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BBC Radio 4

Money Box

In this special edition of Money Box Live, presenter Felicity Hannah has been out to Weeton Barracks in Preston to see how soldiers juggle their finances whilst leading an often unpredictable military life.

We look at the benefits of life in the forces – from financial help to buy a home to generous pensions and special payments to encourage you to stay on longer. And we examine the challenges of a career which could see you being deployed to the other side of the world at a moment’s notice. 

There’s a general disgruntlement in the ranks that the pay does not step up to the mark. The latest official Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey shows that less than four in ten personnel agree that the pay and benefits they receive are fair for the work they do. We put that to the armed forces Minister for Veterans Calvin Bailey MP.

Our expert panel includes Ann Griffiths, the Royal British Legion’s Head of Policy and Research, Kate Gannon, Vice President of the Personal Finance Society, and Sergeant Cameron Eden, a British Army soldier and the creator of The Savvy Squaddie - a financial education platform on YouTube that helps service personnel and veterans navigate personal finance.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Craig Henderson
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday July 29, 2026)

Money Box Live: Armed Forces Finances

This week has seen a new Prime Minister and a new Chancellor of the Exchequer. As soon as John Healey was appointed the announcements began. First came the announcement to cut VAT on household energy bills from October, next a plan to cap bus fares in England from January, then a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England starting from April. But what about that major issue on the doorstep when Andy Burnham was campaigning to be elected in his new constituency of Makerfield? The frozen personal tax threshold. We'll discuss what this might mean for your money.

Nearly two million households in England and Wales are living in water poverty according to a new study seen exclusively by this programme. The technical definition of that is when people spend more than 5% of their income, after housing costs, on water bills. What it means in reality is being unable to afford to pay for water, and being in debt to a water company. We'll speak to the Consumer Council for Water, who commissioned that study.

Plus, we'll look at the rules around gifts and inheritance tax as a new survey by the financial advisors The Private Office found more then 8 in 10 of its clients aged over 45 believe parents and grandparents should help younger generations during their lifetime rather than leave an inheritance after death.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Dan Whitworth 
Researchers: Amber Mehmood, Catherine Lund and Jo Krasner.
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 25th July 2026)

New Chancellor, New Plans? and Inheritance Gifts

Major reforms are planned to shake up house selling in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 
 
The government hopes the plans could end gazundering and gazumping and make buying and selling homes faster, cheaper and less likely to fall through.

Gazumping happens when a seller switches buyer at the last minute, usually because someone else can pay more, gazundering is where a buyer suddenly drops their agreed offer just before contracts are exchanged.

One in three house sales fall through before exchange. This costs sellers £400m and the wider economy £1.5bn each year, according to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Plans to reform the system include the introduction of a sellers’ pack, similar to the system operating in Scotland.

Felicity Hannah is joined by Nathan Emerson, the CEO of PropertyMark (a professional body for property agents) and David Bridge, Head of Conveyancing at the Dorset-based solicitors Kiteleys .

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Craig Henderson
Production co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This programme was first broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday July 22nd, 2026)

Money Box Live: House Sale Nightmares

Urgent action is needed to help people in their sixties on low incomes who face a delay of up to a year before they can claim their State Pension. That is the main recommendation of a new report from the Work and Pensions Committee. Pension age rises over the next two years from 66 to 67 and the committee of MPs fears some of the people affected by that delay face poverty unless the benefit rules are changed to give them more money. The Department for Work and Pensions says in February, 0.02% of the Universal Credit caseload was aged 65 or 66. It also welcomed the report saying it will consider the recommendations in due course. 

There’s growing concern in the housing industry over the rise in a practice known as “gazundering”. It’s when people selling homes are told by buyers just days before exchanging, that they must drop the agreed price by thousands of pounds or risk losing the deal. The Conveyancing Association says it’s a growing problem and is urging the government to implement reforms which would stop the practice “without delay”. The government says it's stopping gazundering by introducing "legally binding agreements that prevent buyers from walking away at the last minute without a valid reason, with fines for those who do."

Money Box has found that a grant which can be used to install a heating system than can also act as air conditioning is not up and running, despite being announced in November. We'll investigate why.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

Photo Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 18th July 2026)

State Pension Age Rise, Gazundering and Air-Con

New regulations begin today (Wednesday July 15th) for shoppers using Buy Now Pay Later. Consumers using services like Klarna and Clearpay will now be given more protection but also a greater risk of rejection, as new affordability checks begin. 

BNPL schemes often provide interest free payment options over several months and have proved immensely popular. Experian estimates that a 100mn transactions were made that way last year, adding up to about £7bn. 

Meanwhile, new data from one of the country’s largest free money advice services, Money Wellness, shows BNPL has become an increasingly common feature of customers' finances over the past four years, with June recording 4,520 customers seeking help with BNPL debt. That's the highest June on record and second only to the traditional post-Christmas spike seen in January.

