Money Box

We report from Parliament as the Minister for Energy Consumers and the regulator Ofgem face questions from MPs about the banned process of back-billing. That's when energy suppliers wrongly send new bills for energy use longer than 12 months ago. We'll get reaction from Labour MP Bill Esterson who is the Chair of the House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero committee, which sat on Wednesday.

And the biggest shake-up to bene...

There will be no compensation for more than 46,000 people who lost thousands of pounds each when the funeral plan firm Safe Hands went bust 3 years ago. The regulator - the Financial Conduct Authority - was told this week it should consider compensating them after a report by Rachel Kent, the Complaints Commissioner, set out the FCA's failings over Safe Hands. In response, the FCA has said it does not accept it was at fault, that i...

Over the past few weeks there's been speculation over the future of ISAs - Individual Savings Accounts. At the moment each saver can deposit up to £20,000 each tax year into an ISA tax-free, but there have been reports that the Treasury is considering making some changes. Things like lowering the limit to £4,000. In a statement to Money Box the Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that while it's important to support people to save, they ...

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 c...

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 thro...

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 Mar...

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...

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 serio...

We all dream about what we will do when we don't have to work anymore. The perfect retirement looks different for everyone, from travelling the world and luxury holidays to spending more time with family and friends, but the cost of stopping work can be bit of a wake-up call.

In this Money Box Live we'll look at how to make the most of the savings you have as retirement approaches to how to start planning for retirement at the start...

The Chair of the House of Commons Energy Security Committee has told Money Box that the behaviour of the energy firms is "outrageous" following our investigation into so called back-billing. That's when energy firms send out a new bill for gas or electricity which was used more than 12 months before. Last week we reported that thousands of people have complained that is still going on.

Energy UK, which speaks for the big supplier...

Paying for care in later life is something many of us will face. Unlike other NHS services, social care is not free at the point of use, the average annual care home cost is £60,000, if additional care is needed that price will go up.

After a recent special Money Box Live from Grange Care Residential Home in Sheffield we received so many questions that we simply couldn't get through them all on air, so we've raided the inbox and ...

Thousands of people have made complaints to the Energy Ombudsman related to so-called back billing, which is when customers are sent new bills for energy use longer than 12 months prior. The practice was banned by the regulator Ofgem in 2018 but is still causing consumers problems. In the cases investigated by Money Box customers had to complain multiple times before their suppliers recognised they'd broken these rules and cancelle...

Research from charity Scope suggests that disabled households have to find an extra £1,000 pounds a month to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households.

Extra costs include, heating, equipment and transport. Having a disability can also mean navigating the benefits system - a system that Chancellor Rachel Reeves said today would undergo reform by the spring, as the government struggles to manage the rising cost of...

Over 1.4 million pensioners unexpectedly received a tax bill last year, according to exclusive data shared with Money Box. The mutual life, pensions and investment firm Royal London says its research suggests more than two thirds of those who'd retired paid tax on their pension income last year. But, also, that 1 in 7 of those didn't expect to do so. Pensioners can pay tax on anything that counts as income if it goes over the pe...

Car, home, travel and life insurance are just some of the policies we might take out to protect ourselves if the worst happens.

This year we've already seen floods followed by freezing temperatures and property claim pay outs hit £4.1 billion last year according to industry figures.

So this week we look at whether insurance companies step up when we need them, and more widely at the rising costs of insurance, particularly for motoris...

A senior MP has backed calls to start automatically paying out hundreds of millions of pounds to young adults if they haven’t claimed government-backed child trusts funds by the time they turn 21. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who is also chair of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, says the move would help nearly half a million people born between 2002 and 2011 access one billion pounds of their own money that they don’t even k...

1 in 5 parents say they're struggling with the cost of sending their children to school according to the National Parent Survey.

There're uniform costs, school trips, afterschool clubs and school dinners to consider, but is there a way to keep costs down?

Some changes are on the way with government plans to give every parent of a child in a state primary school in England the legal right to a half hour breakfast club, as well as limi...

The Government made a start this week on its manifesto promise to provide free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill got through its first big step in the House of Commons on Wednesday and will give every parent of a child in a state primary school in England the legal right to a half hour breakfast club for their children with food and childcare. Schools Minister Stephen Mor...

Money Box Live broadcasts from Grange Crescent Residential Care Home in Sheffield for a special programme on the cost of care.

Unlike NHS services, social care is not free at the point of use. It costs an average of around £60,000 per year to live in a residential care home and considerably more if you need nursing care.

Last week the Department of Health and Social Care announced a new review into care costs, but the independent c...