Money Box

The National Union of Headteachers says the government "must step in" to help teachers in England and Wales who have retired but are facing long delays before their pension is paid. The Teachers' Pension Scheme is one of the biggest in the country with two million members. The Department for Education which has overall responsibility for the scheme says it’s working closely with Capita who administrate the pensions to monitor performance and address any emerging issues. Capita has apologised and says it's working closely with the government to ensure cases are progressed correctly and in line with scheme rules.

In the last month average two year fixed mortgage rates have jumped from around 4.8% to 5.9% and there are around 1 in 6 fewer mortgages deals available to house buyers and people whose fixed mortgages are running out. How is that affecting the housing market?

Mortgage rates going up is bad news but when interest rates rise savers, who far outnumber people with mortgages, many see it as better news. What are the best offers out there?

And what does the lifting of the two-child benefit cap mean for families? 

Presenter: Paul Lewis

(First broadcast on Radio 4 at 12pm on Saturday 11th April 2026)

The Employment Rights Act has been called the most significant change to workers rights in a generation, so what does it mean for your money?

The new law will introduce a raft of new rules for employees and employers over the next 18 months. From April 6th statutory sick pay has been enhanced and will be available from the first day of illness. Also, fathers will have a right to paternity leave on joining a workplace, rather than after six months' service.

In January protection from unfair dismissal will become a right after six months of being in a job, instead of two years, and there will be a clamp down on zero hours jobs with workers given the right to request 'guaranteed hours'.

Felicity Hannah is joined by John Palmer a senior adviser at the conciliation service ACAS and Kaajal Nathwani, an employment lawyer at Osborne & Wise. Felicity also speaks to the employment rights minister Kate Dearden.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah

(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 8th April 2026)

Millions of people in their sixties will now wait up a year longer before they can claim their state pension. From Easter Monday the current state pension age of 66 will gradually increase over the next two years until it reaches 67 affecting everyone born on 6th April 1960 or later. How will it work for those affected?

Rent arrears, council tax debt and unpaid utility bills are the main reason more than 400,000 people in Britain are homeless. A new report by the Centre for Homelessness Impact published next week sets out ways to reduce or even end homelessness. What does it recommend?

Millions of drivers are in line for hundreds of pounds of compensation for mis-sold finance deals. We'll have 5 top tips on who gets what and how to claim.

And there are some tax changes from Monday as well, we'll round up what's happening to dividends and inheritance tax.

Presenter: Paul Lewis

(First broadcast 12pm on Saturday 4th April 2026)

Making Tax Digital for income tax is HMRC's biggest shake-up of self assessment for decades, but are you ready?

The new system will involve filing quarterly updates as well as a final return via third party software. This year it'll affect 860,000 sole traders and landlords with a turnover of £50,000. In the coming years the threshold will fall, bringing a total of nearly three million people into the new system.

Felicity Hannah is joined by Jonathan Athow, HMRC's director general for strategy and policy, to take listeners' questions about how it all works and what they need to do to prepare. We also hear from Emma Rawson, from the Association of Tax Technicians, a professional body for tax advisers.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah

(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 1st April 2026)

The cost of filling up your car has risen every day over the past three weeks as the conflict continues in the Middle East. Diesel is now averaging £1.78 per litre - a price last seen on Christmas Day 2022, 10 months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Petrol is up 17p and has just tipped over £1.50 per litre. Those figures are UK averages from the RAC. What can you do to bring down the cost?

The boss of government-backed bank NS&I has been replaced after a lost funds scandal, affecting thousands and delaying bereaved families’ access to relatives’ money.

Bosses from Capita apologise again as MPs question them about the long delays facing retired civil servants awaiting pension payments.

And if you're a regular Money Box listener we'd hope you to know your ISA from your IHT, but do you know the difference between your gross and net salary? Or how to work out how much interest you'd pay on a loan? A group of financial firms and charities is calling for the introduction of an exam which measures how much young people know about basic financial products and services. How might it work?

Presenter: Paul Lewis

(First broadcast at 12pm on Radio 4 on 28th March 2026)

The government has promised more than £52mn to help people in the UK hit by huge rises in the price of heating oil. Around 1.5 million households in rural areas and particularly in Northern Ireland rely on heating oil for their central heating and the price has more than doubled since the Middle East conflict began. The help will be targeted at vulnerable households but how will it work in practice?

