MONEY MAGIC FACTSHEET

 

MONEY MAGIC 

USEFUL CONTACTS AND MORE INFORMATION

Section 75 – if you pay with a credit card

Get your money back using s.75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1874

Covers £101 to £30,000

Get the refund from your bank

More: in this blog search ‘money back plastic’

 

Chargeback – if you pay with a debit card

Get a refund from your bank using chargeback

Any amount

Don’t take no for an answer

More: in this blog search ‘money back plastic’

 

Recurring payments – made online with debit or credit cards

Stop them at your bank

If any taken later bank must refund

If it is difficult quote Payment Services Regulations 2017, Reg. 67

More: in this blog search ‘continuous payment racket’

 

Send it back! If you buy online

If you buy online absolute right to return it for any or no reason

Give notice within 14 days

Return within another 14 days

More: gov.uk search ‘right to return goods’

 

Nuclear option if you are refused your rights

Find the boss

ceoemail.com

Go to court

moneyclaim.gov.uk

More: in this blog search ‘get that refund’

 

Marriage Allowance – pay less tax!

Married or civil partnered; one pays no income tax; the other does not pay higher rate tax

Claim £252 a year off your tax

More: gov.uk search ‘marriage allowance’

Call HMRC Marriage Allowance helpline 0300 200 3300

 

Attendance Allowance

£110.40 a week or £73.90 if you have long term physical or mental health condition that means you need help from another person with basic daily tasks.

More: gov.uk search ‘Attendance Allowance’

0800 731 0122

 

Underpaid state pension

You may be owed thousands of pounds if

You got Child Benefit for a child under 16 between 1978 and 2010

Your state pension is less than the standard £176.45 (old) or £230.25 (new)

More: gov.uk search ‘home responsibilities protection am I eligible’

or

www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/Check-if-you-are-eligible-to-apply-for-Home-Responsibilities-Protection/start/about-this-guidance

or call 0300 200 3500

 

Winter Fuel Payment

You will have had a Winter Fuel Payment of £200 or £300 if you were born 21 September 1959 or earlier. Couples will get a share of it each. It will be taken back in 2026/27 from individuals whose income exceeded £35,000 in 2025/26.

More: in this blog search ‘winter fuel payment’

gov.uk search ‘winter fuel payment’

Call: 0800 731 0160

 

Budget update November 2025

Written for Saga on Budget Day. 

Also see Budget 2025 timetable in this blog.

 

Active Cash™ wake up your savings

Don’t let your money languish. Put money in best buy one year deposit or ISA accounts.

More: in this blog search ‘active cash’

Best buys: search ‘theprivateoffice best buy cash’ or  moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/

 

Premium Bonds – trust the laws of statistics

Best for higher rate taxpayers who can buy maximum £50,000 worth.

nsandi.co.uk or call 08085 007 007

 

Fraud – just say nothing and hang up

If someone on a dating site asks you to send them money as a loan or a gift don’t!

And never contact them again.

If you get a call, or a message, or an email from someone you don’t know, end the call at once or delete the message. Do not speak to them. Do not engage. If you hear anything of what they say repeat to yourself – It’s a lie and the person saying it is a thief. And hang up.

General Help for older people

independentage.org or call 0800 319 6789

citizensadvice.org.uk or call 0800 028 1456

turn2us.org.uk

ageuk.org.net

 

Paul Lewis, 

January 2026

MAKE A WILL

Where there’s a will there’s a way...in fact a will is the only way to make sure your loved ones inherit your property and money as you want. 

If you do not have a will then there are strict – and rather odd – rules about who gets what and how much. Ultimately, if you have no relatives who can be traced, the Crown gets it which can mean the King or the Prince of Wales, depending where in the UK the person died. Many millions a year are distributed this way. Theym both say they will give some of it to charities. But most of us would prefer to decide ourselves where it should go.

So make a will! 

