Where to keep warm this winter

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 825 Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's going to be the coldest weekend of the year so far. We already know that typical energy bills will be double what they were last winter. So everyone is looking for ways to use less electricity and gas at the same time as trying to stay warm. One solution is being offered by so-called 'warm banks' - places where people can go to keep warm if they're struggling to afford heating costs. The Warm Welcome campaign now has more than three thousand places open on its website and says last week alone 80 thousand people kept warm in one of them - up by more than a fifth on the previous week. We visit Widnes library and speak to the organisers of the campaign. If you’re looking for somewhere to go to keep warm the website is https://www.warmwelcome.uk/

Losing your spouse or civil partner is always a difficult time financially - the funeral, paying bills and losing a second income all add to the stress. There is money from the government to help - totalling more than £4,000 for those without children and nearly £10,000 for those with. This Bereavement Support Payment was introduced in April 2017 and is paid to surviving partners who are under the state pension age of 66. We discuss how to get it and how to avoid missing out.

A third of all bank and building society branches have closed in the last decade. One solution to this is a new expansion of banking hubs. Our reporter Clare Worden visits the opening of a new hub in East Yorkshire.

And how to make sure you don’t lose out on claiming a Cost of Living Payment to help with energy bills.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Clare Worden Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Star McFarlane Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 10th December, 2022)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.2	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:39.4	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:43.2	Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast.
0:46.3	Should the government do more to tell people under pension age about a cash payment worth thousands of pounds if their wife, husband or civil partner dies. As bank branches
0:56.2	close down, banking hubs begin to spring up, but will they ever replace the banking network
1:02.1	that's being slowly dismantled? And low-income pensioners who do not get pension credit
1:07.2	should see if they qualify for it this week. It could mean over hundreds of pounds
1:11.9	to help with their heating bills. But first, winter has truly begun. The coldest weekend so far,
1:19.1	with snow falling, and temperatures in most of the country at zero or below. The Met Office says
1:24.8	the big freeze will worsen over the next few days. With typical energy bills
1:29.0	double what they were last winter, and already December, much colder than last year, everyone is
1:34.9	looking for ways to use less electricity and gas at the same time as trying to stay warm. One solution
1:41.2	being offered are so-called warm banks, places where people can go if they're struggling to keep warm at home.
1:47.6	The warm welcome campaign now has thousands of places registered on its website,
1:52.2	ranging from churches and community centres to businesses and libraries.
1:56.4	Our reporter, Claire Worden, went to Cheshire to visit Witness Library.
	...

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