Dear Listener

I am a bit torn. Do I write about the minimum wage going up from October? The adult rate will rise by 2.5% which is just 15p an hour, to £6.08 from 1 October. This is pretty much in line with the overall rise in wages which was 2.3% in January, but of course way below even CPI inflation of 4.4% and less than half RPI inflation of 5.5%. Younger people get a rise of a touch over 1% - up 6p to £4.98 an hour age 18-20 and up 4p to £3.68 for 16-17s. Except apprentices who do best with a 10p rise to £2.60 an hour which is a 4% rise. Worst of all are volunteers and interns who, well, often get nothing, except perhaps travel expenses if their non-employer is feeling generous.

Or do I write about HSBC being investigated in the USA (the bank uses the phrase ‘constructive dialogue with US authorities’) about more than 7000 customers with a minimum of $100,000 in the bank who may have been concealing money held in a linked HSBC account abroad? It is a sign of the hard times we are all in that the US administration and our own government, which used to say a lot but do little about tax evasion, are finally realising that tackling it is not just a fairly easy way to raise a lot of money, it is also very popular.

Or do I write about a fun website (well, it’s a joy for us number crunchers) which lets you do cool things like see if you are paying the right amount of tax and see how much more (or less) tax and NI you will pay this year than last. It can even work out how much you would have to earn to have a net monthly income of, say, £2000 after tax. Have a guess – the answer is at the end.  It is called www.uktaxcalculators.co.uk. I just wish it didn’t have so many things that look like useful links but which take you to adverts. But I guess that’s how it’s paid for.

Or do I write about…no, that’s my space (and your patience) used up so on to the real purpose of this newsletter:- What is…

***…IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

We try to be inclusive on Money Box so we thought we would please our many listeners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by giving them a good laugh. Yes we are doing an item on NHS prescription charges which are just a distant memory in Wales (2007); fondly remembered in Northern Ireland (2010); and give a pleasurable smugness to our Scottish listeners who since 1 April this year have been able to go to the chemist and get their medicines free. Last week we reported on the 20p rise to £7.40 per item for those in the UK who still have to pay. But some listeners in England tell us that their actual charge has more than doubled. We explain why.

We look at the case of a listener who cancelled his AA membership only to find that its system revved into life a year later, saluted, and started it again without asking. It can happen if you agree to pay by credit card. It’s called a continuous payment authority – but you may not know you gave it.

I interview Pensions Minister Steve Webb about his plan to create ‘a state pension for the 21st century’ and get him to admit just how far into that century it could be before it begins. A longer version of the interview will be on our website as for some reason the producer refused to allow the whole 23 minute interview into our 24 minute slot!

And why does the Government plan to take a cut of the maintenance it makes absent fathers pay to often hard up mothers for their children.

We are working on other stories and if one of those appears then one of the four above will do the opposite or be sqzd dn 2 v lttl.

Find out what makes it and what is left on the electronic cutting room floor on Radio 4 on Saturday just after noon. The repeat is on Sunday at 9pm and you can of course listen any time via the podcast page www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox. Check out our website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox to follow links, download transcripts, send us stories or ideas you want us to look into and Have Your Say on credit card payments that it is impossible for you to cancel.

This newsletter is available at bbc.co.uk/moneybox/newsletter around the time it hits your inbox (tell your friends who don’t subscribe) and you can join more than 5700 others who enjoy my random but timely thoughts on money whenever I’m awake at www.twitter.com/paullewismoney.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS don’t forget the programme trail on Breakfast on BBC 1 around 0840. And I am back on Breakfast on Thursday morning around 0640ish and around 0820ish (time, like toast, is flexible on Breakfast!)

PPS you need gross pay of £31,821.60 to have a net income of £2000 a month after income tax and NI.

e-mail Paul Lewis