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Money Box

Inheritance Planning and State Pension Underpayments

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2804 Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We look at changes which the Government has announced – and the speculation around those it hasn’t. Pension inheritance rules will change in 2027. It may seem a long time away, but people are making plans now. We hear from some of those pension planners as they try to clear up any confusion around the changes. We also look at speculation around what might be in the Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Autumn Budget, which she announced this week will take place on November 26.

His Majesty's Revenue and Customs tells Money Box it's deploying hundreds of staff to bring down waiting times for people making claims about missing state pension payments. It's already written to 370,000 people, mainly women, who took time off work to care for children and now might be getting less money than they should be because of an error in their National Insurance records. But given that HMRC has already admitted it's been, in its words, "inherently challenging" to try to fix the problem it might come as little surprise the vast majority of people still missing money, haven't been paid what they're owed.

Just a few weeks ago thousands of would-be university students found out whether they had achieved the right grades to get into the university of their choice. Now comes the reality check, when many wonder how they will afford to pay for it. Some argue that the level of Government maintenance loans only covers half the true cost of student living. The Higher Education Policy Institute has just conducted a study into maintenance loans in England and reckons they only cover half of the true costs of student life.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Amber Mehmood, Jo Krasner, Catherine Lund Editors: Jess Quayle, Craig Henderson

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, radio podcasts.

0:07.3

Right, you feeling ready? I'm feeling ready.

0:10.8

I'm Amal Rajin. Join me on my new podcast for in-depth conversations with pioneers and

0:16.0

innovators, talking about the trends and ideas that could help shape and change our future.

0:21.5

We are going to be digital citizens of this AI world, whether we like it or not.

0:26.2

From declining birth rates to disinformation online, can they solve the world's biggest challenges?

0:32.0

What I would love to do is go to the transfer and say radically cut the taxes of those with children.

0:37.3

Radical with me, Amal Rajin.

0:39.3

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:41.0

Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast.

0:44.0

HM Revenue and Customs deploys hundreds more staff to deal with huge demand from women

0:48.9

to correct their underpaid state pensions.

0:51.4

A quarter of a million 18-year-olds, thrilled to have got their

0:54.7

university place and now facing the reality of how to afford taking it up. And the town in East

1:00.7

Sussex, where the local Lewis Pound is finally spent. But first, on the 26th of November,

1:07.2

the Chancellor of Rachel Reeves will set out her Christmas list of the estimated

1:11.7

£40 billion of tax presents she wants from us all wrapped up in festive paper saying

1:18.1

manifesto pledges not broken and fiscal rules kept. Her autumn, well almost winter budget,

1:24.7

is still 81 days away, but that hasn't stopped speculation about what

1:29.4

will be in those expensive parcels. More on that later, but many of you are still puzzling

1:35.1

about what she announced in her last budget, nearly a year ago now, especially the change in

1:40.6

18 months' time, which will apply inheritance tax to unspent pension funds.

...

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