Heir Hunters

Long lost, wealthy relatives who’ve sadly died but for whom you “might” be the next of kin – too good to be true or the real thing? We explain how to spot the difference and how to tell the good heir hunters from the bad. A disabled mother of two is being denied Healthy Start vouchers for her young children because she is on the wrong benefit. The vouchers provide more than a thousand pounds over four years to help low-income mothers buy milk and food for their growing children. But disabled people on a benefit called Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) only get the vouchers while they are pregnant. The latest Crime Survey for England and Wales shows a massive rise in the amount of fraud being carried out against victims – up by more than a third to 5.1m cases between October 2020 and September 2021. Inflation is already at levels not seen for a generation and this week food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe highlighted how she believes the real figure can be even worse for people on low incomes. So how was inflation first calculated, what are the different ways it’s been measured in the past, how do they compare to the here and now and should it be changed for the future? Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Chris Flynn Producer: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Drew Miller-Hyndman and Sandra Hardial Editor: Emma Rippon Email story ideas and questions to [email protected] or tweet @Moneybox