Energy Ombudsman Powers and Cheques

This BBC Podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Du, jag skulle ju köpa några nya palpställd i lagret. Det kanske blev lite mer grejer. De hade ju allt, hade en skribd, jag köpte en sån här, och kontornstolar, och så hade de en sitsnygg typcontainer. Vi har inredning för hela arbetsplatsen. Välkommen till AI-produkten!

Hallå, får jag ber dig om legitimation, tack. Har du en legitimation? Har du ett litet lägg, jag kan få kika på. Hej, har du ett lägg, tack. Vi vet att vi är rätt petiga när det kommer till åldyrskontrollen. Vi gränsa tillgång till alkohol må folk hälsan bättre. Hittar du lägget heller. annorlunda av en anledning.

Hello, welcome to this Money Box Podcast. Is this the golden age of the silver economy as more and more people are working past state pension age? With barely a week to go, are you one of the three million people who still hasn't filed their self assessment tax return?

And when did you last use a check? New figures reveal only about one in five hundred payments are made that way, so what is their future? But first What is the point of an ombudsman if the firms it monitors can ignore its decisions?

That's a question many listeners have been asking after their complaints about their electricity or gas supplier were upheld by the energy ombudsman, but the compensation or changes it ordered were simply not made. And their concerns have been supported by the Chair of Parliament's Energy Select Committee, who believes it's vital the Energy Ombudsman is given stronger powers quickly.

Because at the moment the process is leaving customers frustrated and angry. That MP, Bill Esterson, will be talking to me about his concerns. shortly. But first our reporter Dan Whitworth revealed this scandal on Moneybok's last week and he's been looking at the reaction, Dan. Yeah, and it's certainly a big reaction, Paul, because when we first covered this story last week, and that's about how

Thousands of ombudsman decisions were not being implemented by energy suppliers within a 28-day deadline. We had a huge response. Dozens and dozens of people got in touch with very similar stories covering nearly all the big suppliers. Well one of those people was John. We switched energy supplier in october twenty twenty three and paid in full the final balance. However, the original supplier continued to send us bills. Then we received a debt recovery letter.

So in the end we had to go to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman ruled in our favour in february twenty twenty four. However, the debt recovery letters continued and the Ombudsman had to contact the supplier again, forcefully, to tell them to stop. This resulted in the letter stopping for a while. But in December twenty twenty five, more than a year later

We received a debt recovery letter with exactly the same information for the recovery of a same debt that didn't exist. This was the most demoralizing and upsetting experience we have ever had. Stress and worry for John with his supplier simply ignoring the Ombudsman decision in John's favor. And when the Ombudsman ruled in her favour, it took her supplier six months to put things right, obviously way past that twenty-eight day deadline.

I went into it thinking the Ombudsman had the power to to make the supplier do something, so I thought maybe they could find them or name and shame them, but it turned out really they only had the power to tell them to do something and then hope hope that they would do it. So Yeah, I think the Ombudsman needs to have some actual powers to make energy suppliers do what they're telling them to do. Because otherwise what what what

what's the need for the energy supplier to do what they're told, they'll just do it in their own time. Otherwise it seems a little bit pointless really, because if they don't have real powers, th they're just like an extra level of complaint system. So they're not they're not really anything extra.

Now separately, a different John also got in contact with us about a dispute he had with his supplier, who said John owed them£1,500, when by John's own calculations, he was actually hundreds of pounds in credit. Now the ombudsman ruled in John's favour, but again that didn't help. Ultimately they acknowledged that they were not in a position to impose the findings. In effect that meant that the energy company were free to completely ignore any uncomfortable resolution requirements.

In February twenty twenty four, we decided that we had no choice but to take the energy company to the small claims court. In response, the energy company appointed external solicitors. No doubt we felt at great cost to defend their case. We believed that the intent was to frighten us off to all intents and purposes.

It was at that point that the energy company finally issued a bill that corresponded with their ratings. We accepted and ended the case. Um the Ombudsman has absolutely no power, which leaves ordinary people like myself in a very weak position.

