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A slack property market has boosted the numbers of successful refund claims made in connection with inheritance tax, while the odds are about to improve when it comes to a win on the Premium Bonds.
Our round-up looks at the latest personal finance developments affecting the over-50s.
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Over 10,000 families recouped money linked to overpaid inheritance tax (IHT) bills during the tax year 2025-26, more than double the number compared with the previous 12-month period.
The figure was revealed following a Freedom of Information request made by the insurer NFU Mutual to HMRC, the UK’s tax authority.
IHT is calculated on the value of a person’s estate on the date of death and usually needs to be paid within six months of the figure being known.
But if an estate’s executors – the person, or persons, appointed to settle a deceased person’s affairs – sell certain assets such as property, shares, or other qualifying investments whose price has fallen in the interim, they can reclaim overpaid tax.
The tax refund is not automatic but has to be proactively reclaimed.
To qualify for a tax refund, executors need to have sold shares within 12 months of a death, or property inside a four-year limit.
According to NFU Mutual, 10,550 estates successfully claimed overpaid IHT for losses incurred on property sales in the past tax year, compared with 5,070 the year before.
The company said the sharp jump in figures underlined the slowing UK housing market, particularly in London and the south-east.
Sean McCann, chartered financial planner at NFU Mutual, said: “A large IHT bill can be a nasty shock for grieving families. These figures show that more people are waking up to the possibility that they could reclaim overpaid IHT.”
“If you are reclaiming overpaid IHT following a fall in the value of shares or investments, all qualifying investments sold by the executor in the 12 months following death must be included in the claim, not just those that have fallen in value.”
Premium Bond holders have a better chance of winning a prize from September 2026 after NS&I, the government-backed company behind the popular savings product, increased the prize-fund rate.
The rate rises from 3.8% to 4.35% this month, nudging the figure closer to the top, standard easy-access rates of around 4.5% that are currently available in the wider savings market.
This is the second Premium Bond prize-fund rate rise of 2026, taking the figure to its highest level since December 2024.
NS&I estimates there will be 308,000 more prizes up for grabs in September, compared with a month earlier, with the prize pot increasing by about £63 million to £497 million.
NS&I said the hike in the rate is to ensure it reflects “current market conditions” and has been made to meet its net financing target. In other words, the amount the government wants the company to attract from savers.
In July 2026, NS&I increased the prize-fund rate from 3.3% to 3.8%, which was the first rise in nearly three years, following a series of consecutive rate cuts.
The chances of a single £1 bond scooping a prize will also rise, with the odds improving from a one in 22,000 chance in the July 2026 draw to a one in 21,000 chance in September.
Premium Bond winnings are paid out tax-free which partly explains their popularity with the UK’s 22 million account holders. They particularly appeal to savers who have already used up their annual ISA allowance of £20,000.
Although the changes will be welcomed by Premium Bond holders, it’s important to remember that winners are generated via a prize draw.
This means the prize fund rate should not be confused with the interest earnt on a conventional savings account. With typical luck, most Premium Bonds holders will not enjoy the top return of 4.35%, even if they hold the maximum amount of £50,000.
A freedom of Information request submitted by the investment platform AJ Bell earlier this year revealed that almost two-thirds of Premium Bond holders had never won a prize.
To secure a guaranteed return, savers need to shop around for a more conventional account in the wider savings market.
The City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, has urged consumers to avoid investing in unregulated loan notes and mini bonds after continuing to see people lose money in these high-risk investments.
A loan note or mini bond involves lending money to a company for a set time in return for interest, plus repayment of the initial sum at the end of the period. But if that company fails, the FCA warned that “consumers could lose every penny”.
In principle, mini bonds are a form of interest-paying IOU and work in a similar way to investing in other types of bonds, such as gilts. But the latter are backed by the UK government and have been issued for hundreds of years. To date, no gilt has ever failed.
In contrast, the FCA permanently banned the marketing of speculative illiquid securities to retail investors, including mini bonds, five years ago.
But the regulator warned that consumers may still come across adverts for loan notes in online adverts, websites, or via social media where high, fixed returns are promoted.
The FCA said “adverts can look simple and safe, but warning signs include pressure to act quickly, unclear explanations of how money could be lost, or claims that an investment is ‘asset-backed’ without clear evidence of what stands behind it.”
Lucy Castledine, FCA director of consumer investments, said: “Ordinary investors should only invest through regulated firms because if they invest through an unauthorised from, they may have little or no protection if things go wrong.”
Pensioner poverty has risen steadily over the past decade, despite a sustained period of state pension increases underpinned by the introduction of the triple lock.
Poverty in older people remains lower than it was in the 1990s, according to a report published by consultants LCP. But it adds that there has been an upwards climb over the past ten years, driven almost entirely by people who are single, including divorced and ‘never married’ pensioners.
The report said there were 1.5 million divorced single pensioners in England and Wales in 2024, triple the number in 2002. The findings also showed there is now a rapidly growing group of 800,000 single pensioners who have never married.
Poverty rates for single pensioners are now almost double those of pension couples.
The report was written by Steve Webb, LCP partner, and former pensions minister in the coalition government. He said: “Some of the discussion of the position of pensioners seems to imply that pensioner poverty is largely solved.
“But, since 2012/13, pensioner poverty has been rising steadily, predominantly among single pensioners. Issues such as inadequate pension sharing at the end of a relationship and the continuing gender pension gap mean that women in particular are at higher risk of poverty in old age.”
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