Summary
Thousands of people say they’ve been shut out of their bank accounts without warning or explanation. MPs are investigating whether innocent customers have been caught up in a crackdown on money laundering.
For the first time in 25 years the one-off payment given to adult prison leavers in England and Wales is to be raised. The Prison Discharge Grant will increase from £46 to £76, but what difference will that make?
Last year 155,000 people shared an extra £16m in pay after that HMRC ensured they were getting minimum wage. Plus the latest clampdown on debt packager or IVA lead generator firms
GUESTS: Nicki Stopford - chief operating officer for the online complaints service Resolver. Monique Williams - Head of Delivery at Switchback, a charity for male prison leavers Clare Merrills - from HMRC Amy Taylor - Chair of the Greater Manchester Money Advice Group
Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Production Co-ordinator: Janet Staples Researcher: Stefania Okereke Producer: Joe Kent Editor: Alex Lewis
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.8 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.5 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to |
| 0:22.4 | helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put |
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| 0:35.0 | check out BBC Sounds. |
| 0:41.2 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:47.0 | Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. Thousands of people get a wage rise after their employer is forced to pay them minimum wage. The grant to prisoners in England and Wales |
| 0:52.2 | when they leave jail is to rise in August, |
| 0:55.1 | but will it be enough to help them avoid re-offending? |
| 0:58.1 | And six firms stop giving debt advice after the regulator says there's a serious conflict of interest in what they do. |
| 1:05.8 | But first, thousands of people say they've had their bank accounts frozen without explanation when they've done nothing wrong. |
| 1:13.2 | This week, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Mel Stride, wrote to the head of the financial regulator saying he was very concerned that Nat West Bank might have frozen the accounts of some vulnerable customers on low incomes for no apparent reason. |
| 1:27.4 | Such action, he said, could have a profound effect on people's lives. |
| 1:31.2 | Moneybox has heard from many listeners in this position. |
| 1:33.8 | One is 18-year-old Harley from Cornwall, whose account was frozen after he tried to buy an off-road vehicle. |
| 1:40.3 | I bought a car for 900 quid. |
| 1:42.5 | I did a bank transfer to pay for it, and it left my account but never got to his. |
| 1:47.7 | And it was hell with Nat West and the payment was never made. |
| 1:52.0 | We had a police here, police at Nat West because we wouldn't leave until the problem was resolved. |
| 1:57.7 | It's wasted like hours of my time. |
... |
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