Mm. Thanks, Dan. Extraordinary. And as promised live now to talk to Bill Esterson, the Labour MP and Chair of Parliament's Energy Select Committee. Bill Esterson, listeners in Dan's report, in no doubt something needs to be done about the way f energy firms treat the Ombudsman's decisions. What's your reaction to it? Rydyn ni'n gwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud.

conversation after we had almost exactly the same thing happening with back billing uh for some some time ago, didn't we? Um but look, I I it's absolutely outrageous, Paul, the way that people are being treated. I think I think it's something like fifty thousand people. And that's just the ones we know about who are having similar experiences to the ones that we've just heard from the two Johnson.

And and Helen and you know, threatening people with having to go through the small claims court, the bullying, I mean with it's small businesses, it's bailiffs. I mean the stress is is is absolutely appalling. So, you know, th there does need to act be action. We've made my committee's made recommendations that the the ombudsman should have the power to make the companies take the action that that that's recommended.

key and I know that's what all of the three people you interviewed have been saying. Yes. And and what's your message to suppliers? I mean, five thousand cases I think in twenty twenty four where they didn't meet their obligation to act within twenty eight days. What's your message to them? Um I I I wonder how many people we don't know about. because they're being scared off by all the stress and the threat.

That's that that we just heard about. But look, if they won't do it, we need to give the Ombudsman the teeth to uh to to enforce their their rulings. Yes, because you you think it's the lack of that power to enforce that leads the energy companies to behave like this, though of course They don't have to behave like that, do they? Well I think I think that's right. I think when you have a voluntary system, uh uh there's too much of a an incentive amongst the suppliers.

Uh yeah, just to let things slip. And you know, sometimes this is isn't gonna be blatant, but I think from the cases we just heard Sometimes it very much is, and that's completely out of uh out of order. Yes, now among the complaints to us from listeners that they covered almost all the big energy suppliers. I mean will you get the bosses of these companies before your committee on this one issue of ignoring Ombudsman decisions? Well what a what what a good idea. We ha we had the big six.

Energy bosses before Christmas and no doubt we'll have them back again. But um we made recommendations in a report quite recently that the Ombudsman should be on a statutory footing. The good news is the government broadly accepted that recommendation. So I think we will see action. Yes. So when you get them back, you'll be raising this issue with them. Oh oh very very much so. Um but I think things are already underway. We've got conversations with

put previously is that off Gem can find the companies but of course that doesn't help on an individual basis. No, but as it happens, Paul as it happens, Paul, off Gem are appearing before us on Wednesday. So

We may have some questions for them. Um uh at that stage. Well indeed, I mean they have a role, don't they, because the energy firms have to join an arbitration service, which is the Ombudsman in this case, as part of getting their license so Ultimately, do you think Of GM could or should threaten to withdraw that licence if they don't behave better? Well, that's a an interesting question. Um my uh committee staff are listening to a

Uh right now and I'm sure they will have made a note of your question and maybe it's one that we'll put on Wednesday. Bill Esterson, MP, Chair of the Energy Select Committee, thanks very much. And and Dan's still with us. Dan, the Ombudsman inevitably I suppose has welcomed the government's review into this and I guess the energy suppliers have been defending themselves.

Yes, very much so. So Energy UK which speaks to suppliers. Well they say customer satisfaction has never been higher and suppliers are working very hard to resolve complaints before any need. to be escalated further. And in the vast majority of cases, Paul, it's important to say suppliers are able to work with the Ongy Energy Ombudsman to resolve cases before that twenty eight day deadline. Hm. Well we see what happens. In due course, no doubt. Thanks, Dan.

Dej, jag skulle ju köpa några nya palvställt i lagret. Det kanske blev lite mer grejer. De hade ju allt, man hade en skribord, jag köpte en sån, och kontorstolar, och så hade de en skit snygg typ. Vi har inredning för hela arbetsplatsen. Välkommen till AG-Prasser. Amazon presenterar Simon och hans dejingnär. Under miljontals år har djur utvecklat sofistikerade paningsritualer. Fåglar dansar, varje rylar och pinger fria med stenar. Och Simon, han ska låga middag och han flippar u.

Men simon hoppade på Amazon och köpte ljusstar vingaser eftersom han är optimist, en extra törse. Ja, simon, det bor alltid djuckare. Få dig inte att hända, hoppa på amazon.se.

