<description>&lt;p&gt;The chair of Parliament’s Energy Select Committee has told Money Box it’s “vital” the Energy Ombudsman is given new, stronger powers as quickly as possible. Bill Esterson says that it is too easy for energy suppliers to simply ignore ombudsman decisions leaving consumers powerless. Energy UK, which represents suppliers, says customers have the right to expect a good service and, in the vast majority of cases, suppliers are able to work with the Energy Ombudsman to resolve cases within 28 days.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As people live longer healthier lives more and more are working longer - often well past the state pension of 66. A new analysis of HMRC data found a 12 percent rise in the number of people working past the state pension age over the past five years. What's driving that increase?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Top tips for filing your self-assessment ahead of the deadline next week.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And as the number of payments made by cheque drops, what does the future look like for their usage? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Haider Saleem
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 24th January 2026)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

A senior MP says it's too easy for energy suppliers to ignore ombudsman decisions.

The chair of Parliament’s Energy Select Committee has told Money Box it’s “vital” the Energy Ombudsman is given new, stronger powers as quickly as possible. Bill Esterson says that it is too easy for energy suppliers to simply ignore ombudsman decisions leaving consumers powerless. Energy UK, which represents suppliers, says customers have the right to expect a good service and, in the vast majority of cases, suppliers are able to work with the Energy Ombudsman to resolve cases within 28 days.As people live longer healthier lives more and more are working longer - often well past the state pension of 66. A new analysis of HMRC data found a 12 percent rise in the number of people working past the state pension age over the past five years. What's driving that increase?Top tips for filing your self-assessment ahead of the deadline next week.And as the number of payments made by cheque drops, what does the future look like for their usage? Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Haider Saleem
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 24th January 2026)

Energy Ombudsman Powers and Cheques

<description>&lt;p&gt;Buying a new car last year increasingly meant going electric. Around one in four new car buyers made that choice with almost half a million electric cars registered over the year, according to industry figures. That means there are more than 1.8 million fully electric cars driving around the UK, which is still only just over 5 per cent of cars on the road. But in the next few years, more motorists will start navigating the change because by 2030 the UK government is banning the sale of new petrol and diesel, with hybrids allowed until 2035. So how much do electric cars to buy and run, and how easy is it to travel long distances in them?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Joining Felicity Hannah are Stuart Masson from the website The Car Expert and Melanie Shufflebotham from Zap Map, which is an app and website showing where public charging points are.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle 
Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 21st of January 2026)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

How much does it cost to go electric?

Buying a new car last year increasingly meant going electric. Around one in four new car buyers made that choice with almost half a million electric cars registered over the year, according to industry figures. That means there are more than 1.8 million fully electric cars driving around the UK, which is still only just over 5 per cent of cars on the road. But in the next few years, more motorists will start navigating the change because by 2030 the UK government is banning the sale of new petrol and diesel, with hybrids allowed until 2035. So how much do electric cars to buy and run, and how easy is it to travel long distances in them?Joining Felicity Hannah are Stuart Masson from the website The Car Expert and Melanie Shufflebotham from Zap Map, which is an app and website showing where public charging points are.Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle 
Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 21st of January 2026)

Money Box Live: Do Electric Cars Add Up?

<description>&lt;p&gt;When it comes to keeping our homes warm nearly all of us rely on just a handful of big energy suppliers. And during the winter, especially with the cold temperatures, we rely on those suppliers to do their job. When they don't customers can firstly complain to their supplier but, if they're still not happy, they can take their complaint to something called the Energy Ombudsman. It's a free, impartial service and gets thousands of complaints every year. In most cases, when the ombudsman makes a decision, that decision is followed to the letter, quickly, by suppliers. But in some cases that doesn't happen - we investigate one listener's battle over a £1,700 bill.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;HMRC has told MPs it's going to take more care in how it handles its effort to crack down on fraud and error, after a mistake which led to thousands of families wrongly losing their Child Benefit.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was the Scottish government's Budget this week and there were quite a few changes promised for people's pockets, we'll round up the details.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And, there's a huge amount to think about when buying a home, from sorting the mortgage to getting quotes for removal companies, but one thing you might not be expecting is that your new home might come with rules telling you what you can and cannot do with it. Restrictive covenants are binding conditions written into the actual property deeds or contracts. What can you do to protect yourself from any financial impacts?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Eimear Devlin and Phil Simm
Researcher: Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 17th January 2026)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The listener whose energy supplier ignored the ombudsman over a £1,700 bill.

