Winter Fuel Payment and Inheritance Tax

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hundreds of thousands of disabled pensioners will be unfairly impacted by the cut in Winter Fuel Payment, according to two leading charities who've spoken exclusively to Money Box. Disability Rights UK and Age UK have both told us that disabled pensioners often have higher energy bills because of medical needs and sharp cuts to the number of people receiving the payment will disproportionally affect them more than others. The government says it's committed to giving pensioners the dignity and security they deserve in retirement but says given the state of the public finances its inherited it’s right that it targets support to those who need it most. It says its protecting disabled pensioners through extra disability benefits such as Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payments. And that over a million pensioners will also continue to receive the Winter Fuel Payment and those on the full new State Pension will receive over £400 boost through the triple lock.

How might the Chancellor target Inheritance Tax in the upcoming Budget? Latest figures show that the government received a record £7.7 billion from IHT in the 12 months to July, up over 5% on a year before.

And, what can be done to encourage self-employed people to pay into a pension?

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Catherine Lund and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 14th September 2024)

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
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 and welcome to this Moneybox podcast. What can be done to encourage self-employed people to pay into a pension.
0:44.2	And many people hate it, but few actually pay it. Could inheritance tax be raised in next month's budget?
0:51.5	But first, as you've been hearing in the news, the government admitted late
0:55.3	last night that it knew more than one and a half million disabled pensioners would lose
1:00.3	two or £300 winter fuel payment this year. The admission, in response to a freedom of
1:06.0	information request, came as two leading charities exclusively told Moneybox that hundreds of thousands of disabled
1:13.3	pensioners who desperately need the payment will not get it. Disability Rights UK and Age UK say that
1:20.5	disabled pensioners often have higher energy bills because of their medical needs and even if their
1:26.1	income is too high to pass the new means test
1:29.2	imposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves,
1:31.9	the loss of the winter fuel payment can cause them great hardship.
1:35.7	Dan Whitworth has been speaking to one couple who will be affected.
1:38.7	Dan, what did they tell you?
1:40.5	Well, I've been talking to a couple we're going to call Anne and Albert.
1:43.9	They're from South Wales and to help protect their privacy, we're not using their real names.
1:48.4	Now, both are in their 70s, both have heart problems as well as serious life limiting conditions
	...

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