Money Box

The surge in inflation is hitting wide and hitting deep, impacting everything from energy and fuel, to food and everyday household goods. With inflation this high, the effects are leading to significant changes in the way lives are being lived – well beyond those on low incomes. In practice, rising costs of almost everything has meant large swatches of Britain’s working households having to make material cutbacks, people’s disposable incomes being wiped out and donors of foodbanks becoming users. We hear from some of those people having to make changes to their spending.The experts on the panel are Sarah Pennells, Consumer Finance Specialist at Royal London, Colletta Smith, BBC News Cost of Living Correspondent and Callum Hewitt, Deputy Manager at The Sanctuary Trust Limited (charity).Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Amber Mehmood Editor: Clare Worden Researcher: Star McFarlane

In this special Money Box we will delve into Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement and see what lies in the small print. How will changes to the support you’ll be getting to pay for your energy bills affect you? Paul Lewis and Nimesh Shah, the Chief Executive of Blick Rothenberg on why tax changes matter for you. What do announcements on benefits and getting back into work mean for those on welfare? And our reporter Dan Whitworth is live from Stafford Indoor Market to get reaction to this week’s inflation figures and the planned rise to the National Living Wage. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Sandra Hardial Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 19th November, 2022)

With hundreds of thousands of victims and billions of pounds stolen every year, the UK continues to be in the grip of a fraud epidemic. We'll discuss the conclusions of a House of Lords report, which describes how police, telecoms, tech and banking sectors must do more.We hear from victims of fraud and we speak to experts Kathryn Westmore, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of Financial Crime and Security at RUSI, and Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance.Presenter: Dan Whitworth Producer: Amber Mehmood Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 16th November, 2022)

A new report out today is recommending sweeping reform in the way fraud is dealt with in England and Wales. The House of Lords Digital Fraud Committee has spent six months looking at the systems enabling fraud, the response to fraud and how victims are treated. Recommendations range from a time limit stopping high value payments from leaving accounts, to what it calls 'less carrot and more stick' for companies who enable fraud. We'll speak to Baroness Morgan who is the Chair of that committee and hear from a woman who had part of her inheritance stolen in a sophisticated scam.One of the UK's largest mortgage providers has warned Money Box about the dangers of rogue companies installing insulation using what is called spray foam. Nationwide expects more homeowners to enquire about insulation as energy costs rise and the cost of living crisis bites. Dan Whitworth hears from those affected and gets a response from the industry.Can customers use government energy bill vouchers to pay for their gas as well as electricity?And the cost of living crisis has been called one of the biggest threats to animal welfare by the RSPCA. It's after a survey found that one in five pet owners are worried they won't be able to feed their animals. The office for National Statistics also says that the price of pet food has risen by almost 14% in a year, increasing more rapidly than the cost of food for humans of about 11%. We'll speak to pet owners and the RSPA.Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Sandra Hardial Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 12th November, 2022)

There are around eight and a half million families who rent - quite a bit more than those who have mortgages - so the rise in housing costs, on top of a cost-of-living crisis, is likely to be causing significant challenges for millions of people. The official numbers from the Office for National Statistics show that, on average, rental inflation is now 3.6%. It's highest in the East Midlands and lowest in London. But companies such as Rightmove, HomeLet and Zoopla report much bigger rate increases of between 9 and 12%. That is likely to reflect the situation that landlords are often not raising rents for existing tenants by very much but when a home changes hands - they may take the opportunity to raise rents much more significantly. In Scotland, emergency legislation was passed which froze most rents until the end of March 2023. So the situation is quite different from the rest of the UK. To guide us through what is happening and what best to do about it are: Aneisha Beveridge, Head of Research at the estate and letting agents, Hamptons, Deborah Garvie, Policy Manager at Shelter England, and Allan Fuller, an independent estate agent.Presenter: Adam Shaw Producer: Amber Mehmood Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 3pm, Wednesday 9th November, 2022)

