Money Box

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 the supplier that has gone out of business. So how do you get back £500 taken by your energy supplier who has gone bust? Reporter Dan Whitworth explains.There are about 1.7 million homes in the UK that are heated by oil from a tank outside. But unlike with mains gas, there is no price cap. We hear from Money Box listeners, and from Ken Cronin, the Chief Executive of the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association, UKIFDA. Debt Advice links: Money Helper - moneyhelper.org.uk/en/money-troubles/dealing-with-debt# Citizens Advice - citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/ Step Change - stepchange.org National Debtline - nationaldebtline.org Advice NI - adviceni.net Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Paul Waters Reporters: Dan Whitworth & Athar Ahmad Researcher: Marianna Brain Editor: Emma Rippon

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 find out what help, if any, is out there for them. For nearly half a million UK pensioners living abroad the increase in their state pension will be even less than the 3.1% mentioned earlier. It will in fact be zero. In about 50 countries the pension is increased with inflation as it is in the UK. But in the rest of the world including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand as well as India and most African and Caribbean countries, the state pension is frozen at the rate it is first paid abroad. A petition to change this was launched in January but it still has barely half the signatures needed to get a Government response. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Chris Flynn Producer: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Marianna Brain Editor: Emma Rippon

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.citizensadvice.org.uk/ https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/ Producer Smita Patel Editor Emma Rippon

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 mortgage market.Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Chris Flynn Producer: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Sandra Hardial Editor: Emma Rippon

Before you have children, it’s important to think about the finances. And that’s just as true for anyone considering becoming a foster carer.So, what are the allowances, fees, rewards and tax implications for those who welcome and care for a child in their home? Felicity Hannah talks to foster carers Bryony, Walt, Dot, Phil and Jane about why they foster and their experience of the finances of fostering.They are joined by an expert panel: Vicki Swain, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the charity The Fostering Network Harvey Gallagher, Chief Executive of the Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers And Suzanne Griffiths, the director of Foster Wales, which is the national network of 22 Welsh Local Authority fostering servicesFor more information about fostering, including the finances of looking after children, you can access the following: https://fosterwales.gov.wales/ https://www.nafp.org.uk/ https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/And you can listen to an earlier edition of Money Box Live about Carer Leaver finances here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00139kmProducer Smita Patel Editor Emma Rippon

Long lost, wealthy relatives who’ve sadly died but for whom you “might” be the next of kin – too good to be true or the real thing? We explain how to spot the difference and how to tell the good heir hunters from the bad. A disabled mother of two is being denied Healthy Start vouchers for her young children because she is on the wrong benefit. The vouchers provide more than a thousand pounds over four years to help low-income mothers buy milk and food for their growing children. But disabled people on a benefit called Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) only get the vouchers while they are pregnant.The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales shows a massive rise in the amount of fraud being carried out against victims – up by more than a third to 5.1m cases between October 2020 and September 2021.Inflation is already at levels not seen for a generation and this week food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe highlighted how she believes the real figure can be even worse for people on low incomes. So how was inflation first calculated, what are the different ways it’s been measured in the past, how do they compare to the here and now and should it be changed for the future?Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Chris Flynn Producer: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Drew Miller-Hyndman and Sandra Hardial Editor: Emma RipponEmail story ideas and questions to moneybox@bbc.co.uk or tweet @Moneybox

As millions of people are paying even more for their gas and electricity, Charmaine Cozier, listeners and experts discuss why prices are set to increase further, the pressure it’s putting on household budgets and what options might be available to help cushion the financial impact. We hear from callers Catherine, Peter, Janet & Mary about their experiences and worries regarding a significant increase in their energy bills. And experts Abby Jitendra, Principle Policy Manager on Energy for Citizens Advice and Vanessa Clark, Partner at Baringa, a management consultancy that works with the energy industry, join the programme to offer advice. You can access more information on the Citizen's Advice website https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issueProducer Smita Patel Editor Emma Rippon

From CryptoPunks to Bored Apes to original artwork and more, there has never been so much interest in them. Even big traditional art galleries are getting in on the action.Felicity Hannah looks at the financial world of NFTs, non-fungible tokens. They have a boring, slightly odd sounding name but they are generating a lot of excitement. So what are they, why do people want them and what are the risks?Are NFTs dangerous speculation or a new kind of asset? Joining the discussion are Andrea Baronchelli, associate professor in Mathematics at City University of London, & lead on the Token economy at The Alan Turing Institute. and Genevieve Leveille, CEO and Co-Founder of the blockchain-based business AgriLedger. The programme also hears from Bella and Jack who have bought NFTs. Frances Coppola. economist & Journalist, Sebastian Fahey, head of the NFT division at the auction house Sotheby’s & artist Waxbones.Producer Smita Patel Editor Emma Rippon