Saving Rates and Pension Helpline Problems
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has stepped in to tell banks to put up the rates paid to savers after the Bank of England raised the official Bank Rate to 5%. Many mortgage rates went up at once and more have been increased this week, but the rates paid on savings by the banks have not followed them. The gap between the two has almost doubled from December 2021. We hear from Gillian who runs a business in Bromsgrove and ask how banks make decisions on savings rates.
More than two million calls to a helpline for people wanting to boost their state pension have been blocked by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Minister in charge of what is called the Future Pension Centre, Laura Trott, has admitted that in the first five months of the year more than two million calls were cut off without even being allowed to join the call waiting queue.
A new energy price cap comes into effect today. This will see households pay an average of 2,074 pounds a year. This is lower than the level at which government subsidies kept bills but still 800 pounds more than two years ago. We'll also look at how smart meter data is being used to research fuel poverty.
Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Felicity Hannah Researcher: Sandra Hardial Editor: Jess Quayle
(First broadcast 12pm, Saturday 1st July, 2023)
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 |
| 0:21.7 | Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. This is |
| 0:27.8 | the Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. More than two million calls to a state pension |
| 0:42.8 | helpline were cut off by the Department for Work and Pensions before they even joined |
| 0:47.8 | the queue to speak to an advisor. Working parents on universal credit can get a big boost to their childcare payments from the end of June. |
| 0:57.9 | And despite the fall in energy prices on the 1st of July, some unique new data claims that some |
| 1:03.7 | households will need almost £600 in support this winter to avoid putting their health at risk. |
| 1:10.0 | But first, the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, |
| 1:12.5 | has told banks to put up the rates paid to save us after the Bank of England raised the official |
| 1:17.6 | bank rate to 5% last week. Many mortgage rates went up at once and more have been increased |
| 1:23.4 | this week. But the rates paid by banks on our savings haven't followed them. The gap |
| 1:28.7 | between the two has almost doubled since December 2021. New data given to Money Box by |
| 1:34.8 | Money Facts shows the average two-year mortgage on Friday was almost 6.4%. But the average paid on |
| 1:42.3 | savings was just 2.4% in a High Street Bank Instant Access account, |
| 1:48.1 | and many are still paying below 1% on some savings accounts. |
| 1:52.5 | And it's not just the Chancellor who thinks this is unfair. |
| 1:55.4 | Here's Gillian. |
| 1:56.3 | She sells food to hungry shoppers in a town centre market in Bromsgrove, West Midlands. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
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.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.