Money Box

Money Box Live: Why Are Women Retiring with Less?

For every £1 a man has in his private pension pot a woman has just 42p according to research from pension company Royal London. When it comes to the State Pension, the gap has closed considerably for people retiring today. But women in their 80s are still getting up to…

12 Aug 29 min

Water Meters and Cash ISAs

Money Box can exclusively reveal there has been a sharp rise in the number of people applying to have water meters fitted to try to bring their bills down. The data has been shared with this programme by the Consumer Council for Water, the CCW, the which speaks for water…

8 Aug 25 min

Money Box Live: Losing Your Job

Unemployment recently rose to its highest level in almost four years. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate went up to 4.6 per cent in the three months to April, up from 4.5 per cent in the three months to March. That's the highest since the Summer of…

5 Aug 29 min

Future of Pensions and Heat Networks

Reform of the state pension, auto-enrolment into company pensions and consolidation of small pensions spread across several providers are proposed this week in a major report on the future of pensions. It says major changes are are necessary to ensure today's workers have an adequate income in retirement. The conclusions…

1 Aug 26 min

Money Box Live: Behind Bars

In this special programme Money Box Live has been given exclusive access to a centre working with former prisoners to find out how money works behind bars. There are around 98,000 people serving prison sentences in the UK right now, but how does money work on the inside and why…

29 Jul 29 min

Warm Home Discount and Teachers' Pension

Six million people will have £150 knocked off one winter electricity bill this winter. The Government has announced an expansion of the Warm Home Discount scheme which will almost double the number getting it. Who is eligible and how will people get the payment? Money Box has been receiving a…

25 Jul 25 min

Money Box Live: Does Being Single Cost You More?

More people are living alone, in fact 3 in 10 households are made up of single adults, according to the latest government figures. Research from the pension specialist Royal London also suggests single people are more likely to be in their overdrafts at the end of the month and have…

22 Jul 30 min

Mansion House and Council Tax for Terminally Ill

It was a momentous day on Tuesday as the government and regulators announced major changes in the way investments will be sold. What's been proposed and what's the role of the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, in that? Inflation rose to 3.6%, this week the highest it has been since…

19 Jul 24 min

Child Trust Funds and the Cost of Insurance

Campaigners say more needs to be done to help the parents and carers of tens of thousands of disabled young adults access their own money held in Government backed Child Trust Funds. The Financial Inclusion Commission has told Radio 4's Money Box it wants the Government to officially endorse an…

19 Jul 26 min

Money Box Live: AI and Your Money

Three quarters of financial firms are already using Artificial Intelligence, according to the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, with more set to follow in future. Last month a new inquiry by the Treasury Committee began looking into the potential impacts of AI in banking, pensions and other…

15 Jul 35 min

Bailiffs and Premium Bonds

We'll discuss proposals to reform the bailiff industry, hearing from a man whose small parking fine ballooned into a debt of more than £400 once bailiffs got involved. Paul Lewis interviews the minister responsible for the planned changes: will they be fair on both creditors and debtors and will they…

11 Jul 25 min

Water Bills and How to Save?

New research, seen exclusively by Money Box, suggests a third of households in England and Wales are trying to cut the amount of water they use to help reduce their bills. The research comes from the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol which worked with the Financial…

4 Jul 24 min

Avoiding Scams and Changes to Wills

Hundreds of millions of pounds was stolen from people in 2024 by thieves who tricked them, manipulated them, and then drained their bank accounts. The latest figures from UK Finance show that more than £450m was handed over to criminals in that way. That was slightly less than in 2023…

27 Jun 24 min

'Making Tax Digital' and Bank Charges

Hundreds and thousands of sole traders and landlords are facing a significant change in how they file their tax returns. In less than a year 800,000 people with a turnover of above £50,000 who fill out self assessment tax returns will have to fill out summaries four times a year,…

20 Jun 25 min

Fraud Crackdown and Is Cash King?

The fight against what is called push payment fraud - when victims are groomed and manipulated into transferring money to criminals - took a huge step forward in October when new regulations for banks and other finance companies were introduced to make the banks involved liable for the losses. It…

14 Jun 24 min

Money Box Live: The 'Sadmin' of Bereavement

Earlier this spring the Financial Conduct Authority warned that some banks and firms lack empathy when dealing with bereaved customers and called for them to do more. Money Box Live received a huge response from our listeners when we covered the story, with emails from listeners about how they coped…

10 Jun 28 min

Cancer Costs and Mortgage Deals

Around 1 in 2 people living in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime according to Cancer Research UK. That stark statistic is a reminder how the disease can impact families up and down the country, but it's not just the health of people diagnosed that can…

6 Jun 25 min

Money Box Live: Move or Improve?

If your home isn't working for you, should you pack up and move or get the builders in and improve? Moving is expensive, aside from the price of the house there's Stamp Duty and solicitors fees to think about. So, is it worth getting the builders in instead if you're…

3 Jun 29 min

Wealth Divide and Domestic Abuse

People over the age of 60 hold nearly £3 trillion of wealth in the value of their homes, almost all of it mortgage free. That is more than half of all housing wealth in the UK. Under 35s by contrast control only £600 billion and half of that is mortgaged…

31 May 25 min

Pensions Minister and Poor Bereavement Service

In an exclusive interview with this programme the Pensions Minister has talked about the government's plans to reform the UK's pension system. Torsten Bell has said that pension schemes should be moving more of members' money out of shares and into infrastructure projects where returns are higher. And he announced…

24 May 25 min