It is not difficult and all November it is free – well, sort of. Solicitors in the Will Aid scheme throughout the UK will make a will in exchange for a donation to charity. They suggest £120 for a single will and £200 for a pair of wills for a couple, normally reflecting each other’s wishes hence the name – mirror wills! Those fees are much lower than the normal charges. If your affairs are complicated the solicitor may charge extra but the basic parts will still be done for that donation. 

Even if you made a will in the past you should review it periodically or if your circumstances change to make sure it still reflects your wishes. 

If you have married you must make a new will as in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland a will made before you marry or form a civil partnership is invalid and your estate is treated as if you never had one. In Scotland that does not happen but after a momentous change like marriage you should always ensure your will divides your property and money as you want. 

I do not recommend the cheap ways to make a will – downloading a form online or going to an unregulated will-writer. Many solicitors have told me they make more money from putting right or challenging badly made wills than they do from making good ones! So please make your will with a qualified, regulated solicitor. As November approaches you can book an appointment at willaid.org.uk.

In March Free Wills Week is sponsored by many charities. If you want to leave money to a charity that is, of course, a good thing. But it is better to leave a specific amount rather than the residue after other bequests havew been made. That can lead to complications.

If you can avoid it, do not appoint a solicitor or bank to be your executor. They will charge hefty fees and may not keep you informed. Better to name a relative – preferably a beneficiary – who can cope with administration and some fairly basic arithmetic. 

This blog is based on a piece first published in Radio Times on 21 October 2025.

 

TIMETABLE FOR MEASURES IN BUDGET 2025

BUDGET 2025 TIMETABLE OF MEASURES INTRODUCED

Personal finance changes by date. (Hunt) indicates the policy introduced by Jeremy Hunt when Chancellor but not changed by Rachel Reeves.

 2025/2026

01 October 2025

·       £150 Warm Home Discount on one electricity bill extended and simplified

04 December 2025

·       Infected blood compensation can be made free of IHT where compensated person already dead

02 January 2026

·       VAT will be charged in full on online pre-booked taxi fares in London (eg Uber and Bolt) but complicated and may be avoidable

During 2026

·       Revaluation of residential properties in England in council tax bands F, G, H (see April 2028 for new tax on those valued over £2 million)

Royal Assent Finance Act 2026

·       Loan charge settlement changes

 

2026/2027

01 April 2026

·       Remote gaming duty raised to 40%

·       Bingo duty abolished

06 April 2026

·       Income tax allowances frozen (Hunt)

·       IHT Bands frozen (Hunt)

·       2 percentage points added to dividend income tax rates for basic and higher rate taxpayers, UK wide

·       Tax and NICs relief extended to reimbursements for eye-tests, home work equipment etc

·       Voluntary class 2 National Insurance contributions cannot be paid by people living abroad

·       Further restrictions on Class 3 National Insurance contributions paid by people living abroad

·       All ISA limits unchanged

·       £2.5 million agricultural property and business relief threshold, transferable between spouses (raised from Budget level of £1 million on Christmas Eve eve 2025

·       2 child limit on means-tested benefits ends

·       Fuel duty freeze continues

·       Remove houseld cost deduction from wages where employees required to work from home

·       Universal Credit standard allowances uplifted above inflation

·       Late payment penalties waived for mandated Making Tax Digital taxpayers for 2026/27

01 July 2026

·       VAT exemption ends on top-up payments for Motability vehicles (NB exemption for wheelchair adapted vehicles). No VAT charged on the vehicle itself.

·       Insurance Premium Tax charged on insurance for Motability vehicles (NB exemption for wheelchair adapted vehicles).

01 September 2026

·       1p of 5p 2022 fuel duty cut reversed (NB VAT is added to duty so =1.2p rise)

01 October 2026

·       Vaping Duty stamps on vapes mandatory

01 December 2026

·       2p of 5p 2022 fuel duty cut reversed (NB VAT is added to duty so = 2.4p rise)

01 January 2027

·       PPF and FAS pensions pre-1997 accruals will rise with CPI inflation

01 March 2027

·       final 2p of 5p 2022 fuel duty cut reversed (NB VAT is added to duty so 5p extra duty means 6p on price)

 

2027/2028

01 April 2027

·       Fuel duty rises with estimated RPI (NB could add 2p to duty with VAT). This change could be delayed or scrapped.

·       Higher rate of Air Passenger Duty applies to smaller private jets (5.7tonne down from 20tonne)

·       New remote betting tax rate of 25% but UK horseracing and some others exempted)

06 April 2027

·       Cash ISA limit cut from £20,000 to £12,000 for under 65s. No change in Cash ISA limit for those aged 65 or more.

·       Income tax rates raised by 2 percentage points on savings income above allowances, UK wide

·       Income tax rates raised by 2 percentage points on property rental income (not Scotland)

·       Income tax allowances frozen (Hunt)

·       IHT Bands frozen (Hunt)

·       Unused pension funds liable to Inheritance Tax.

·       Plan 2 student loan repayment threshold in England frozen at 2026 level £29,385 until end of 2029/30 

·       More Defined Benefit pension schemes can use surpluses including sharing them with members

·       VAT and Income Tax self-assessment late payment penalties raised from day 16

·       Image rights payments by employer to employee are taxable

01 January 2028

·       Threshold for sugar tax reduced, and extended (with some ameliorations) to milk-based drinks

 

2028/2029

01 April 2028

·       High Value Council Tax Surcharge begins on homes in England valued over £2million. Paid by owner unlike council tax which is paid by occupier.

·       Electric Vehicle Excise duty begins at 3p per mile (1.5p for plug in hybrids)

06 April 2028

·       Income tax allowances frozen (Reeves 2025 Budget)

·       IHT Bands frozen (Reeves 2024 Budget)

·       Help to Save scheme expanded to include more Universal Credit claimants

01 August 2028

·       £925 levy on international university students begins in England

01 March 2029

·       Low value relief on imports up to £135 removed. So VAT due on them unless exempt eg books.

 

2029/2030

06 April 2029

·       Income tax allowances frozen (Reeves 2025 Budget)

·       IHT Bands frozen (Reeves 2024 Budget)

·       Salary sacrifice for pensions limited to first £2000 sacrificed. Above that employee National Insurance contributions will be payable on the amounts as they normally would be. Employer National Insurance contributions will also be due which is new.

09 August 2029

·       Last possible Thursday for next General Election (Wednesday 15 August 2029 is last legal date)

2030/2031

06 April 2030

·       Income tax allowances frozen (Reeves 2025 Budget)

·       IHT bands frozen (Reeves 2025 Budget)

 

This is an abbreviated guide based on the information available after the November Budget up to January 2026. Check all details before relying on it. No liability for any errors.

vs. 1.0

January 2026 

Paul Lewis

DYING TIDILY - THE LETTER YOUR SOLICITOR MAY NOT MENTION

 

DYING TIDILY

 None of us wants to die – but we should make sure things are in order for our heirs.

I assume you have a will. If not see a solicitor and make one – you can do it free in March or in November through WillAid. Your solicitor should also tell you about a Letter of Wishes. That is an annex to your will which tells your heirs more details about what you would like to happen to you and your stuff. Unlike a will it is not binding. Your heirs can ignore it unless they all agree to follow it. So put all the important things in your will.

However, there is a third document which your solicitor probably won’t tell you about – I call it your Dying Tidily letter. It contains all the information your executors will need to sort out your finances after you have gone. It starts, of course, with where your Will and your Letter of Wishes are! Make sure now that your loved ones know where the original signed will is. Keep a copy with your Death Documents – yes you should have that file!

The Dying Tidily letter starts with you:

Your names. All of them and previous ones! Date of birth (not everyone knows that either, and will some be surprised!), your address, all your previous addresses you can remember which can be really handy for tracking some things down) and your National Insurance number.

Your documents. Passport, driving licence, disabled badge, railcards, membership cards. Where are they?

Your money. Bank and building society current accounts, savings accounts, National Savings & Investments, premium bonds, cash. If some are just on your mobile remember to give the passwords to open the phone and your bank accounts. If you have joint accounts, the other person can usually access those without ceremony after your death. Also, any shop loyalty cards or air miles – there may be valuable points on them. Next, your investments if you have any and the firm that looks after them. For each item, say where the paperwork and computer files are. If you have a financial adviser who looks after some things for you give their details here.

Your income. Pensions – including the state pension – other benefits, earnings, self-employment, dividends, interest, annuities, rent, and anything else. State where all the relevant documents are. Warn your executors that the Department for Work and Pensions may pay a state pension after your death especially if it is paid weekly. It will write to get this money back. But it has no right to it so your executors should not pay it.

Creditors. If someone or some firm owes you money, list the full details here. The executors have a duty to recover it.

Any debts. Where they are and what the repayments or deadlines are. They could be mortgages, loans, catalogues, credit cards, pawn tickets. Lawful debts have to be paid from your estate but if there is not enough to pay them then they die with you. That tenner George lent you down the pub is not a valid debt and you should not list it here. Put it in the will if you want it repaid.

Household bills. Say where you keep the paperwork of phone bills, council tax, energy bills, water and so on.

Property you own or own jointly. Include details of any mortgage or equity release on it. If you are a landlord list the tenants and the rent agreements and any agent you use. If you are a tenant your executors need to know where the tenancy agreement and other documents are including the name of the landlord, the agent, your rent, the deposit you paid and which agency holds it. Your executor can recover this deposit which is yours by law, though landlords may argue about it.

Your vehicles. Car, van, caravan, boat, bike – where they are and any finance deals on them.

Your valuable items. Write down what and where they are. Now is the time to say what to do with that collection of Spice Girls memorabilia or other weird stuff you have collected over the years! It may be more Oxfam or eBay than the British Museum!

Storage. Give details of any storage unit or a safe or a bank safety deposit box you have. Include the access codes or where the keys are. Do not leave your will in one – your heirs will not be able to access the box until probate is granted. And probate can’t be granted until … you guessed it!

Passwords. Write down your passwords. Yes, really! Especially the ones to your computer and your bank accounts. Passwords written on a piece of paper can’t be hacked and the hiding place is unlikely to be found by a casual burglar. And if you have bitcoin or other cryptocurrency write down the access code or say where it is stored.

Social media accounts – say what you want to happen to them. You can tell the providers in advance but if you have not then your executors should sort them out before informing the firms of your death. Again, leave the passwords.

Insurance. Life insurance, including a funeral plan or those over-55s plans – which are bad value but if you have one at least your relatives can get what is there. Give al the details so they can be claimed. List any other insurance that can now be cancelled.

Your pets. Most people don’t leave money to their pets in their will so mention them here – including their regular vet, any pet insurance that should be continued, and who you want to look after them. Best ask them (the pets!) first.

Any pensions not yet claimed. There is £31 billion languishing unclaimed in more than three million pension funds. Sort yours out at gov.uk search ‘pension tracing’ and leave details for your heirs. Otherwise write down details of all your previous employers and when you worked for them to help the search.

Your tax affairs. If you have been in business or self-employed they may be a little complicated – explain them here. If you have given away money, property, shares or valuables in the last seven years, list those gifts with dates. If you have made regular gifts out of income, write that down as well. That will help your executors know what needs to be included – or can be excluded – when they do an inheritance tax calculation.

Secret stuff. Now is the time to write it down. Because now is the time not to care if anyone finds out! Do you have a secret bank account? A secret flat? A secret box with, well, secrets in it? Write it down! And of course, add in anything else you think is important for your heirs to know.

Print off the letter and keep it with your Death Documents – in fact, together with your Will and Letter of Wishes, they are your Death Documents, though you might want to add your birth certificate if you have a copy. Put them in a sealed envelope labelled in big letters ‘not to be opened until after my death’.

No-one wants to die. But at least we can do it tidily.

This blogpost first appeared in Saga Magazine March 2025

ANDREW CAN SOON CLAIM £9500 A YEAR TAXPAYER SUBSIDY

 

EX-PRINCE CAN CLAIM TAXPAYER SUBSIDY OF THOUSANDS OF POUNDS A YEAR FROM FEBRUARY

The stipend the King has promised his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor when he moves to Sandringham in the New Year could be supplemented by a taxpayer funded state pension which will rise to £9500 a year from April.

On 19 February Andrew will be 66 and can claim a state pension. If he does, my calculations indicate that will be at least £135.28 a week and he could boost that to £174.75 a week by buying extra national insurance contributions (NICs). State pensions are paid for life and increased each year. From April the boosted amount would rise to £9500 a year.

The state pension will be due because Andrew served in the Navy for more than 22 years. From May 1979 to July 2001 he was employed and paid as a naval officer, ending his service as a Commodore. He already has a Navy pension estimated at around £20,000 a year. He did not do any other paid jobs in his adult life - his ten year stint from 2001 as international trade representative was unpaid – but that time in the Navy would count as 23 years of National Insurance Contributions which will entitle him to a partial state pension.

The calculation of the amount he could get is complex. The full new state pension is currently £230.25 a week but to get that requires 35 years of NICs. With 23 years contributions the starting point for his pension calculation would be 23/35ths of the full amount or £151.31 a week. 

The next step is to compare that to what he would have got under the old state pension rules which required only 30 years to get a full pension. He would have 23/30ths of the old pension – currently £176.45 a week – so his entitlement would be £135.28 a week. He would not have any entitlement to additional pension through what was called SERPS – State Earnings Related Pension Scheme – because he was paying into a Navy pension which meant he was ‘contracted out’ of SERPS and paid lower National Insurance Contributions as a result. So the starting amount for his pension would be £151.31 a week.

However, because he did not pay into SERPS the rules reduce that amount by what is called a Contracted Out Pension Equivalent or COPE to reflect those lower contributions. It is impossible to work out how much his COPE might be. But it cannot leave him with less than he would have got on the old state pension. So he would be entitled to at least the £135.28 a week of the old state pension and it is likely that would in fact be his state pension entitlement.

However, he could make it more. If a state pension is reduced the individual can pay extra National Insurance Contributions from 2016/17 to boost it. They cannot be paid for the year in which the individual reaches 66, which in his case is the present tax year 2025/26. Nor can they be currently be paid for years earlier than 2019/20. That leaves six years to 2024/25 which he could pay if he chose to.

It would be a good deal. Each year bought boosts the reduced state pension by 1/35th of the full amount or £6.58 a week. So if he paid all six years he would boost his pension by £39.47 taking it to £174.75 a week or £9087 a year. Each year’s contributions cost £923 so six years. But the total cost of £5538 would boost his pension by £2052 a year so the payback time is short – less than 3.5 years if he pays basic rate tax and less than five years if he pays the 45% top rate tax. With average male life expectancy at 66 of 19 years it would be well worth doing.

From April state pensions will be increased by 4.8% and for the next three Aprils by the triple lock which will mean a rise of at least 2.5% a year. After they may rise by inflation or earnings. But that means Andrew would be given a total of at least £210,000 of taxpayer’s money at Sandringham if he claimed his pension, boosted it, and lived there to the average age of 85.

Buckingham Palace admitted that 77-year-old King Charles, has claimed his state pension but gives it on receipt to charity. Adding whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will claim his is “up to him”.

vs. 1.01

22 November 2025

INHERITANCE TAX PENALISES THE SINGLE AND CHILDLESS

DISCRIMINATION BUILT IN TO INHERITANCE TAX 

The vast majority of us will not pay Inheritance Tax. In 2024/25 only 6% - about one in 17 - of estates will pay it. And even after the changes made in the 2024 Budget only about one in 11 will pay it in 2029/30. Nevertheless, Inheritance Tax remains one of the most feared and hated taxes. Especially by those who feel it discriminates against them. And the rules do discriminate against the heirs of people who are childless, or single, or who do not own their own home. 

_______

When someone dies their estate is assessed for Inheritance Tax. If their assets exceed their threshold then the tax is normally levied at 40% of the excess. But there are four different thresholds, some worth double or treble the basic one.

Main Residence Band

The thresholds start with the basic nil-rate band (as it is formally called) of £325,000. But if you own the home you live in you can have up to an additional £175,000 making a total of £500,000. It is called the main residence nil-rate band or MRNRB. There are two main conditions to get it

• The additional amount is the value of the home with a maximum of £175,000.   
• The home must be left to direct descendants. That means children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren of the person who has died. It does not include cousins, nephews, nieces, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, or any other relatives. However, the definition of a direct descendant does include adopted, step, and foster children.

For those who do qualify there is a third rule which reduces the main residence band if the total estate including the home exceeds £2 million. It disappears at the rate of £1 for every £2 above £2 million so the £175,000 extra vanishes as the estate reaches £2.35 million.

These rules discriminate against the childless and of course those who do not own their own home. They also discriminate against wealthier families! 

Marriage

One special threshold is limitless. Everything you leave to a spouse (including a civil partner) is completely free of Inheritance Tax whatever its value. If you have a spouse, it is usually best to leave everything to them. If you have a partner who is not a spouse then marrying or civil partnering them is the best inheritance tax planning you can do. If you do not they are treated like any other heir when you die, however long you have been together and however many children you have shared.

There is a second inheritance tax advantage to marrying. Not only is everything left to a spouse free of the tax when the first of the couple dies, but when the second dies their heirs get double the normal allowances. So it really is win win. 

That is why rule number one of IHT planning is - marry the one you love!

Second to die

If the person who dies is a widow (including widowers and bereaved civil partners of course) and their partner left everything to them - as recommended above - then the heirs get double the normal thresholds. 

The basic threshold of £325,000 is doubled to £650,000. So their heirs can inherit that much entirely free of inheritance tax. If they own their home their heirs also get double the main residence threshold - so the £175,000 is doubled to £350,000. Added up those two thresholds reach the magic £1 million exempt from tax, which is often talked of but in practice applies only to a minority of estates. 

These rules discriminate against the unmarried - single or divorced - and magnify the discrimination against the childless and those who do not own their own home. 

The complex web of thresholds

Inheritance Tax Thresholds
Marital status	Children	Home ownership	IHT begins over
Single or divorced	No children	Don’t own home	£325,000
	No children	Own home	£325,000
	Children	Don’t own home	£325,000
	Children	Own home	Up to £500,000*
Widowed (spouse let them everything)	No children	Don’t own home	£650,000
	No children	Own home	£650,000
	Children	Don’t own home	£650,000
	Children	Own home	Up to £1,000,000**
Married	leave everything to spouse or civil partner and it is all free of IHT
* Including up to £175,000 of the value of a home left to a direct descendant. ** Including up to £350,000 of the value of a home left to a direct descendant.  If the value of home exceeds £2 million, the extra allowance of £175,000 or £350,000 for a widow is tapered away by £1 for every £2 above £2 million. And disappears at £2.35m or £2.7m (widow).

The table sums up the rules and tabulates the discriminations. However, not all the details are captured in this table which, believe it or not, is simplified! 

If your estate is large or your circumstances are complex you should always seek professional legal and tax advice about how the rules apply to your affairs and what tax would be due. Find one through the Association of Lifetime Lawyers or the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. 

Never consider any scheme to reduce inheritance tax by putting your home or assets into a trust. It will not work and you - or more likely your heirs - will have to spend more money undoing it. Read more about the dangers in this report.

Paul Lewis

2 October 2025

Version 1.00