Money Box

The average UK rent has broken through the £1000 barrier for the first time and inflation is starting to push up landlords costs.How do you beat the rush for viewings? Could rent controls be a short term solution? And could a good tenant and landlord relationship solve all your woes?Charmaine Cozier is joined by an expert panel for tenants and landlords to answer questions and offer advice.Ruth Ehrlich, Policy Manager at Shelter.Chris Norris, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the National Residential Landlords Association.Elsie Bradley-Middle, Member of ACORN Renters Union.For more information on renting and letting: https://www.nrla.org.uk/ https://www.shelter.org.uk/Producer: Drew Hyndman Editor: Emma Rippon

The telecoms watchdog Ofcom has drawn up proposals to make it harder for criminals to fake caller ID when they phone people. It’s called number spoofing and happens when crooks use technology to make the number that comes up on your phone appear as though the call is coming from a legitimate organisation like your bank or the police. We hear from Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s Group Director for Networks and Communications.Big changes to the way student loans are repaid in England could change the balance for parents who can afford to pay for their education. The government's plans would extend the repayment period for the loans from 30 to 40 years before any balance is written off and reduce the earnings threshold at which the extra 9% tax kicks in. We hear from Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.A listener who pays for energy via prepayment meters asks if it's worth topping up ahead of prices rises in April. We hear from energy suppliers and the regulator, Ofgem.Plus a David and Goliath story. Money Box listener David takes on HMRC over self-assessment tax return financial penalties. Listen to find out who wins this time - and how. Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Paul Waters Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Ben Henderson Editor: Emma Rippon(Photo credit Tero Vesalainen/Getty images)

As Russian military forces continue bombarding Ukrainian cities and civilians, are your investments supporting the Kremlin's regime? International companies have been pulling out of Russian investment, and pension funds and investment firms say they are reducing holdings in Russian companies. But what can ordinary investors do? Are you aware that a tracker fund or an investment bond might help support Russian firms? We hear from Lucy Coutts, Investment Director at JM Finn Wealth Management.For 1.7 million people across the UK, funeral plans offer peace of mind that when the inevitable happens their loved ones will be spared having to pay for a funeral. But there is big change on the way for the industry and those customers. By this summer all firms in the sector must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, to raise standards in the industry. But an indirect consequence of this is that tens of thousands of customers could lose out. Money Box reporter Dan Whitworth has been investigating. We also hear from Matt Brewis, Director of Insurance at the Financial Conduct Authority, and from James Daley of Fairer Finance.Many listeners have been getting in touch to ask about rises in the standing charge in their energy bills. We hear from Helen Barnard, Associate Director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.And Money Box has won back more than £8,000 for a listener who received a huge - and incorrect - fuel bill from Ecotricity. The company founder, Dale Vince, explains what went wrong and what he thinks is going wrong with the wider energy sector - and how to fix it.Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Paul Waters Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Ben Henderson Editor: Emma Rippon(Photo credit: Anghi / Getty Images)

As the cost of living rises, more people are facing going into debt. Whether it’s your rent, mortgage, utility bills or credit cards, breaking the cycle of debt isn’t easy.Who can you go to when you’re struggling to pay your debts? How do you prioritise your spending? Can you even negotiate your debts down? And how can you avoid debt altogether?Felicity Hannah talks to Chloe, Chris, Manga, Christine and James about their debt woes and wins.And to help advise and guide us through the world of debt they are joined by:Amy Taylor, Chair of the Greater Manchester Money Advice Group.Jayashri Lowe, Money Advice Manager at Citizens Advice Stafford North and Stoke On Trent.Bola Sol, financial coach and the author of How to Save It: Fix your Finances.For more information on managing debt: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ https://www.bolasol.co.uk/Producers: Drew Hyndman and Sylvie Carlos Editor: Emma Rippon

Looking for the latest episode? New episodes of Money Box will now be available first on BBC Sounds for four weeks before other podcast apps.If you haven’t already, you can download the BBC Sounds app to listen to the Money Box podcast first.BBC Sounds is also available in lots of other places. Find us on your voice device or smart speaker, on your connected TV, in your car, or at bbc.co.uk/sounds.The latest episode is available on BBC Sounds right now. BBC Sounds – you can find exclusive music mixes, live BBC radio and more podcasts like this one.