As the Bank of England decides to hold rates at 3.75%, figures show almost 1,000 mortgage deals have disappeared off the market since the start of last week.

How do thieves persuade sensible people to part with thousands of pounds? It's a question many of you have been asking, especially after the item on the programme a fortnight ago about civil servant Sara. She put $250 into what she thought was a cryptocurrency investment but ended up having £337,000 stolen. We'll ask a criminologist about the tricks and tactics that thieves use.

And, which animal did you decide should be on the Bank of England's new banknotes?

Presenter: Paul Lewis

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 21st March 2026)

It's been a turbulent week for the mortgage market - as lenders adjusted their rates amid fears of a rise in inflation and what that will mean for interest rates. Average mortgage rates for a 2 and 5 year fix tipped above 5% for the first time since the summer this week, and they've been climbing since. In just a few days time the Bank of England will make its next interest rate decision, but a cut which had been widely anticipated two weeks ago, is now incredibly unlikely. Around 1.8 million people are to come off a fixed mortgage this year, and have some difficult decisions to make - what should they do?

Victims' charities have criticised a long awaited and much delayed fraud strategy published earlier this week by the government. Ministers have described it as a "major upgrade to Britain's defences" with £250mn pounds to be invested over the next three years.

On Thursday a £100 cap on contactless card payments in the UK is being scrapped. The Financial Conduct Authority is giving banks the freedom to set their own limits, and in theory they could even remove the cap altogether. But it turns out many banks are not planning to change the limit at all, at least for now - why?

This week the Bank of England announced that British wildlife will replace historical figures on the next series of Bank of England banknotes. We asked Wildlife TV Presenter & Campaigner Chris Packham to tell us his ideas - from lapwings to foxes.

Presenter: Paul Lewis

(First broadcast 12pm Sat 14th March 2026)

Just seven days has passed since the USA and Israel began their attacks on Iran. As the attacks become heavier and more destructive, the ripples of war are already spreading around the globe. There was an immediate jump in the price of oil and gas, now worsening, as processing plants and facilities are attacked and transport routes disrupted. Petrol prices at the pump have been creeping up too and are expected to rise further. Money Box listeners have been asking what it could mean for the price of gas, electricity, heating oil and filling up their car.

A listener had more than £300,000 stolen from her in an investment scam. What can be done to catch the criminals who robbed her?

And by the end of the month there should be an official free scheme to claim compensation for missold car finance. How will it work?

Presenter: Paul Lewis

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 7th March 2026)

The number of emergency hardship loans issued to former civil servants who are facing long delays for pension payments is "pitiful" according to a senior MP. Clive Betts, the deputy chair of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, has told Money Box the loan system is "not adequate" after figures published for the first time earlier this week show fewer than 600 have been issued - compared to many thousands of people who are missing money. The Cabinet Office says an urgent recovery plan is underway and its immediate priority is to stabilise the service. Capita have previously apologised for the delays.

Nearly one in five adults now use Buy Now, Pay Later - instead of paying the whole cost upfront with a debit or credit card you can spread the cost interest free over three or four monthly payments. At one time it was young people driving the rise. But some new research from the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol (commissioned by the Aberdeen Group Charitable Trust) suggests Buy Now, Pay Later is now spreading to older people. The number using it in their forties and sixties has grown by a third, with the biggest rise in the last two years among people in their fifties with the number using it up by half.

And, as a rare Pokémon card sells for 12 million pounds at auction - what's the appeal for collectors - and what should you think about when buying them?

Presenter: Paul Lewis

(First broadcast Saturday 28th February 2026)

Claims management firms have been warned by regulators to treat their customers fairly over compensation claims for mis-sold car finance. The financial regulator is set to announce its own free-to-use scheme for the millions of people who could be due compensation because the car finance deals they signed up to were mis-sold.

And, if you've been shopping online recently you may have been asked to eschew your usual credit-card payment in favour of a new way to hand over your money: pay by bank. By cutting out the credit or debit card middlemen, you'll be saving the retailer some cost from payment fees. But what's in it for the online shopper - apart from having to put up with weaker consumer protection?

Also, the savings and investment divide between those who are, and aren't, using the tax-free benefits of a junior ISA and the new figures which show how online scammers are targeting those who are trying to improve their personal finances.

Photo credit: Tim Goode/PA Wire