Summary
Long lost, wealthy relatives who’ve sadly died but for whom you “might” be the next of kin – too good to be true or the real thing? We explain how to spot the difference and how to tell the good heir hunters from the bad.
A disabled mother of two is being denied Healthy Start vouchers for her young children because she is on the wrong benefit. The vouchers provide more than a thousand pounds over four years to help low-income mothers buy milk and food for their growing children. But disabled people on a benefit called Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) only get the vouchers while they are pregnant.
The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales shows a massive rise in the amount of fraud being carried out against victims – up by more than a third to 5.1m cases between October 2020 and September 2021.
Inflation is already at levels not seen for a generation and this week food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe highlighted how she believes the real figure can be even worse for people on low incomes. So how was inflation first calculated, what are the different ways it’s been measured in the past, how do they compare to the here and now and should it be changed for the future?
Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Chris Flynn Producer: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Drew Miller-Hyndman and Sandra Hardial Editor: Emma Rippon
Email story ideas and questions to [email protected] or tweet @Moneybox
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one. |
| 0:06.5 | I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:11.2 | I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects, |
| 0:16.0 | relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life. |
| 0:22.4 | So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature, |
| 0:28.3 | and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you. |
| 0:33.6 | So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:39.4 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:44.0 | Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. |
| 0:47.3 | New fraud figures chart the inexorable rise of this almost ubiquitous crime. |
| 0:52.8 | As inflation reaches a 30-year high, is it even worse for households |
| 0:57.0 | on low incomes, and buried treasure on a branch of your family tree, but who to trust to dig it up for you? |
| 1:04.9 | First, though, a disabled mother of two is being denied healthy start vouchers for her young children |
| 1:10.5 | because she's on the wrong |
| 1:12.2 | benefit. The vouchers provide more than £1,000 over four years, to help low-income mothers |
| 1:18.2 | buy milk and food for their growing children. But disabled women on a benefit called Employment |
| 1:23.2 | and Support Allowance, or ESA, only get the vouchers while they are pregnant, not once their child is born. |
| 1:30.2 | Ali Bennett Cox explains what missing out on these vouchers means to her. |
| 1:34.7 | Well, it can make a big difference when you're trying to afford things like baby formula |
| 1:42.0 | or extra milk or vegetables or fruit when the prices of most things are |
| 1:49.4 | going up every week it's noticeable in your weekly shop at the moment i think there's an extra layer |
| 1:56.0 | to it with disabled people because say you want to give your baby some carrots for lunch. If you're |
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