Winter Fuel Payment and Using Cash

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many pensioners in England and Wales will lose Winter Fuel Payments this year. This annual payment had been universal and worth £200 or £300 pounds a year, depending on your age. From this winter it will be restricted to pensioners receiving Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits. The reason for means testing it this way is to save money - about £1.5bn each year. In a statement the government told us that "given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most." So how will you be affected? The Department for Work and Pensions has urged people to check if they could be eligible for Pension Credit - you can check here: https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator.

The Post Office handled a record amount of cash last month with customers either depositing or withdrawing more than £3.7bn. That new figure beat previous record highs set in May and April suggesting not only is there continued demand for cash, but that people are using Post Office branches more and more to get it. Dan Whitworth visits a branch in North Lincolnshire.

And, what does the expansion of funded childcare hours for working parents mean for those who’re set to benefit?

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 31st August 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 Lucan.
0:21.6	It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime.
0:25.6	I'm Alex Fondunzelman.
0:26.6	This is The Lucan Obsession.
0:28.6	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.6	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:35.6	Hello, don't be sad that August is over. Be happy that Moneybox is back again.
0:41.3	In today's podcast, the record levels of cash we're paying in and taking out at the
0:46.1	post office. And the parents set to save thousands as the new funded childcare hours come in this
0:51.9	week. But first, a story you have been contacting us about
0:55.7	a lot over summer, the loss of the winter fuel payments for pensioners in England and Wales.
1:01.8	The annual payment is worth £2 to £300 a year, depends on your age, and it had been universal,
1:07.9	but from this winter it will be restricted to pensioners receiving pension
1:11.4	credit or other means-tested benefits. Now, the reason for means testing it this way is quite
1:17.2	simple. It's to save the Treasury money, about one and a half billion pounds each year. And that's
1:23.0	the plug, what it says is a 22 billion pound black hole left by the previous Conservative government.
1:29.0	Well, a lot of you have emailed Moneybox at BBC.co.com.uk with some pretty strong opinions.
1:35.8	Roger has worked out his energy bills will rise by almost a third this year and asks,
	...

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