A BBC investigation has found that more than 50 people were tricked into working for a design agency that turned out to be fake. They were hired during the lockdown and convinced the company was a successful business. But it had an online universe of fake profiles, stolen work and lies. Workers were all Jobfished. Charmaine Cozier talks to BBC reporter Catrin Nye who investigated this story for the past 12 months and to former employee, Jordan Carter about what happened to him The programme also discusses what lessons we can learn to keep safe while searching & applying for jobs and what you can do if your job was not “as advertised”? We are offered guidance by: Keith Rosser , Co-Director and Chair of Jobsaware which provides free and independent advice on how to protect your rights as a non-permanent worker, whether that's through an agency, umbrella company or as part of the gig economy.John Clinch, an employment lawyer at 3CS Corporate Solicitors Ltd For further information https://www.jobsaware.co.uk/workersProducer Smita Patel Editor Emma Rippon

Plans to cut back on face-to-face debt advice in favour of regional call centres have been scrapped - for now. We hear from Craig Simmons, Head of Debt Policy and Strategy at the Money and Pensions Service, and from debt adviser Amy Taylor, who is also Chair of the Greater Manchester Money Advice Group. (Debt Advice links below.)An estimated £75 million a year is stolen from people in the UK by online subscription frauds. You buy one thing and are secretly subscribed forever. Reporter Athar Ahmad investigates the scams designed to tie customers up into monthly payments without them realising. (And there's more on this story on File on 4 on BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 8pm.)Around four million people have been moved from their energy supplier to one of the remaining big ones as 29 energy firms have gone bust since January last year. And that has left many people not knowing where they are with their bills - how much they might owe and to which firm and of course what will happen to any credit they have built up with the supplier that has gone out of business. So how do you get back £500 taken by your energy supplier who has gone bust? Reporter Dan Whitworth explains.There are about 1.7 million homes in the UK that are heated by oil from a tank outside. But unlike with mains gas, there is no price cap. We hear from Money Box listeners, and from Ken Cronin, the Chief Executive of the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association, UKIFDA. Debt Advice links: Money Helper - moneyhelper.org.uk/en/money-troubles/dealing-with-debt# Citizens Advice - citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/ Step Change - stepchange.org National Debtline - nationaldebtline.org Advice NI - adviceni.net Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Paul Waters Reporters: Dan Whitworth & Athar Ahmad Researcher: Marianna Brain Editor: Emma Rippon

Valentine’s Day, this week, may have been good, bad, ugly or plain irrelevant – but for millions of people it will also have been expensive. So in today’s Money Box Live, Adam Shaw and guests look at the costs of dating. What do you spend on finding and hooking up with someone? Is it worth spending money on how you look on dating sites, plus for the date itself? And do you split the bill at the end of a date? Adam Shaw talks to listeners Jan, Roger, Fay, Georgie and Mike who tell us about their money & dating experiences. And to help guide us through the finances of dating they are joined by: James Bloodworth, journalist, author and host of a podcast called "The Modern Dating Economy" and Jo Hemmings, dating coach & behavioural psychologist, a woman who knows her way around the love & dating game. For more information: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-modern-dating-economy/id1539621613 https://www.johemmings.co.uk/Producer Smita Patel Editor Rosamund Jones

You could get the best Christmas present this year, cash you thought you had lost forever! Louise Cooper and guests discuss how to trace financial assets you may have forgotten about in old bank accounts, pensions, investments and perhaps insurance policies. Joining Louise Cooper to discuss how to locate your share of an estimated £50 billion languishing unloved and unclaimed in various places are:Kaya Marchant, Pensions Specialist at MoneyHelper Carol Knight, Chief of Operations at The Investing and Saving Alliance Janet Reid, Head of the Lost Accounts Project at Cambridge Building Society Producer Smita Patel Editor Alex Lewis

In April, benefits and the state pension will rise by just over three per cent. That is less than half the increase in prices which is predicted by the Bank of England. So people on benefits will be able buy less even with their increased benefits. One campaigner said it’s not so much choosing between heating and eating - more a choice between freezing or starving. What’s it like for people on the front line of the cost of living crisis and should taxpayers even be paying for a rise at all? Last week we learned that the price of gas to heat our homes was going to soar – but most people are protected by the price cap. That’s not the case for around 800,000 households which get heating from Heat Networks - or communal heating - where multiple homes, usually flats, are heated by one boiler. The residents pay for their gas through management agents or housing associations. And because these are commercial contracts they are not capped like for domestic fuel. Their bills look set to triple or even quadruple. We find out what help, if any, is out there for them. For nearly half a million UK pensioners living abroad the increase in their state pension will be even less than the 3.1% mentioned earlier. It will in fact be zero. In about 50 countries the pension is increased with inflation as it is in the UK. But in the rest of the world including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand as well as India and most African and Caribbean countries, the state pension is frozen at the rate it is first paid abroad. A petition to change this was launched in January but it still has barely half the signatures needed to get a Government response. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Chris Flynn Producer: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Marianna Brain Editor: Emma Rippon