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Updated May 21, 2026 | Articles

Cut the cost of using your mobile phone abroad

Don’t blow your holiday budget on your mobile bill

Since Brexit, most major mobile networks have reintroduced roaming charges. And with the constant desire to stay connected, and use your phone to get around, you can end up with a huge bill.

Here’s what you need to know about roaming charges for the major networks, and a few tricks to help you keep costs down.

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Can you get free roaming?

Until the end of 2020, you were able to use your inclusive data, calls and texts when travelling in Europe. And some mobile companies, such as Three, offered the same deal in countries further afield, including the USA and Australia. O2 is the only major network to carry on offering this — here are the rules for each of the networks.

O2 & Virgin Mobile – free roaming continues

The only major network to retain free roaming is O2, with extra benefits if you also get Virgin Broadband. You can call and text UK numbers from abroad and use your data up to the limits in your monthly allowance or 25GB, whichever is lower.

This only applies in European countries, and you’ll be capped at 25GB of data a month if your normal allowance is above this.

For travel outside of Europe, you can buy an O2 Travel Bolt On for £7 a day which covers 27 worldwide destinations (full list here). You’ll get unlimited data each day, plus 120 minutes of talk time and texts to UK numbers. Some more expensive packages include this, usually those with 30GB of data or more.

If you’re on Pay As You Go, you can get the O2 Travel Bolt On for £1.99 a day in selected destinations.

Or, if you’re with Virgin Media for your broadband then you can link your accounts to get this Bolt On added to your phone tariff for free.

Vodafone

General roaming charges now apply to anyone who took out a Vodafone contract after 11 August 2021. There’s no change for contracts taken out before this.

However, pay monthly plans and Pay As You Go include roaming in the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Iceland and Norway.

Some more expensive contracts will include roaming in the EU and beyond, but if you’re on a basic plan you’ll pay £2.57 a day if you’re travelling in Europe. You can reduce this with an eight-day pass for £16 or a 15-day pass for £21.

EE

Your roaming charges will depend on your plan and where you’re travelling.

For example, if you pay monthly for your EE phone contract, you’ll be charged £2.72 a day or £16.50 for seven days if you’re travelling in Europe.

Then there are zones for the rest of the world. If you’re visiting the USA, China, India and a few others in Zone 1, it’ll cost £6 a day or £30 for seven days. The most you’ll pay is £16 a day if you’re going to Zone 4 countries including Nepal and the Maldives.

If you’re on PAYG, you’ll need to pay £2.50 for a day or £10 for seven days to use your allowances in Europe.

If you’re on EE’s Full Works plan, you’ll get its EU and Roam Further Pass included, although this is one of the more expensive contacts.

Three

The Go Roam benefit offered free roaming outside the EU, but all included roaming ended for anyone who took out a new contract or renewed a contract after 1 October 2021.

Now Three offers roaming in Europe for £2 for a day, £5 three days, or £12 for a week.

It’ll cost you £5 a day for the rest of the world to use your existing allowances, with three days costing £12.50 and a week set at £30.

There’s also a £7 a day Data Passport which offers unlimited data abroad.

However, it’s free in the EU if you use (or buy) a Three Pay-as-you-go SIM.

Other networks

Here’s what some of the other networks are doing:

BT Mobile – free European roaming remains
Giffgaff – free European roaming remains
ID Mobile – free European roaming remains
Lebara – free European roaming remains
Sky Mobile – free roaming ended in May 2022
Smarty – free European roaming remains
Tesco Mobile – free European roaming remains
Voxi – free roaming ended in May 2022

New rules to cut roaming fees

Mobile network providers must tell you if you’re going to be charged for roaming when you’re abroad under new proposals from Ofcom (the UK’s communications regulator). The provider has to tell you the costs, fair use limits and any relevant time limits. They should also inform you of how to set a limit on your spending.

These rules were introduced on 1 October 2024.

How to reduce your phone charges abroad

Check your destination

Even if you have roaming included or there’s the option to set a daily price cap – check that the country you’re going to is part of that deal. If it’s excluded then you’ll need to look at some of these other tips.

Switch to a different mobile network

As well as O2 and Virgin Media, many smaller networks are keeping EU roaming. These could well be cheaper than the major networks back home, too.

If you don’t fancy doing this permanently, you could look at Three’s PAYG SIM or sign up for just one month of one of the smaller networks.

Get an eSIM

An eSIM is a handy way to get service while you’re abroad. It’s essentially a digital SIM card that you can load onto your phone to use local network providers. You can get ones that are just data, or you can get one with a local phone number to also make calls and send texts.

We have a full guide on eSIMs here where we explain how they work, the benefits and the savings you can make.

Cap your charges

If you don’t want to switch, you should find out what your network will charge where you are going.

It’s worth seeing if your network has a cap on overseas charges, particularly for data. This will stop your bill getting out of control – but don’t assume you’ll get this. You often have to ask for this to be implemented.

