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Money Box: Buy Now, Pay Later and Accessible Homes

02/09/2023

Buy Now, Pay Later and Accessible Homes

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Buy Now, Pay Later and Accessible Homes

Research suggests 1 in 5 people are turning to Buy Now, Pay Later to pay for essentials.

Millions of pounds could be saved every year by building more homes that are accessible to people in wheelchairs.

New research has found that one in five people are paying for essentials - like food and household bills - by borrowing on Buy Now, Pay Later.  A report from The Money and Pensions Service says more than ten million people now use it and claims around 40% of people they surveyed were managing their repayments badly including turning to credit cards, savings or overdrafts to pay it back.

Millions of pounds could be saved every year by building more homes that are accessible to people in wheelchairs - that's the conclusion of a report by the London School of Economics and the Housing Association, Habinteg. It looked into the financial costs and benefits of building more accessible homes for people who need them.  The number of wheelchair users living in unsuitable homes across the UK is estimated to be more than 400,000.  Dan Whitworth visits Kenilworth to meet Georgia and her family for a tour of their partly accessible home.  

The government is currently considering ways it could change pensions in the UK to drive better outcomes for savers.  Part of this includes a call for evidence looking at how defined benefit schemes might be invested differently.  One idea is to make it easier for private sector employers to access tens of billions of pounds of surplus funds that have built up in their pension schemes.   The Department for Work and Pensions says "the direction of future policy is not yet decided.”  Tom Selby from AJ Bell explores this idea.

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Sarah Rogers
Researcher: Sandra Hardial
Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm, Saturday 2nd September)

00:00 Introduction 
00:41 Buy Now Pay Later
07:25 Accessible Homes
15:41 Self-Assessment Tax Helpline
17:02 Defined Benefit Pensions

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