Welcome to This Is Money podcast sponsored by Trading 212. I'm Georgie Frost and joining me and

Simon Lamb today is Sir Steve Webb, who is celebrating a very special anniversary. 10 years of

being a columnist for This Is Money, replying to hundreds of readers with their pension problems,

and in turn helping many thousands more with their

own retirement savings. So we're going to do things a little differently today. In the first

time of the show, we grill sleep on all things pensions, from the sustainability of the triple

lock to whether those in their 30s and 40s are slightly screwed, and what keeps them awake

at night in the world of retirement savings. And in the second half, Simon and I will turn our focus elsewhere. How much can you really save on a new car? Is Barclay's offer to pay you a grand? Really a such a good deal? And a decent problem to have, can you pass on an inheritance that you don't need? Don't be getting yourself to date.. With all the latest breaking money news, just go to this ismoney.com. UK or download the app. The first, 10 years of being a columnist for This Is Money. And that's not his own job. He's also a partner at LCP as well, by the way. But he manages to fit it all in. So Steve, on behalf of all the readers

who have definitely learnt a thing or two from you, thank you. Thank you, Georgie. It's nice to be

with you again. Always a pleasure to have you on the show, Steve. It's there one letter, I just

want to ask, one letter, I know 10 years is a long time, my memory is not that good, but

or an issue that you've covered in that time that will stay with you forever.

Definitely.

I mean, there are lots of individuals that's been possible to help, and you have to not lose sight of the individuals in all of this.

But occasionally something snowballs and helps vast numbers of people. And I think back to a column in early 2020, and apparently innocent email from a gentleman who said his wife's state pension had seemed a bit low, and they phoned up, and they got it increased, and he didn't think this was right the way it had worked. So we found out a bit, I learned something, I have to say, as I often do in replying to column and realized a bit more about how the system worked, we wrote that. And it started at avalanche,

people writing in saying, well, I'm a widow and mine is a bit low, and I'm over 80, and mine's

a bit low. And roll forward four years and the government paid eight hundred million pounds in

pensions of rears to over 100,000 people, you know, just from that one initial column. Yeah, I can see why that would stay with you forever. Has that all been sorted out now, Steve? Well, yes and no. I mean, so there was a bonus win, which was that even the government looked at all of this and said, my goodness, how did this happen? We'd better do some proper checks. And so for the first time in years, they then did some extra checks and found another set of errors for women who've been at home, bringing up children, not getting credits. They've already paid out another hundred million on that one. So in a sense, that's ongoing. We're still trying to get that sorted. But there are still aspects of this that unresolved. I'm still supporting. In fact, the very first person who wrote in, that couple, have never got anything out of all of this. Wow. And I'm still supporting them. I've got a case with the ombudsman at the moment. So it's ongoing, let's say. It was a favour, Steve. So what does it all work for those of us who are not columnists or newspaper writers?

How do you, do you have a chat with Simon?

Do you get loads of letters?

Like, what's the process?

We get questions in every week email to pension questions that this is money.

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