Pension Freedoms and Flee Funds

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2024

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week marks 10 years since a landmark shift in the way we could all use our pensions. Back in the Spring of 2014 the then Chancellor George Osborne announced plans for new freedoms, allowing people over the age of 55 to take 25 per cent of their pension tax-free and use the rest as they wished. What impact did that have?

Hundreds of survivors of economic and physical domestic abuse have been helped by a new scheme set up by one of the UK's biggest banks. TSB's "Flee Fund" was launched just over a year ago to offer financial help to people trying to escape abusive partners. Dan Whitworth reports from Preston.

There was a rare U-turn from HMRC this week. On Tuesday it announced it was planning to close its self-assessment phone helpline for six months of every year. The tax authority said it wanted people to use a chatbot and access its online services instead. Then, just over 24 hours later, HMRC changed its mind and halted those plans. It says its "listened to the feedback and is halting the helpline changes as it recognises more needs to be done to ensure all taxpayers’ needs are met, whilst also encouraging them to transition to online services.” What does that mean?

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researchers: Luke Smithurst, Eimear Devlin and Sandra Hardial.

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 23rd March 2024)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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.
0:21.6	It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime.
0:25.6	I'm Alex Fondunzelman.
0:26.6	This is The Lucan Obsession.
0:28.6	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.6	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:35.6	Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. Now, speedy may not be a word you
0:41.4	necessarily associate with HMRC, but it was pretty swift this week. It announced a massive change,
0:47.7	and then it reversed it after just 24 hours. We'll take a look. Then we'll hear how one bank is offering a
0:53.7	flee fund to help customers
0:55.4	escape abusive relationships, and we'll ask if others should be doing the same. But first, this
1:00.6	week marks 10 years since a landmark shift in the way we could all use our pensions. Cast your
1:06.7	minds back to spring 2014. Happy by Ferrell Williams was at the top of the charts, and the then
1:12.8	Chancellor George Osborne was announcing plans for new pension freedoms. It meant that people
1:18.5	over the age of 55 could take 25% of their pension pots tax-free and use the rest as they
1:24.9	wished. I'm announcing today that we will legislate to remove all remaining tax restrictions on how pensioners have access to their pension pots.
1:33.8	Pensioners will have complete freedom to draw down as much or as little of their pension pot as they want any time they want.
1:40.5	No caps, no drawdown limits.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.