are entitled to." For the first time since our investigation began Paul Lewis interviews Dhara Vyas, the chief executive of Energy UK, which represents energy suppliers.State pensions paid to tens of millions of people will go up in April by 4.1%, but depending on how your pension is paid - weekly or monthly - some people may not get the extra money until May. How to make sure you get it as soon as possible.And people who get into debt often find that it gets worse because of the high interest rates they are paying. Often they are only paying interest not reducing the amount owed at all. A new scheme by credit unions is trying to solve that by giving an affordable loan to people in debt at a low rates of interest so they can pay off their expensive debt and afford the repayments on their new debt. How will it work?Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Peter Ruddick
Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Jo Krasner.
Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 15th February 2025)
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