Energy debt and Pension Withdrawals
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, the energy watchdog Ofgem released data showing energy debts reached £2.6 billion between April and June. It says the rise in debt was due to both the increase in wholesale energy prices and wider cost of living pressures. We'll get reaction to that figure from Octopus Energy, one of the UK's biggest suppliers.
More and more people are taking money out of their private pensions. Between April and June, 4 billion pounds was withdrawn from pensions by more than 500,000 people - 15% more than a year ago. What should you consider before you take money out of your pension?
And, two weeks before the deadline to get your paper tax return in, HMRC says it will take three weeks to post the form to you. What are your options if you still need to send one?
Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle
(First broadcast, 12pm Saturday 14th October, 2023)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation. |
| 0:07.0 | It was an extraordinary news story. |
| 0:09.0 | The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny, |
| 0:14.0 | mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared. |
| 0:18.0 | One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for Lucan. |
| 0:22.1 | It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. This is The Lucan Obsession. |
| 0:29.2 | Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. |
| 0:39.6 | A record £4 billion was taken out of pension funds in just three months. |
| 0:44.2 | Is raiding your pension to pay today's bills a good idea? |
| 0:48.3 | And two weeks before the deadline to get your paper tax return in, |
| 0:52.3 | HMRC says it will take three weeks to post the form to you. |
| 0:57.2 | But first, households across Britain owed their electricity and gas suppliers more than two |
| 1:02.8 | and a half billion pounds in April, May and June. That figure from the regulator Offgem is more |
| 1:08.6 | than 40% higher than it was in the previous three months. |
| 1:12.7 | And Moneybox has been told exclusively that it is owed by more than 2 million customers, |
| 1:18.0 | so an average debt of nearly £1,200. |
| 1:21.4 | Cordelia lived with her disabled husband in Shropshire and has £2,000 of energy debt. |
| 1:27.2 | Well, the stress earlier this year, coupled with my husband's cancer diagnosis and all the |
| 1:34.0 | other bills, the stress was, well, incredible, to be honest, and I can understand why it can |
| 1:42.9 | drive people, you know, over the top. |
| 1:47.1 | It really was terrible. |
| 1:49.3 | How do you think it's going to be this winter when it gets cold? |
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