Well is this the golden age of the silver economy? The life expectancy in the UK grew dramatically in the twentieth century, giving millions of people not just longer lives, but longer healthier lives. As people live those lives, more and more are working past the state pension age, which is currently sixty-six. A new analysis of tax data found a 12% rise in the number of people working past the state pension age over the last five years. The research was done by Littler, that's a specialist.

employment law firm. And it says official estimates for the financial year last year show two point one million workers and self employed people are over state pension age. Our reporter Joe Krasner spoke to Patricia and John, two older workers enjoying a visit to Liverpool's contemporary art centre, the Bluecoat. My name is Patricia. I'm 77 years old. I'm a widow with grown-up children.

company that that I formed with my husband. It's not a huge amount of work, but still it's work. And what does it mean to you by having this role? Well I have to say, in all honesty, stay is important. The little bit of money is important. feeling a part of the world, feeling having an identity, a working identity. My name is John Milne, age 70. I'll go into all the substations and download all of these ratings.

the first week of every month, so I just work one week a month. When I was retiring, I still need something to do, so they asked me whether I consider work doing this job, so I said yes. Keeps you going, keeps you mixing with your friends, keeps you active. And financially, what difference does it mean to you by working?

Well, it is that little bit extra. That little bit more, you know, on the on on the pension. I'm I'm not poor, but I'm not rich. I don't spend a lot of money. Uh it's an additional income. It just takes any pressure off with the heating going up at all the costs. It's just uh Any special date parties or holidays coming up you've got some on the side you can put away. And have you thought about the future? Is there a particular age you want to work up until?

Oh, I would work forever. I would just work until I couldn't work any more. No, I've been doing this for five years, so don't think I'll I'll stop when they want me to stop. Well technology takes over. I'm always delighted when I see that that you know somebody's working on the on the checkout in Sainsbury and she's you know, she's ninety-one years old. I'm going, yay, great, go for it.

Well listening to that is Doctor Andrea Barry, an economist and deputy director of work at the Centre for Aging Better. Um, Doctor Barry Patricia and John both doing some work but not full time, both stressing the social advantages as much as the money. Is that what your research finds? Yes, and thank you for having me on. I think At Aging Better we recognize that a lot of people once they hit a certain age

They find that they have the financial ability to stay and work for the well being aspects. So This means if you are experiencing loneliness or experiencing Um your family has moved away or unfortunately your partner has passed away. one of the best ways to heal that or

Um take advantage of that. Um free time is to go back to work. Yes, and of course feeling part of society, part of doing something useful too, I suppose. But of course some some pensioners need to work, don't they? The state pension not really enough to live on, is it? Never mind, live on comfortably. So we find that around fourteen percent of those who are working say they're working because they're unable to afford retirement.

And there's also about twenty one percent of those still working because like Patricia they want to improve their finances. So that's a third of just over a third who who do it for the money, uh for as one reason anyway. And why are some older people in that position? I mean, we often hear about how great the state pension is and it's the golden age and all that kind of thing. So why are there some older people still in that position in poverty?

So we've we've done some analysis on this and we find that over the last oh twenty years There's been a group of people who are in p um, you know, state pension age and above who are what we would call precarious. They're still renting, they still owe on their mortgage, and they're also more susceptible to financial shocks like a cost of living crisis. Um health implications where they need to either dial down and work or they just need some extra cash.

So they're staying and work longer. Yes. Now I mean some le younger people listening might be thinking, well that's all very well. But many young people, many of us they might say, are unemployed, struggling to get a job.

Shouldn't older people retire and make way for them? Well first I I think we must recognize that the the younger workers and the older workers are two very distinct groups. They have very similar challenges with which is ageism. Young people are experiencing ageism in the workforce. older workers are experiencing ageism in the workforce.

This is not a either or conversation. It's a all together because the most multi-generational a workforce is, according to OE OECD, the more productive and the better for the economy as well.

Yes, you mention ageism and I must say when I hear from older people women I mean not older to me, obviously, but women in their fifties and men in their fifties women in men in their fifties and sixties, I suppose, they say, Well, it's actually very hard to get a job. If I lose my job No one's going to look at me, even though that might be illegal when I go for one.

Yeah, and I thought it was interesting that John said that he was asked to come and do that work, which is is something some employers are really focused on, is recognizing the skills that these old older workers have that m other generations may not have. But still more than a third of d fifty to sixty nine year olds.

