Energy Costs for Families and Salary Sacrifice Pensions

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 825 Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New research suggests there are 6 million children across the UK living in fuel poverty, according to the charity National Energy Action. It defines fuel poverty as when a household has to spend at least 10% of its income to keep their home warm. It says the impact on children of living in a home which parents and carers struggle to keep warm can be significant. We'll hear more about what it would like to see change and discuss how the government and suppliers already help those struggling with bills.

Of all the Budget measures perhaps the most misunderstood is the plan to restrict what is called salary sacrifice - giving up some of your pay so your employer can use that money to boost your pension. It won't actually happen until April 2029 but many Money Box listeners have been getting touch with questions. We'll take a look at those.

How to keep Christmas costs low, as a debt charity finds thousands of people used its website for help on Christmas Day.

And how tax relief for people who are asked to work from home is changing.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researcher: Eimear Devlin Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson

(First broadcast on Radio 4 at 12pm Saturday 6th December 2025)

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.5	It's like going into an ice path with your hands as the ice.
0:10.8	In 2025, we were here for the entertainment.
0:13.8	Ellis and John.
0:14.9	Have you not considered just coffee, which is what I do?
0:17.6	Sightracked with Annie and Nick.
0:19.4	Stevie Wonder, welcome. I'm pleasure. Loyal Carnar is with us. Want to hear all about Glastonbury. And Celebrity Traitors Uncloaked. Welcome to Uncloaked Island. Oh, thanks for having me, Ed. The winner. I know still hasn't sunk in. Get the best of 2025 with podcasts on BBC Sounds. Hello. In this Moneybox podcast on BBC Sounds.
0:45.3	Hello. In this Moneybox podcast, winter for some children means doing their homework in cold homes with numb fingers.
0:51.7	And we hear from parents struggling to keep their home warm for their children, even when both of them are in work.
0:56.1	10 pound a day. And that's just obviously trying to keep the house warm.
0:57.4	May I say something?
0:58.1	Of course you may.
1:00.1	She is a hard working mum.
1:06.2	The government will impose new limits on the amount of salary you can swap for pension contributions.
1:10.3	But what is salary sacrifice and who will the changes affect?
1:14.2	Tax relief, the people who have to work from home is being scrapped,
1:18.0	and is the debt of Christmas past still haunting you today?
1:22.9	How can we spend sensibly in this most expensive month of the year? But we start with that first story about fuel poverty.
1:31.7	New research from UGov suggests there are 6 million children across the UK living in so-called fuel poverty in the run-up to Christmas.
1:36.3	For them, winter can mean doing homework with numb fingers in a room that's damp with mould.
1:41.8	The survey was done for the charity National Energy Action. It defines
1:45.7	fuel poverty as a household spending at least 10% of its income on energy bills. And it says
	...

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