Presenter Felicity Hannah talks to the Financial Conduct Authority to find out if the new rules are going to improve things for shoppers. She’s joined by an expert panel answering listener questions – Mick McAteer of The Financial Inclusion Centre, a UK not-for-profit policy and research group. and Matthew Sheeran from Money Wellness.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Craig Henderson 
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

Photo credit: Pakorn Supajitsoontorn via Getty Images. 

(This episode of Money Box Live was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four at 3pm on Wednesday 15th July)

Money Box Live: Buy Now, Pay Later Shake-Up

A deadline approaches for 860,000 self-employed people and landlords who must start reporting their income and expenses in a new way. It is called Making Tax Digital and it affects small businesses with a turnover or gross income above £50,000 a year. They have until 7th August to report their income and expenditure to HMRC. What do they need to know?

It is “unacceptable” that the government has refused to commit to bringing the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme back in-house. That’s according to PCS Union, which says a rare joint committee hearing in Parliament this week highlighted the “catastrophic failures” of the scheme, leaving many members facing “unacceptable delays, errors and distress” when trying to access the pensions they have worked their entire careers to earn. The Cabinet Office, which has overall responsibility for the scheme, says immediately terminating the contract would cause more problems and severely disrupt the pension payroll, jeopordizing the financial security of hundreds of thousands of public servants.

How are rules which make banks reimburse victims of fraud going? A new report evaluates the first year of Mandatory Reimbursement.

And a major high street bank has changed its mind after deciding not to allow customers to deposit their cheques in a Post Office. 

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Catherine Lund
Output Producer: Craig Henderson
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 11th July 2026)

Making Tax Digital Deadline and Cheques

We look at whether artificial intelligence is a help, or a hazard when it comes to helping you with your personal finances.

One in five adults in the UK - around 11 million people - are already open to the idea of using AI to manage their finances, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. But using AI to manage our money is not without risk. The FCA, the organisation tasked with keeping us financially safe, says that regulators are in an "arms race" to keep up with AI in financial services. We speak to the man behind its new report, Sheldon Mills.

And with the increase in AI useage likely to attract the scammers and the deepfakers, just how will regulation evolve to protect us?

Alongside presenter Ruth Alexander and taking listener questions is Simon Belshaw who is Chief Client Officer at the investment company Hargreaves Lansdown. And we hear from Elle Farrell-Kingsley, and advocate for AI ethics who has previously worked on artificial intelligence for one of the big tech companies.

Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producer: Craig Henderson
Researchers: Niamh McDermott, Catherine Lund
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

Pictured: Sheldon Mills, Financial Conduct Authority

(This edition was first broadcast on Wednesday July 8, 2026)

Money Box Live: Would you let AI manage your money?

Parliament was asked this week to help tens of thousands of young adults get access to their own money. It is sitting in the state-backed Child Trust Funds set up more than 15 years ago with contributions from the government, parents and other relatives. However, because these young people have learning disabilities the legal process for getting hold of their own money can cost more than the couple of thousand pounds typically in their fund. What happens next?

New figures reveal that in a single year half a million people said 'no thanks' to joining a workplace pension. Like everyone taking up a new job they were automatically enrolled into a pension, but they opted out before it even began. How might that impact their future?

Capita has missed the deadline to return services to normal for civil servants facing long delays in getting their pensions sorted. 

And, a major change to the Lifetime ISA could see it replaced with a new product designed solely for First Time Buyers. How will it work?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Meghan Owen
Researcher: Catherine Lund
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 4th July 2026)

Child Trust Fund "Injustice" and Pension Opt-Outs

Buying a flat used to be a stepping stone to owning a house – but has this all changed?

Research is telling us that the gap in price between flats and houses has hit a 30 year high. According to the property platform Zoopla, so far this this year two-thirds of one and two-bedroom flats listed for sale still haven't been sold. 

The leasehold system in England is being blamed, in large part, for the declining popularity of flats. There are concerns about the length of leases and the maintenance and service charges often involved when owning a flat. The Government is in the process of introducing new measures to deal with some of these issues. 

So today we're asking - what does buying a flat mean for your finances? Maybe you live in one and love it! Perhaps your children do? Or are you struggling to sell and feeling a bit flattened? 

Presenter Felicity Hannah puts listeners’ questions and concerns to an expert panel. Polly Gilbert is a director at the digital mortgage brokers Tembo, and Liam Spender is a trustee at the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. 

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Craig Henderson
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast 3pm Wednesday 1st July, 2026)

Buying a flat: stepping stone or millstone?

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)

Chair of the Banking Review and Winter Fuel Payments

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 typical amount of gas and electricity would pay £1823 a year.

In this Money Box Live, we're finding out how to manage energy debts and how to avoid getting into the red in the first place.

Ruth Alexander is joined by Matthew Sheeran from the free debt advice provider, Money Wellness, and Eleanor Taylor from Baringa.

Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producers: Sarah Rogers, Catherine Lund and Neil Morrow
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 3pm on Wednesday 19th February 2025)

Money Box Live: Energy Debt Help

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