Um, feel at disadvantaged when applying to jobs. And this is from our Age Without Limits campaign, where we also revealed that two in five of people in their 50s and 60s actually experience. ageism within the workforce within a twelve month period. Yes, and I think your data shows the number of older workers has doubled this this century, twenty five years ago. But is that partly because there are more people over pension age? Just briefly.

Yes, yes, definitely. There are more people living longer and therefore they're working longer. Right. And and what proportion in in a number? Sorry, I think it's I think you told us it was about eighteen percent. I'm sorry. About one in five are are in that position that that that that's

accounts for a b a bit of the growth but obviously four fifths of it is due to other factors. Um Doctor Andrea Barry, Centre for Aging Better, thank you very much. And we'll be continuing the conversation on Money Box Life. with Felicity Hannah on Wednesday. Are you working past retirement age because you want to, or because you have to? Or

You felt you had to leave your job due to that ageism. Let us know. Email moneybox at bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp or even better a voice note O3306 783 183.

Now this time next week there'll be less than twelve hours left to fill in your self-assessment tax form, send it online. and pay any tax due if you haven't done it already. Uh that's me, I have to confess. But around three million people about one in four of them.

Still haven't done it and they're risking a£100 fine unless they have what is called a reasonable excuse for being late. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group is A charity used by five million people a year to get tax help and especially for Money Box, its technical officer, Veredis McCammund, recorded this timely advice.

Self assessment is a way for you to tell HMRC about any income that you have that hasn't already been taxed. It mainly affects people who are self employed, who are a landlord, or who make more than a thousand pounds from a side hustle or from selling things online that aren't just their personal belongings.

If you think you do need to do a self assessment tax return but haven't registered for one yet, go to gov.uk and use the Check If You Need a Tax Return tool. If you do need to do one, register for it and complete it online as soon as you possibly can.

If you get stuck you can check gov.uk and of course the Litrig website where we have lots of free and helpful guidance. If you need to speak to somebody, then HMRC's phone lines are open again after going down for a couple of hours last week, but they won't be open on deadline day, so don't leave it till the last minute.

Some tips for the form itself. Take a deep breath, get all your paperwork together, and then plug through the questions one by one. You'll need things like your pay documents, bank statements and accounts if you're self employed. Double check everything before you hit the submit button and if you can't pay, don't panic, HMRC has options available that can help you.

And there's more on that website Meredith McCammond mentioned. It's L I T R G L I T R G dot org. And if you do need time to pay the tax you okay. Go to the government website gov.uk and search time to pay to spread the payments out.

Now when did you last write a check on They've been around for centuries. The earliest known example was written in sixteen fifty nine. In nineteen ninety Czech youth peaked at four billion written in one year. But recently they've been in fairly rapid decline as people pay online, by card, using their phone, even their watch to pay in shops and other places.

The trade body, UK Finance, says only 91 million checks were used to make payments in 2024, 85% down in just a decade, and it says checks now account for only one in every 500 payments. Eighty eight year old listener John from Middlesex got in touch asking about that. Here he is, speaking to our reporter, Haida Salim. It might be helpful and interesting to hear about the current level of usage.

of checks and then it would be uh good to know about the prospects for checks in both the near and the more distant future, whether many people use them nowadays, what are the pros and cons of checks. And do this major banks still wish to discontinue the check system? Do you remember the first time you used a cheque? I do, yes. It was many years ago. to withdraw money from the bank, you wrote a cheque to yourself.

if you would take a cheque from the book which they provided and simply write cash on the pay line and then present that to the cashier in the bank and then the cashier would give you the amount specified. This would have been nineteen sixty. Good questions, John. Well listening to them is Jennifer Adam, the curator of the Bank of England Museum.

Um Jennifer Adam actually I'll say first, what a great job you've got. I love that job. To most younger people, cheques feel almost antique now. But for listeners like John, they were once routine. Just explain what a check is. So a cheque is a written instruction from an account holder to their bank to pay a third party and as you mentioned they began being used in the sixteen hundreds.

uh grew in importance until they were uh the most important non-cash payment system uh in the nineteen hundreds. Hm. And they were very flexible, as John said, weren't they? People don't realise you could use one to withdraw cash yourself or you could even cash a cheque someone else had given you. Uh and that was a useful way to get cash out of the banks when of course they had lots of branches.

