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Money Box: Saving Rates and Pension Helpline Problems

01/07/2023

Saving Rates and Pension Helpline Problems

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Saving Rates and Pension Helpline Problems

As mortgage costs rise, why aren’t savings rates rising as fast?

More than two million calls to a helpline for people wanting to boost their state pension have been blocked before they could even get into a queue.

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has stepped in to tell banks to put up the rates paid to savers after the Bank of England raised the official Bank Rate to 5%. Many mortgage rates went up at once and more have been increased this week, but the rates paid on savings by the banks have not followed them. The gap between the two has almost doubled from December 2021.  We hear from Gillian who runs a business in Bromsgrove and ask how banks make decisions on savings rates.

More than two million calls to a helpline for people wanting to boost their state pension have been blocked by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Minister in charge of what is called the Future Pension Centre, Laura Trott, has admitted that in the first five months of the year more than two million calls were cut off without even being allowed to join the call waiting queue. 

A new energy price cap comes into effect today. This will see households pay an average of 2,074 pounds a year. This is lower than the level at which government subsidies kept bills but still 800 pounds more than two years ago.  We'll also look at how smart meter data is being used to research fuel poverty.  

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Felicity Hannah
Researcher: Sandra Hardial
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm, Saturday 1st July, 2023)

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