Money Box

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Aug 2026

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About the show

All that matters about money with Paul Lewis. News of savings and investments, credit cards and loans, pensions, banking, tax, benefits and giving to charity. The UK's premier weekly round-up of personal finance from the BBC.

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8 recent

August 26, 202630 min

Money Box Live: Armed Forces Finances

In this special edition of Money Box Live, presenter Felicity Hannah has been out to Weeton Barracks in Preston to see how soldiers juggle their finances whilst leading an often unpredictable military life. We look at the benefits of life in the forces – from financial help to buy a home to generous pensions and special payments to encourage you to stay on longer. And we examine the challenges of a career which could see you being deployed to the other side of the world at a moment’s notice. There’s a general disgruntlement in the ranks that the pay does not step up to the mark. The latest official Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey shows that less than four in ten personnel agree that the pay and benefits they receive are fair for the work they do. We put that to the armed forces Minister for Veterans Calvin Bailey MP. Our expert panel includes Ann Griffiths, the Royal British Legion’s Head of Policy and Research, Kate Gannon, Vice President of the Personal Finance Society, and Sergeant Cameron Eden, a British Army soldier and the creator of The Savvy Squaddie - a financial education platform on YouTube that helps service personnel and veterans navigate personal finance. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (This episode was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday July 29, 2026)

August 26, 202625 min

New Bailiff Rule and 10p Coins

Tougher regulation about how bailiffs can operate in England and Wales have been announced by the government. The changes will make it mandatory for every bailiff to sign up to a code of practice. The idea is to drive up standards and stop poor practice - like intimidation, unfair treatment or pushing people into accepting excessive repayment plans they can't afford. Thousands of bereaved loved ones of former and current civil servants are still having to wait more than 100 days for pension payments. Those figures come 8 months into the ongoing scandal that is the Capita-run civil service pension scheme. Capita says it now has the processes, automation and technology in place to work through the backlog and remains committed to working through it as quickly as possible. The first 10p coins to feature King Charles' portrait entered circulation this week, but what can you buy these days for 10p? And, if you’re a parent whose child is aged 16 -19 and remaining in approved education, like T Levels, A Levels or Scottish Highers you have until Monday August 31st to extend your Child Benefit claim or risk losing the payment. Presenter: Dan Whitworth Reporters: Hannah Mullane, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott Researcher: Eimear Devlin Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast at 12pm on Saturday 29th August 2026)

August 22, 202625 min

New Chancellor, New Plans? and Inheritance Gifts

This week has seen a new Prime Minister and a new Chancellor of the Exchequer. As soon as John Healey was appointed the announcements began. First came the announcement to cut VAT on household energy bills from October, next a plan to cap bus fares in England from January, then a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England starting from April. But what about that major issue on the doorstep when Andy Burnham was campaigning to be elected in his new constituency of Makerfield? The frozen personal tax threshold. We'll discuss what this might mean for your money. Nearly two million households in England and Wales are living in water poverty according to a new study seen exclusively by this programme. The technical definition of that is when people spend more than 5% of their income, after housing costs, on water bills. What it means in reality is being unable to afford to pay for water, and being in debt to a water company. We'll speak to the Consumer Council for Water, who commissioned that study. Plus, we'll look at the rules around gifts and inheritance tax as a new survey by the financial advisors The Private Office found more then 8 in 10 of its clients aged over 45 believe parents and grandparents should help younger generations during their lifetime rather than leave an inheritance after death. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Amber Mehmood, Catherine Lund and Jo Krasner. Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 25th July 2026)

August 19, 202627 min

Money Box Live: House Sale Nightmares

Major reforms are planned to shake up house selling in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The government hopes the plans could end gazundering and gazumping and make buying and selling homes faster, cheaper and less likely to fall through. Gazumping happens when a seller switches buyer at the last minute, usually because someone else can pay more, gazundering is where a buyer suddenly drops their agreed offer just before contracts are exchanged. One in three house sales fall through before exchange. This costs sellers £400m and the wider economy £1.5bn each year, according to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Plans to reform the system include the introduction of a sellers’ pack, similar to the system operating in Scotland. Felicity Hannah is joined by Nathan Emerson, the CEO of PropertyMark (a professional body for property agents) and David Bridge, Head of Conveyancing at the Dorset-based solicitors Kiteleys . Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Production co-ordinator: Jacqui Johnson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (This programme was first broadcast at 3pm on Wednesday July 22nd, 2026)

