• Abbey, Cahoot, Alliance & Leicester (separate until merger happens)
• Bank of Ireland, Post Office
• Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, Halifax, Intelligent Finance, Saga, The AA
• Cheltenham & Gloucester, Lloyds TSB
• Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank
• Co-operative Bank, Smile
• Direct Line, Royal Bank of Scotland
• First Direct, HSBC

This list is not definitive. Check with your bank if you are concerned.

Foreign banks which are based outside the European Economic Area (EEA) but trade in the UK must be registered here and are covered fully by the compensation scheme. However, banks registered in one of the 30 EEA countries can trade here without separate registration. That would mean you are covered only by the compensation scheme in the country where they are registered. However, most major EEA banks belong to a ‘top-up’ scheme so the local compensation scheme pays the first part of the protection – usually €20,000 (about £16,000) – and the UK scheme pays the rest. Bank of Ireland – which runs the Post Office savings accounts – is a top-up bank.

• Anglo-Irish Bank
• Bank of Ireland
• ING Direct
• Landsbanki
• Triodos Bank

If you are really concerned about the safety of your money then you should put it in National Savings or Northern Rock where any amount is currently fully protected by the Government. In fact the Government has made it clear that it will step in if any UK bank gets into the mess which Northern Rock found itself in. But that is not true for banks which are foreign owned. If any of them gets into financial difficulties – which is highly unlikely – you will have to rely on the compensation scheme or the government in the country where it is based.

So twentieth century…
 

It is enough to make you feel old. The twentieth century is less than a decade behind us but already it is being celebrated as history – and of course art. Later this month the London auctioneer Christie’s is holding a 20th century week. Posters, lamps, furniture, art, handbags, shoes and frocks all come under the hammer. And some at reasonable prices. So what makes the twentieth century what it is – or was? And is there really anything in common between the Edwardians at the start and the late Elizabeth II’ians at the end? Yes, says Monica Turcich fashion specialist at Christie’s.

"What makes the 20th century different is the emergence of the designer as star. In the 19th century very few ‘names’. In the 20th Dior, St Laurent. We have boots from Yves St Laurent’s Russian collection. He took 19th century peasant wear and made it into a fashion statement." And she says Dior and St Laurent were following in the footsteps of the French fashion designer Paul Poiret "he drew on influences all over the world. He did perfumes in little bottles, works of art themselves, and clothes. His high point was the 1920s." With the 20th century becoming strong collecting territory some of that old stuff in the loft may well be worth far more than you thought. Especially those things you just couldn’t bear to throw away. One the other hand, if you are in collecting mood a lot of these items can be bought for fairly reasonable prices.

More at www.christies.com and Monica is glad to advise on mturcich@christies.com

INHERITANCE TAX
Nil-rate band
There are growing concerns that a major inheritance tax concession is proving unworkable for many older widows who fear their heirs may not be able to take advantage of it when they die. Last October the Government announced that the £312,000 tax-free allowance for Inheritance Tax would be doubled when a widow or widower died as long as their spouse had left everything to them. Even if some other bequests had been made whatever proportion of the tax-free allowance was unused could then be used by the widow or widower on their death. For example if the first to die left money to his children which used up half the tax-free limit then when his widow died the heirs would get her tax free limit – currently £312,000 – and half her late husband’s which would be worked out as a proportion of the current limit. So they would get an extra £312,000 x 50% = £156,000 making a total of £468,000 before any IHT was due.

So far so (relatively) simple. But the scheme depends on knowing what the first spouse left to whom and being able to prove it. That may be difficult. If there was a will and the estate was large then a copy can be obtained from public records. But if the estate was small and most of it was in a jointly-owned house then probate would not be needed and the will would not be registered or publicly available. If it has disappeared that could cause problems. Even if a solicitor was used and can be traced the firm may have destroyed any documents more than seven years old. So the very people who inherited everything from their spouse and who should have a full transferable allowance may find they are the very ones who have no proof of that fact.

The Revenue says it will accept all reasonable claims and operate what it calls a ‘light-touch regime’. But it is sensible to get the widow and any other living relatives or friends who remember what happened to set the facts down in writing. If you are particularly concerned you could get that statement sworn as an affidavit by a solicitor.

Older widows
Another problem with the new scheme is that before 22 March 1972 there was no specific amount that could be left to a spouse without estate duty (as it then was) being charged. That means that any amount left to a wife (or husband) used up some or even all of the tax-free allowance. For example in 1970 the maximum tax free amount that could be left was £10,000. If a spouse was left a share of a house then a big chunk, perhaps all, of that allowance would be used up. So there may be little or no allowance left to transfer when the widow dies.

Take up disaster
For the first time the amount of state benefits which pensioners fail to claim could have topped £5 billion in a year. The 2006/07 figures published recently show that up to £2.8 billion Pension Credit is unclaimed by up to 1.8 million over 60s. To that we have to add up to £770 million of housing benefit and up to a staggering £1.5 billion in council tax benefit waiting to be claimed by nearly 2.5 million people over 60.

The number not claiming and the amounts unclaimed are all up on the year before. Despite that the Government has now abandoned its commitment to increase the take-up of pension credit claiming that pursuing those who do not claim "is no longer…value for money."

But new research indicates there is a simple way to boost take-up. Every pound spent on benefit advice in doctors’ surgeries and hospitals generates a return of £10 benefit gained. Age Concern England found that that each full time adviser raised £260,000 for the clients they advised and each client who was helped, gained £1,549 they would not otherwise have had.

So why doesn’t the government do it?