BBC Money Box

Chair of the Banking Review and Winter Fuel Payments

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More than 15,000 people have responded to a Government review into access to banking services in just three weeks since it opened. The review comes after a decade which has seen almost 7,000 bank branches close, with hundreds more happening this year and some announced in just the past few days. Richard Lloyd, a former Director at the consumer group Which?, gives his first interview since being appointed to lead the review.

HMRC must "learn lessons" for the future after incorrectly suspending child benefit payments from thousands of claimants last year. That is the conclusion of a report published this week by the National Audit Office. The mistake happened during the wider roll out of a pilot scheme designed to cut some of the hundreds of millions of pounds estimated to be lost to fraud and error in child benefit claims each year.

People who are 66 today, born 27 June 1960, are the youngest people who will get the Winter Fuel Payment this year. Normally the qualifying date is three months later. How does the payment work?

And, VAT has been cut on summer attractions used by children - from theme parks to fast food - what kind of discounts are there?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Sarah Rogers and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Catherine Lund
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast at midday on Saturday 27th June, 2026)
25 Jul English United Kingdom Business

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