August 15, 202624 min

State Pension Age Rise, Gazundering and Air-Con

Urgent action is needed to help people in their sixties on low incomes who face a delay of up to a year before they can claim their State Pension. That is the main recommendation of a new report from the Work and Pensions Committee. Pension age rises over the next two years from 66 to 67 and the committee of MPs fears some of the people affected by that delay face poverty unless the benefit rules are changed to give them more money. The Department for Work and Pensions says in February, 0.02% of the Universal Credit caseload was aged 65 or 66. It also welcomed the report saying it will consider the recommendations in due course. There’s growing concern in the housing industry over the rise in a practice known as “gazundering”. It’s when people selling homes are told by buyers just days before exchanging, that they must drop the agreed price by thousands of pounds or risk losing the deal. The Conveyancing Association says it’s a growing problem and is urging the government to implement reforms which would stop the practice “without delay”. The government says it's stopping gazundering by introducing "legally binding agreements that prevent buyers from walking away at the last minute without a valid reason, with fines for those who do." Money Box has found that a grant which can be used to install a heating system than can also act as air conditioning is not up and running, despite being announced in November. We'll investigate why. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Jo Krasner and Niamh McDermott Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson Photo Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 18th July 2026)

August 12, 202628 min

Money Box Live: Buy Now, Pay Later Shake-Up

New regulations begin today (Wednesday July 15th) for shoppers using Buy Now Pay Later. Consumers using services like Klarna and Clearpay will now be given more protection but also a greater risk of rejection, as new affordability checks begin. BNPL schemes often provide interest free payment options over several months and have proved immensely popular. Experian estimates that a 100mn transactions were made that way last year, adding up to about £7bn. Meanwhile, new data from one of the country’s largest free money advice services, Money Wellness, shows BNPL has become an increasingly common feature of customers' finances over the past four years, with June recording 4,520 customers seeking help with BNPL debt. That's the highest June on record and second only to the traditional post-Christmas spike seen in January. Presenter Felicity Hannah talks to the Financial Conduct Authority to find out if the new rules are going to improve things for shoppers. She’s joined by an expert panel answering listener questions – Mick McAteer of The Financial Inclusion Centre, a UK not-for-profit policy and research group. and Matthew Sheeran from Money Wellness. Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson Photo credit: Pakorn Supajitsoontorn via Getty Images. (This episode of Money Box Live was first broadcast on BBC Radio Four at 3pm on Wednesday 15th July)

August 8, 202625 min

Making Tax Digital Deadline and Cheques

A deadline approaches for 860,000 self-employed people and landlords who must start reporting their income and expenses in a new way. It is called Making Tax Digital and it affects small businesses with a turnover or gross income above £50,000 a year. They have until 7th August to report their income and expenditure to HMRC. What do they need to know? It is “unacceptable” that the government has refused to commit to bringing the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme back in-house. That’s according to PCS Union, which says a rare joint committee hearing in Parliament this week highlighted the “catastrophic failures” of the scheme, leaving many members facing “unacceptable delays, errors and distress” when trying to access the pensions they have worked their entire careers to earn. The Cabinet Office, which has overall responsibility for the scheme, says immediately terminating the contract would cause more problems and severely disrupt the pension payroll, jeopordizing the financial security of hundreds of thousands of public servants. How are rules which make banks reimburse victims of fraud going? A new report evaluates the first year of Mandatory Reimbursement. And a major high street bank has changed its mind after deciding not to allow customers to deposit their cheques in a Post Office. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researcher: Catherine Lund Output Producer: Craig Henderson Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 11th July 2026)

August 5, 202628 min

Money Box Live: Would you let AI manage your money?

We look at whether artificial intelligence is a help, or a hazard when it comes to helping you with your personal finances. One in five adults in the UK - around 11 million people - are already open to the idea of using AI to manage their finances, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. But using AI to manage our money is not without risk. The FCA, the organisation tasked with keeping us financially safe, says that regulators are in an "arms race" to keep up with AI in financial services. We speak to the man behind its new report, Sheldon Mills. And with the increase in AI useage likely to attract the scammers and the deepfakers, just how will regulation evolve to protect us? Alongside presenter Ruth Alexander and taking listener questions is Simon Belshaw who is Chief Client Officer at the investment company Hargreaves Lansdown. And we hear from Elle Farrell-Kingsley, and advocate for AI ethics who has previously worked on artificial intelligence for one of the big tech companies. Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Craig Henderson Researchers: Niamh McDermott, Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson Pictured: Sheldon Mills, Financial Conduct Authority (This edition was first broadcast on Wednesday July 8, 2026)