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Money Box

Self Employment and Scam Texts

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2825 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, the Office for National Statistics employment data showed that one reason behind the increase in the number of people in work is the growth in self-employment. Though the total numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels, more people are now starting a new business. We'll hear from four entrepreneurs about their experiences and have some advice for anyone thinking about doing so.

Money Box has learned more than 1,100 people have reported having had a total of £1.3m stolen from them in the last year by criminals using so called "hi mum" or "hi dad" scam messages. The figures from Action Fraud peaked in the run up to Christmas but the scam is still very active with hundreds of thousands of pounds being stolen in the first three months of this year alone. What should you look out for?

We often talk about the cost of living and the effect of rising inflation on lower income households, but this week there is new evidence of how it is hitting people earning between £40,000 and £80,000. We'll hear from Royal London whose research found over a third of people had gone overdrawn or borrowed in other ways - some even taking out expensive payday loans.

And a new report suggests tens of millions of pounds belonging to about 80,000 young people without mental capacity to make financial decisions could be locked in trust funds. What does that mean for families and what is the government's response?

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12noon Saturday 22nd April, 2023)

Transcript

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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.

0:22.1

It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime.

0:26.0

I'm Alex Fondunzlement.

0:27.4

This is The Lucan Obsession.

0:29.2

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:32.8

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:36.5

Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast.

0:39.1

Or should I say, hi mum, I've lost my phone and bought a new one, so I'm a bit short of cash.

0:44.5

The million pound a year, hi mum, text fraud.

0:48.6

It's the squeezed middle being squeezed so hard, they're borrowing money at extortionate rates,

0:53.6

and lawyers estimate that 80,000

0:55.8

young people with learning difficulties are locked out of their government-sponsored child trust

1:00.8

funds. But first, new jobs data from the Office for National Statistics shows that self-employment

1:07.0

is growing, up by 134,000 people in the last three months, and that's one reason behind the

1:13.7

increase in the number of people in work. The total number of self-employed people, just over

1:18.9

four million, is still below pre-pandemic levels, but more and more people are now embarking

1:24.1

on setting up a new business, and it's not always as easy as they expect.

1:28.5

Even if they've been holding down a good job, there's something different about doing it all

...

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