The most successful government intervention of all time?
16th July 2024
EPISODE 02
The most successful government intervention of all time?
This episode is around savings, and how saving into a pension was made easier through one small, but significant change in process. Less than 50% of UK workers were saving in a pension prior to 2012, and more than 80% now do - and our guest today played a role in helping this change become the default across the UK. What’s the next innovation that will change millions of lives?
Helen Dean CBE, was the CEO at Nest Corporation, the Trustee that runs the Nest pension scheme, from 2015-2024. Nest has over 13 million members and invests half a billion pounds a month on their behalf. Helen was one of the architects of the UK’s automatic enrolment programme, working from the Department of Work and Pensions; she has a long-standing interest in addressing financial inequalities and promoting financial resilience and was awarded a CBE in the 2021 for her services to saving.
More episodes
Why do we make the poor pay more?
This episode is about the Poverty Premium. The Poverty Premium designates the extra tax that low-income earners pay for essential goods and services; everything from utilities to credit to insurance, purely down to the money in their bank account.
The loan shark next desk
When you think of an illegal money lender, perhaps you think of a shady figure in a dark alley, or a faceless contact on a phone screen. You may not picture your next door neighbour, your work colleague, or even your friend. More than one million people in England are currently in debt to an illegal money lender, and two thirds of this group thought they were borrowing from a friend. Loan sharks prey on the financially vulnerable, those with unavoidable expenses, and no other financial choices - in this episode, we learn who they are, and how they’re being stopped.
Who calculates the Living Wage?
This episode is around the Real Living Wage. It is the only UK wage rate based on the cost of living. It is voluntarily paid by over 14,000 UK businesses who believe their staff deserve a wage which meets everyday needs - and our guest is the person who calculates this very figure.