Bitcoin or Britcoin?

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bitcoin or Britcoin? The Bank of England has published the results of its consultation on creating a new central bank digital currency – and also the prospect of regulating other commercial digital currencies – so-called “safecoin”. We hear from the Bank’s deputy governor, Sir Jon Cunliffe and from cryptocurrency expert Kate Baucherel.

Four years after the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died, leaseholders living in tower blocks affected by the cladding crisis have started receiving and paying bills, sometimes for tens of thousands of pounds. The money is to pay for work to make the buildings safe. For homes in buildings under 18 metres high, which don’t qualify for a share of a £5 billion government fund, the bills can be huge. In February, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said there would be a loan scheme to help those people pay, and that it would be capped at £50 a month. But so far there’s no sign of the loans, nor much indication of when they might appear. We hear from a leaseholder facing payment demands now. And solicitor Liam Spender, of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, tells us what the options are for those affected.

It’s about to get easier for people with problem debt to freeze their repayments and even write off what they owe. The rules on Debt Relief Orders are changing in England and Wales at the end of this month, and will increase the number of people eligible to apply. Sam Nurse, director of the Money Advice Hub, explains the details.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Paul Waters Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Stefania Okereke

Transcript

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0:00.0	In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers.
0:08.0	But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA
0:12.0	was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife.
0:18.0	Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? When lies are still being told to this day,
0:24.0	who do you believe? I wouldn't even know where to start and I'm with the IRA.
0:28.5	Steakknife. Listen first on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to this Moneybox podcast. You've heard of Bitcoin, but brace yourself for
0:42.0	Bitcoin. This week, the Bank of England revealed more of its thinking on a UK digital
0:46.7	currency, so we'll ask them, why do we need one? Then there's a big change in debt relief
0:51.5	orders coming, meaning many more people with problem debt will be able to use them. But first, Moneybox has learned leaseholders living in tower blocks,
0:59.4	affected by the cladding crisis, have already started receiving bills to make the building safe.
1:04.6	Even though a promised government loan scheme designed to help them hasn't started yet,
1:08.9	and no launch date has been announced. Some of those bills
1:11.8	are for tens of thousands of pounds. Now back in February, the community secretary, Robert
1:16.6	Jenrick, said the state-backed loan scheme would help those people with the cost and that it would
1:21.4	be capped at £50 a month. But there's still no date set. And meanwhile, some leaseholders are being
1:27.1	given just weeks to pay up.
1:29.2	Our reporter Dan Whitworth has been looking at this and joins me in the studio.
1:33.3	Dan, tell me why people are getting these bills. What about the government's £5 billion building safety fund?
1:39.1	Well, Fliss, that fund doesn't cover all the work. It only pays for the removal of cladding
1:43.5	and then only on buildings over 18 metres high.
1:47.4	So leaseholders who live in smaller buildings have to pay for the work that's needed themselves.
1:52.0	Okay, so presumably many of those leaseholders will need this government loan scheme to afford those bills.
	...

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