On Your Behalf

What to do if your interest rates and insurance premiums increase

Linda visits Kilkeel to find out how vital access to cash is and the impact of bank branch closures in a town. Shoppers and business owners offer their thoughts on the potential for a new banking hub in the town, organised by LINK and UK Finance’s Access to Cash Action group.

If you’re worried about mortgage repayments, rising interest rates and energy prices, Advice NI are on hand offer support.

The RNIB is encouraging everyone to have regular eye tests and as the auto enrolment pension programme marks ten years, we ask how successful it has been in helping everyone save for retirement.

Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick reflects on the Crushed by the Cost of Living event held at Stormont. Attendees heard people from all over Northern Ireland describing how the crisis is affecting them, while experts outlined their demands on politicians to provide more help.

While that event was happening, Westminster announced its programme of support measures to help people with increasing fuel costs. The Consumer Council’s energy expert, Raymond Gormley, explains what helps available and how much we know about how people can access it.

Linda visits a Life Skills course run by Christians Against Poverty to find out what practical advice is available for people of all faiths and none.

Tips for students on sharing, budgeting and housing issues. What do you do if the flat or house you signed up for fails to live up to expectations? Who signs the lease and what responsibilites lie with the guarantor? Moving into a shared house can be a lot of fun but who's washing the dishes and how do you sort out the bills? Ulster University's Claire Drummond, QUB Student President Emma Murphy and Emma Kiely from Housing Rights are here to answer your questions.

What language should we use when speaking about people who are disabled? We hear from Alison, who uses a wheelchair, being described as 'a wheelchair' rather than as a person. Fiona who wonders why public transport doesn't offer the same accessibility as airlines and The Lyric Theatre reveals new technology to support audio description of their productions for the visually impaired. Nuala Toman from Disability Action, Entrepreneur Austen Burns and Chris Lynch, who made the documentary The Disability Paradox, talk through the issues raised.

The Consumer Council’s energy expert, Raymond Gormley, and the Energy Regulator, John French, are in the studio to discuss the rising cost of energy. As winter approaches and the weather turns colder many will be concerned about whether they can afford to have the heating on, or use electrical items. We explore what support is out there and what’s being done to keep costs down.

The Consumer Council’s Chief Executive, Noyona Chundur, explains their new Household Expenditure Tracker and how it shows people in Northern Ireland are struggling to pay for basics.

As children return to school, we ask what makes a cost effective and nutritious lunchbox?

Jimmy Hughes tackles your consumer issues, from booking flights that didn’t exist to whether selecting options from a dropdown menu online means you’re personalising it. Chief Equality Commissioner Geraldine McGahey responds to a listener’s questions about whether a supermarket app is discriminatory and how banks are asking elderly customers to verify their identities.

Linda asks Mark McCall from the Electric Vehicle Association NI about this week’s announcement of more funding for on-street chargers in residential areas.

Thousands of students got exam results this week and attention is already turning to the new term at universities and colleges. We discuss options and what families need to consider when it comes to choosing a course, accessing funding and finding somewhere to live. Louise Warde Hunter of Belfast Metropolitan College and Sarah Creighton of Housing Rights join Linda in studio to answer your questions.

Although many aspects of life and work are returning towards normal after the pandemic, it seems online meetings are here to stay. Scammers have adapted and the Financial Conduct Authority is warning against so-called screenshare scams. We find out what they are and how to avoid them. Superintendent Gerrard Pollock of the PSNI joins the programme with some advice for a listener who found themselves the victim of identity theft.

After last week’s Back to School programme we turn our attention to childcare and discuss how parents and carers can access support with the cost, as suppliers increase their fees. Aoife Hamilton of Employers for Childcare explains the options.

Discrimination legislation is different here to the rest of the UK and Ireland. Linda visits and Equality Commission event asking for action to update the law here.

So called Swipers are stealing £500m from supermarkets – but who are they and what’s being done to stop them?

Commissioner for Children and Young People, Koulla Yiasouma, Alison McCaw from Homestart and Lauren bond of the Secondary Students’ Union NI join Linda in studio to go back to school.

We hear from parents and organisers at a uniform swap about how the cost of new items is forcing many to search out second hand school clothes.

The Consumer Council count up the cost of the school run and Sustrans explain the work happening to encourage those who can to walk or wheel to school.