Paul Lewis: May money news

Payouts dropped

There will be no compensation for the 46,000 customers of Safe Hands funeral plan firm. They lost around £70 million between them when the company went bust in 2022.

Now, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced it will ignore a report by its own complaints commissioner that said it should reconsider compensating people who lost money.

In her critical report, the commissioner Rachel Kent – who hears complaints about the regulator – said the FCA should have been proactive in investigating the firm even before it took over regulating funeral plans in 2023.

The firm broke a rule that said client money must be held separately in a secure trust. It wasn’t.

The FCA says there was nothing it could do at the time. Customers will now only get a small payment from the administrators of the collapsed firm, estimated at between 8.5p and 12p for every pound lost.

Water levelling

Last month, I suggested one way to reduce your water bills (in England and Wales) is to have a water meter fitted, but not every home can have one – especially some older properties and many flats.

However, if you ask for one and it is not possible, then you will be put on a cheaper tariff, known as an assessed household charge, based on the number of people and rooms. It should save money if you have more bedrooms than people – or the same number – in your home.

Growing older

Deep breath: how long will you live?

Not everyone wants to know but the Office for National Statistics has said its latest figures for 2021-23 show life expectancy has started to grow again after falling during the pandemic.

The change is slight and if you want a rough guide to how long you might have left to tick off your bucket list, visit their ‘life expectancy calculator’.