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Fractional shares No
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Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
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Get a bolt-on

Another option is to buy add-on packages that give you a pre-agreed amount of minutes, texts or data to use when abroad.

Get Volt via O2 and Virgin Media

Worldwide roaming is included if you have both a mobile with O2 and broadband from Virgin Media. Though only go down this route if the prices for both are decent.

Turn off your data and use Wi-Fi instead

Another option is to simply not use data at all. You need to do this before you get on the plane, train or boat. Go to your settings and turn off data roaming or mobile data – and keep it off until you’re back in the UK.

This also means the apps on your phone won’t automatically access data behind the scenes. It also protects against accidentally opening your email — yep, you’d get charged, even if it’s just a few seconds.

If you’re in a destination where roaming is included, check your limits. There may be a reduction in how much of your regular allowance you can use.

With data turned off, the only way to connect to the web will be using Wi-Fi. You might get lucky and get it for free at your hotel. If not, look for coffee shops and public spaces that don’t charge. You can research in advance too, using the Wi-Fi Finder app.

However, be careful using unsecured Wi-Fi with banking apps or online shopping. Don’t enter login or password details.

Write shorter texts

If your text is longer than 160 characters, it’ll count as two texts (or more), so try to watch your words. It’s also worth not sending picture messages via text (at home and abroad) as they’ll be charged extra. Use messaging apps instead (when you’re on Wi-Fi).

Our podcast

Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Steve Alderton and Editor James Andrews.

Episodes every Monday.

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Be careful when making local calls

Unless you’ve got a specific add-on which allows it, any calls you make to numbers at your destination or texts messages to local mobiles aren’t included in roaming. You might be better off getting a local SIM or calling card if you’re going to make a lot of these calls.

Don’t answer calls and turn off voicemail

Outside inclusive roaming counties you’ll often be charged to answer a call, so don’t answer unless you need to. You won’t be charged to get a text message though, so tell mates back home that’s the best way to communicate with you while you’re away.

Some networks – with EE the worst – will also charge you for receiving a voicemail when abroad, even if you don’t access it. I always used to call my provider and turn voicemail off before I left to avoid any unnecessary charges.

Use apps to make calls and send messages

When you’re connected to Wi-Fi, you’ll also be able to use apps like WhatsApp to make free calls and send messages, including photos.

This cuts out the costs of making and receiving calls overseas. However, if the Wi-Fi signal is weak, it can be a very frustrating phone call!

Updated May 18, 2026 | Articles

LTV & the remortgaging tricks that’ll save you thousands

Andy Webb

Don’t miss out on even better deals when looking for a new mortgage offer.

If you’re on a fixed mortgage deal, you might just see remortgaging as something you need to do to avoid moving on to a more expensive standard variable rate. Of course, doing that will save you money but it’s possible to use remortgaging to reduce how much you pay over the term even more.

I’m not going to go through everything you need to do when you remortgage here – things like check your credit report for errors, get paperwork together and watch your spending and credit applications in the run-up to your application.

This is all very important stuff and could well have changed since you last got a mortgage. So do read up on all of that.

Instead, I’m going to focus here on a few simple things you can do that could make a big difference to the monthly and total cost of your mortgage. And the main one involves something called “Loan to Value”.

Watch this video or keep reading (or both)

What is Loan to Value?

Loan to Value, or LTV, is essentially how much you have borrowed compared to the value of your home. So if you originally bought a £300,000 house with a £30,000 deposit you would have had an LTV of 90%. That’s a mortgage loan of £270,000.

So why does this matter to remortgaging? Well, LTV is measured in bands. They generally start at 95% (meaning you’ve put down a 5% deposit) and drop in 5% increments down to 60%, though sometimes the gaps between tiers are larger (eg 75% and then 60%).

Mortgage interest rates tend to then drop for each band you move down. And obviously the lower the interest rate you get, the less you’ll pay.

For example, at the time of writing, the lowest available five-year fix is 4.48%. This is based on taking out a 25-year mortgage term with a 60% LTV. At 80% LTV, the lowest five-year fix available is 4.68%, at 90% that rises again to 4.84%.

And over time there’s a good chance your LTV will have changed, thanks to prices rising as well as you paying off some of your loan, meaning you might get a better deal when it comes around to remortgaging.

There are two key changes that could have affected your LTV since you agreed to your last mortgage deal.

Try our mortgage calculator

Our mortgage calculator helps simplify things by giving you an idea of how much you could borrow and your likely monthly repayments.

Find out what you could afford

How your LTV could have changed

First, unless you’re on an interest-only mortgage, you’ve been paying into your mortgage every single month, building up equity.

Say you’ve knocked £15,000 off the mortgage in equity payments (don’t forget some of your monthly repayments will have gone towards interest charges), then you have added an extra 5% to what you own. This means your LTV would now be 85% and you can apply for the next tier of mortgages.

And second, your property value could have increased. Let’s say it’s now worth 5% more at £315,000. That’s an extra £15k. