29/03/2014 Your Money

there would be no currency union. Now on BBC News, this week's Your

Money with Declan Curry. Hello, welcome to Your Money. We

help you make the most of your cash. Here every weekend on BBC News

television ` available all week on the BBC iPlayer. Here's what we've

got this week. Energy bills frozen by one big firm. Will the others

follow? Should you switch supplier? The people who make money lending

their spare cash to people or businesses ` the interest they earn

could soon be tax`free. Brian Milligan reports on plans to put

peer`to`peer lending into ISA accounts, but be warned, there is

also a risk you could lose some of your money.

And, too many parents are still finding their children looking at

unsuitable content on the internet ` how do we keep them safe online?

You're clever people. You know to check the small print, especially

when companies say they're freezing their prices. SSE, which includes

Atlantic, Scottish Hydro, Southern Electric and SWALEC, says it has

frozen gas and electricity prices until 2016 to give customers "peace

of mind". But, it's only for customers on, or who switch to, its

standard variable tariff. Other tariffs aren't covered by the

pledge, so not all of its ten million customers will necessarily

benefit. The freeze follows big rises in energy bills last autumn `

you'll remember SSE put up its prices by over 8% then. It then

reduced that increase to 4% when the Government reduced green taxes. A

typical SSE customer on a dual fuel bill now pays around ?1,200 a year

for gas and electricity combined. Ann Robinson is Director of Consumer

Policy at uSwitch.com. You welcome this price freeze? Yes, it is

important. I think it will give peace of mind, but I don't think it

is enough. The reason I say that is because the price is still on the

high side, and there is a lot more expensive than some of the smaller

players on the market. My advice to people is don't just sit back and

think great, fantastic. To shop around because you can save yourself

probably ?250 if you have never switched. Even after all these years

of saying you should switch supplier? Yes, people can still make

significant savings. There is quite a bit difference between the

cheapest and most expensive deals. I do think people should shop around

and not just think fantastic, I don't need to do anything. Looking

at the small print, it is only for customers on standard tariffs. If

you are only fixed rate, you will think they are frozen already, but

they could unfixed those rates before this one runs out? Yes, but

if you are already on a fixed rate, don't worry, they can't change that.

They cannot change your rate if you are fixed, so don't worry about

that. And SSE says customers can switch to the standard tariff

without penalty. Do you think people should switch to SSE because it has

frozen these rates? No, I don't, it is still one of the most expensive

providers. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't switch, so it is good

for the loyal customers who are not going to move, but I want to get

those loyal customers to think about moving because they could do a lot

better. You are hoping other companies will announce a similar

move? Yes. It is still worth switching. If they are going to

change their prices, there is still quite a big difference. And do you

know what? There are two really good long`term fixed deals on the

market. They are cheaper than SSE's standard. How good is that? So the

deals are out there. That price freeze isn't pain`free for workers

or shareholders ` the company's cutting 500 jobs to pay for it, and

shelving three planned offshore wind farms. There could be a more

substantial shake`up of bills for all the energy firms. The fair trade

watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority, is to investigate

the big six energy firms, effectively asking if they should be

split up. It's thought the six firms account for about 95% of the UK's

energy supply market. So, the energy markets are being

investigated, they have been before, but they effectively got a clean

bill of health. What is different this time? This new authority that

comes into life next week, I think it is going to do a really thorough

job. The important thing is, they are not just looking at things that

are going wrong, they are charged with making markets work, and this

market is not working as well as it should be. Why would spitting at the

companies make the market better? If spitting them up means we have a

better market, a better supply market, have new players on the

block so that there are lots of people actively competing for our

business, it will be good. I am not convinced they have to be split up.

What I want is to see a market that works for all of us. We need to take

the power back ourselves. Let's get involved. The other thing I would

say is that Ofgem have another fact that they are going to mount a

consumer engagement campaign. Yes please, and do it well. Get more

people doing something now. This investigation could take two years,

or longer, before anything comes out. We have to help ourselves. What

about the argument from the companies themselves that the

uncertainty now caused by this review means that they have had to

pause investment in new power stations, in improvements to the

supply network Aston Martin? What I would say is that investment has

already stalled, and the power network goes on anyway. As far as

generation is concerned, we have got about 10% of gas mothballed. It

would not take a big incentive to get that out of mothballs, so the

light should stay on. And Robinson, thank you for joining us.

Barclays has unveiled new terms and conditions for its overdrafts. From

the middle of June, instead of paying a percentage of the amount

you're in the red, you'll pay a daily fee ` somewhere between 75p

and ?3 a day. Will this leave you better off, we wondered? The

financial expert Andrew Haggar has done some sums ` if you were

overdrawn by ?300 for three days in a month, First Direct would charge

you 78p ` its interest rate is 15.9%.HSBC would charge you ?5.89 `

its interest rate is 19.3%. Metro Bank would charge you ?4.44 ` its

interest rate is 15%. He calculates Barclays new daily tariff could cost

you as much as ?27. Again, that's for being overdrawn by ?300 for

three days every month. You'll notice that's much higher.

People applying for a mortgage certainly think interest rates are

going to go up. The Mortgage Advice Bureau says 95% of people who

applied for a home loan in February fixed their mortgage at today's

rates. The City watchodg has announced an

investigation...into itself. On Friday, it announced a big inquiry

into the sale of millions of investments and endowments over the

last four decades. It's asking if the financial companies give these

older customers a bad deal and make it too expensive to switch to a

better offer. The news caused a slide in share prices in financial

companies ` hence the inquiry into the inquiry.

The broadband company more people are unhappy with is BT. It was top

of the list of most complained about broadband providers, says the

watchdog OFCOM. And, many new dads don't take

paternity leave because they don't think their bosses would like it.

The Institute of Leadership Management shows one in four new

fathers didn't take any time off after their baby was born. From next

year, mothers and fathers will be able to pool their maternity and

paternity leave allowance. Remember, we talked last week about

how tax efficient ISA accounts are about to change. The separate limits

on how much we can pay into a cash`only, or a cash and shares

accounts, are being scrapped, replaced by one single, bigger

limit. But there's also a change to what type of investment we can put

into an ISA. Within a year, we'll be able to earn interest on some loans

to people or businesses, and not pay tax on it. The loans are known as

Peer`to`Peer lending, they can earn more than a bank account, but

they're not as safe, and you could lose your money. Brian Milligan

reports. Even though they are tax free,

getting a decent return from a cash Isa these days is certainly

something of an uphill struggle. But, by lending out your money in

one of the new peer to peer ices, you could earn a good deal more. So,

where could you money go? One answer is right up there. I invested in a

wind turbine. The wind is blowing, the blades are turning... Andy Smith

invested ?750 to help build a wind turbine near his home. He gets a

cash return of between 7% and 8% a year. With a new peer`to`peer icer

that would be tax`free also. I am helping the environment and a green

and sustainable future, but it is great for the bank balance as well.

To reduce risk, most lenders spread their money wisely. John Davies lent

just ?100 to this film and TV composer. It is one of nearly 500

different businesses he has lent to, and he loves the money he is making.

Since I started investing in October last year, my average annual return

is 6.5%. You know, compared that to anything you might get with a bank,

and it is very favourable. What happens if it goes wrong and your

borrowers can't repay you? In a cash Isa, ?85,000 of your money is

automatically protected. In a peer to peer icer, it would not be. Some

landing platforms do have compensation funds, but in theory,

you could lose some of your money. Your capital is absolutely at risk.

It is a form of investment, but the investments Hull Magistrates

Treasury is going to allow is controlled, and you will only

qualify if you are a more established business with a track

record. The new peer`to`peer tax`free Isas will come in next

year. The idea is one that could reenergise the whole of the savings

market. The first stage of the overhaul of

pensions, announced in the Budget has come into force this week, with

retirees given greater access to their pension pots. The changes so

far mean: Pension savings of up to ?30,000 can be taken as a lump sum

by those aged 60 and over, up from a previous maximum of ?18,000. This is

an interim arrangement before full flexibility over pension savings

takes effect next April. A small pension pot of less than ?10,000 can

be taken as cash by anyone aged 60 or over, regardless of their total

pension wealth. Previously a small pot was judged to be less than

?2,000. Those with a guaranteed pension income of more than ?12,000

a year can draw down an unlimited amount from their pension pot.

Previously income needed to hit more than ?20,000.

Research suggests that thousands of children, some as young as six, are

regularly looking at unsuitable and inappropriate content on the

internet. The online video regulator claims nearly half a million people

under the age of 18 accessed adult material in the month of December.

Research also suggests that many parents are still in the dark about

parental control tools and software they can use on their home computers

and smartphones. Tom joins us now. Parents might be worried about what

their children are looking at. What are your top tips for keeping

children safe? Until your children are old enough or well versed enough

in the base of the Internet, you absolutely have to be accessing it

with them. Educate them, work with them, share the experience of going

online. The best way to think about the online world is a mirror for the

off`line world. All the unpleasant things you will find on the high

street or backstreets, you will find online. You would not let them roam

the high street on their own. And there isn't anything wrong in

interfering with what they are looking at? Or setting passwords? Or

worse, buying things that they shouldn't be paying for because you

as the parent and up with the bill? Too many times in the recent past,

parents have handed over passwords for online services, particularly

for purchasing apps. They have not taken the time to understand what

the possibilities are. It is like handing the child into a credit card

and putting them in the toy shop. Things will go wrong.

The first thing is to stay with him and read the online world like the

off`line world. There are tools to monitor your child and protect them.

The number one rule is to work with them until you can trust them to

make decisions for themselves. Do you have to set the rules for every

individual website and app, or can you set an overall thing that covers

the device, the computer or spark phone `` smartphone? From your

internet provider, you can set rules which block a broad set of websites

that you may want to keep out of their view. It may also block them

from accessing websites you do want them to, for example educational

websites, that get caught up. I would not rely on those. There are

useful tools on smartphones. Sometimes you want to give your

child a smartphone. I do it for entertainment. There are things like

parental guidance modes, where you can lock out certain aspects of the

phone's capabilities while you give it to them for a few moments to play

with it or watch a video, but. Them going on other websites are paying

for stuff while on it. It is a great baby`sitter! What do you do when the

kids work it out better than you know how to use it? You have to

assume that they can anyway. They will find a way round things very

quickly. It comes back to working with them. If they know more than

you, learn from them, get them to tell you about what they are dimming

and show you the games they play, the websites they access, how they

use the social experts. Let them explain it to you. You can spot the

risks as they are doing that. Thank you, Tom. He stares into the future

and does not fail in the face of! This is the best advice to keep

children safe online. Set boundaries, such as time limits, and

teach your kids about the dangers of technology.

Create a user account on the family computer with appropriate controls.

That is all for this week. Keep up to date on the website.

We are also on Twitter. Thanks for watching. See you next week.

Good morning. This is BBC News. The headlines... A nurse appears in

court charged with murdering three patients who were poisoned in a

hospital in greater amount. 48`year`old Victorino Chua is also

accused of grievous bodily harm and attempted poisoning.

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