Dealing with debt, City retirement, Switching suppliers

Available for over a year

You & Yours investigates how vulnerable people with debts they can't pay are being encouraged to sign up to repayment plans they can't afford. That's the warning from a specialist insolvency company that has investigated the way that some unregulated debt advisors are promoting a particular kind of formal debt repayment plan. We ask whether the dream of escaping to the countryside can really hold up with cuts in services and an ageing population needing more medical and social care. A survey by the insurance company, Prudential, says more than half of the 2,000 city dwellers they asked, plan to stay put. People living in Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton and Belfast were most likely to feel too attached to their city to move out. Our presenter, Winifred Robinson, speaks to the author and journalist, Hunter Davies. He's been writing about why he's decided to return to London full-time after his wife, the novelist Margaret Forster, died last year. The energy regulator, Ofgem, says there was a big rise in the number of people switching provider last year. In 2016, 7.7 million gas or electricity switches took place, up almost 30 per cent on the previous year. The regulator says people can save £230 a year through switching to fixed deals, avoiding many of the price rises suppliers have announced in recent weeks for customers on standard variable tariffs, which are typically more expensive. Presenter: Winifred Robinson Producer: Tara Holmes.