You could indeed. Um but uh also John's mentioning that this is uh the period before ATMs come into use. Uh so through the sixties and seventies we see uh cash points becoming available and different ways of doing the things that checks used to do. Yes, and of course the checks.

Is just a promise to pay, isn't it? I promise to pay you so much. Retailers were sometimes concerned that that promise wouldn't be honored. The cheque bounced, as we used to say. So then they introduced the cheque guarantee card. What did that do?

So that was introduced in the nineteen sixties and you'd present the card that had your signature on alongside the cheque and the retailer could compare the cheque's signature and your signature to make sure that the same person is authorizing both of them. And they would guarantee a payment up to a certain threshold that the bank would honour the value of that, um, even if the person didn't have enough money in their account, so they check the bank.

Yeah, so that really was a a useful service and I suppose that helped boost their use. But then as they declined, other payment systems grew. In twenty eleven, I recall this well, the banks proposed scrapping checks, didn't they? That they were such a public outcry they didn't do it. And then they went on to modernise how they were processed. How does that work?

So in twenty nineteen the image clearing system was introduced and this means that uh if you so banks no longer need to send the paper checks themselves, but they take photographs of them. And then process those images and the information in the images instead. And this means that this very old payment system, uh the check, can now be used with our modern banking apps. We can take a photograph if we receive a check.

processes that so that it can clear into our accounts much more quickly. Yes, and of course y that they even do that when you take them into a bank. It goes through the same yw'n cael ei wneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud.

Banks will continue to support check usage. And Jennifer, checks are still valued, aren't they? I've been giving tweets this morning. Lair's a builder says he uses checks to pay his suppliers. Ian says HMRC sends him a cheque. He's lucky to get one from HMRC, but that's what he gets. So what are they used for now?

Well, a lot of charities receive donations by checks. Uh as you say, tradesmen uh often receive a lot of checks, often from older uh people who are not so comfortable using digital payments. So there's still a really important payment method for a sizable group of people. Um I think back to making rental payments where you'd have to write out

uh a few checks, uh post dated for future payment to your landlord, but that was some time ago. These things we can do by standing order, but checks are still a useful method for many people. Mm. And of course the checks in the post was a famous excuse, wasn't it? Last time we spoke on Money Box, that was at your Bank of England Museum. You'd created an exhibition on the future of money.

Just briefly, many young people won't know what a check is. Will they disappear as the population ages briefly, Jennifer? I think probably in time, but definitely not yet. Definitely not yet. Well, that's good news for people like John Jennifer Adam. Thank you very much indeed. Well, as a subscriber to the Money Box Podcast, you already post date your listening to a convenient time. But you can also listen live every Saturday at midday on BBC Radio 4 and hear all our news and information first.

You can help set our agenda, of course, even if your name's not John. We had four on this podcast by emailing moneybox at bbc.co.uk. You can also send a voice note or comment on WhatsApp. O double three oh six seven eight three one eight three. Today the team was Dan Whitworth, Joe Krasner and Haida Salim.

Studio Manager Chris Mather. Our editor is Jess Quayle. I'm Paul Lewis. And this was the BBC News Money and Work Production for BBC Sounds. Meanwhile, back in the X USSR. If journalism is the first draft of history. What happens if that draft turns out to be flawed? In 1999, four apartment buildings were blown up in Russia. Hundreds killed. But 25 years on, we still don't know for sure.

Who did it? It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. Because these bombs, they're part of the origin story of one of the most powerful men in the world. Vladimir Putin. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss first time round? The History Bureau. Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen first on BBC Sounds.

If there was a big red button that would just demolish the internet, I would smash that button with my forehead. From the BBC, this is The Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work, your politics, your everyday life, and all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC dot com or wherever you get your podcast.

Amazon presenterar Simon och hans dejingnärver. Under miljontals år har djur utvecklat sofistikerade paningsritualer. Fåglar dansar, varje rylar och pinger fria med stenar. Och Simon, han ska laga middag. Och han flippar ur. Men Simon shoppade på Amazon och köpte ljusstaka vinglaser eftersom han är optimist. En extra tandborste. Det bor alltid djur dig i din rackare. Få dig den att hända, hoppa på amazon.se.