The interest rate rose to 3% this week affecting mortgage rates. We'll be looking at what that means for buy-to-let landlords. Many will have interest only mortgages linked to the interest rate so they'll begin rising almost at once. What does it mean for landlords but also tenants?We'll discuss how the freeze in tax thresholds impacts your income and look at what could happen over the coming years.Why over half a million households could be facing heating bills more than double those covered by the Energy Price Guarantee. It's because they warm their homes using heat networks - communal heating systems used in blocks of flats or housing estates.New figures suggest more than half of NHS and public sector workers eligible to get cheaper broadband are missing out.And is happiness linked to your income? How much per year would it take to make you happy? Email us with your thoughts now to moneybox@bbc.co.ukPresenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Sandra Hardial Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm, Saturday 5th November, 2022)

Are you one of the nearly three million people who has lost track of a pension? There is almost £27 billion that has been paid in by individuals and employers into a pension pot, but the firm holding the money has lost track of the owners. We'll give advice on how you can track your lost pension and take listener questions.Email your question now to moneybox@bbc.co.ukFeaturing, Lauren Wilkinson, Senior Policy Researcher at Pensions Policy Institute, Duncan Stevens, CEO at Gretel and Nigel Peaple, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association. Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Amber Mehmood Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 3pm, Wednesday 2nd November, 2022)

Broadband providers have been told by the regulator Ofcom to 'think carefully' before making significant price rises. Most providers of telecoms and broadband raise their prices each spring in line with inflation plus three or four percentage points. That means some firms could put up prices by 16% next year - an extra £5 a month in some cases, and most have yet to confirm their plans. Stories of economic turmoil and falling share prices have led many investors to wonder what they can do about their investments. Especially when they get financial statements telling them the value of their pension fund or savings have fallen sharply. We'll speak to Kirsty Stone who's an independent financial adviser at The Private Office about that.The government has recently been encouraging claims for what is called Pension Credit - a top-up to the state pension for people aged 66 or more whose income is low. In June, the Department for Work and Pensions held its annual Pension Credit Day of Action to encourage people to claim this benefit. But has it been too successful? The Department says applications are at an all-time high but some listeners are telling us they're experiencing long delays.And, what's it like trying to pay for energy bills when you're disabled. We'll hear from a woman with cerebral palsy who's got £5,000 of energy debt.Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Sarah Rogers Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Star McFarlane Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm, Saturday 29th October, 2022)

Food prices are rising at their fastest rate for more than 40 years. Figures out this week from the Office of National Statistics the price of budget food is up 17% in the 12 months to September - with big increases in the cost of basic ingredients like bread, pasta, cooking oil and tea. Add spiking transport, rent, mortgage and energy costs to that - and the squeeze on household finances couldn’t be clearer. We’re looking at what the higher cost of living is doing to our spending behaviour. We’ll be hearing how some of you are keeping costs down - and also looking at potential options for financial support. Charmaine Cozier will be joined by experts, Krystle McGilvery, a Behavioural Finance Consultant, and Michael Clarke, Head of Information Programmes at Turn2us. Email us now with your experiences to moneybox@bbc.co.ukPresenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Amber Mehmood Researcher: Star McFarlane Editor: Justin Bones(First broadcast 3pm, Wednesday 26th October, 2022)

The Money Box team concentrates on the biggest cost of living fear that people bring to the programme - how will I pay my energy bills when the price of everything else is rising so rapidly and support may be withdrawn.We'll ask what another new Prime Minister and the government’s scrapping of the Energy Price Guarantee after April mean for those facing fuel poverty?Our reporter Dan Whitworth visits the Energy House at the University of Salford. It’s a Victorian terrace house built inside a warehouse to test energy efficiency. Listen out for top tips on how to save money on energy costs in the home. And our experts will answer listener's questions on energy saving - from whether to keep your heating on all day to the most energy efficient ways to cook.Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Star McFarlane Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast Saturday 22nd October, 2022)