When it comes to keeping our homes warm nearly all of us rely on just a handful of big energy suppliers. And during the winter, especially with the cold temperatures, we rely on those suppliers to do their job. When they don't customers can firstly complain to their supplier but, if they're still not happy, they can take their complaint to something called the Energy Ombudsman. It's a free, impartial service and gets thousands of complaints every year. In most cases, when the ombudsman makes a decision, that decision is followed to the letter, quickly, by suppliers. But in some cases that doesn't happen - we investigate one listener's battle over a £1,700 bill.HMRC has told MPs it's going to take more care in how it handles its effort to crack down on fraud and error, after a mistake which led to thousands of families wrongly losing their Child Benefit.It was the Scottish government's Budget this week and there were quite a few changes promised for people's pockets, we'll round up the details.And, there's a huge amount to think about when buying a home, from sorting the mortgage to getting quotes for removal companies, but one thing you might not be expecting is that your new home might come with rules telling you what you can and cannot do with it. Restrictive covenants are binding conditions written into the actual property deeds or contracts. What can you do to protect yourself from any financial impacts?Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Eimear Devlin and Phil Simm
Researcher: Jo Krasner
Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 17th January 2026)

Energy Bill Battle and Restrictive Covenants

<description>&lt;p&gt;There's a topic that often appears in the Money Box inbox, inheritance tax.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's money paid by the estate of someone once they die, as long as the total value of all their property, possessions, cash and soon pensions are worth more than a fixed threshold set by the government.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the moment Government figures say just 5% of estates actually pay the tax, so relatively low, but there are changes coming in this year and next which could increase that number.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Questions around who pays it and how much it is as well as the rules around passing on wealth to loved ones are never far away from the top of our in tray. So, today we'll answer as many as we can.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Joining presenter Felicity Hannah this week is Clare Moffat, pension and tax specialist at the mutual life, pensions and investment company Royal London and Nina Sperring, wealth protection solicitor and partner at the law firm Price, Slater, Gawne.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(This episode was first broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday the 14th of January 2026)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Who pays inheritance tax, and what are the rules?

There's a topic that often appears in the Money Box inbox, inheritance tax.It's money paid by the estate of someone once they die, as long as the total value of all their property, possessions, cash and soon pensions are worth more than a fixed threshold set by the government.At the moment Government figures say just 5% of estates actually pay the tax, so relatively low, but there are changes coming in this year and next which could increase that number.Questions around who pays it and how much it is as well as the rules around passing on wealth to loved ones are never far away from the top of our in tray. So, today we'll answer as many as we can.Joining presenter Felicity Hannah this week is Clare Moffat, pension and tax specialist at the mutual life, pensions and investment company Royal London and Nina Sperring, wealth protection solicitor and partner at the law firm Price, Slater, Gawne.Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson(This episode was first broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday the 14th of January 2026)

Money Box Live: Inheritance Tax

<description>&lt;p&gt;More than 60% of parents who lost their child benefit because the tax office believed incorrectly they'd moved abroad, were in fact eligible for the benefit, which is worth at least a hundred pounds a month. As we've reported on this programme before, the mistakes were made after travel data was used to conclude parents had permanently left the UK, but actually many of them had simply been on holiday. The scale of the mistake has been shown in a written question raised in parliament, where the government revealed that 63% of payments were wrongly suspended. HMRC has apologised to customers who had their Child Benefit suspended incorrectly. It also told us that it estimates that £270 million of Child Benefit payments were incorrectly claimed in 2024-25 – with unreported residency changes a leading cause. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Credit card borrowing rose at the fastest annual rate for almost two years in November. The new data from the Bank of England shows that outstanding credit card balances rose to nearly 78 billion pounds, which is up almost 12 per cent on November the year before. What might be behind that rise?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And the pension ruling which could help boost your pension by 720 pounds every year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 10th January 2026)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Why is credit card borrowing rising faster than it has in almost two years?

More than 60% of parents who lost their child benefit because the tax office believed incorrectly they'd moved abroad, were in fact eligible for the benefit, which is worth at least a hundred pounds a month. As we've reported on this programme before, the mistakes were made after travel data was used to conclude parents had permanently left the UK, but actually many of them had simply been on holiday. The scale of the mistake has been shown in a written question raised in parliament, where the government revealed that 63% of payments were wrongly suspended. HMRC has apologised to customers who had their Child Benefit suspended incorrectly. It also told us that it estimates that £270 million of Child Benefit payments were incorrectly claimed in 2024-25 – with unreported residency changes a leading cause. Credit card borrowing rose at the fastest annual rate for almost two years in November. The new data from the Bank of England shows that outstanding credit card balances rose to nearly 78 billion pounds, which is up almost 12 per cent on November the year before. What might be behind that rise?And the pension ruling which could help boost your pension by 720 pounds every year.Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Eimear Devlin
Editor: Jess Quayle(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 10th January 2026)

Child Benefit and Credit Cards

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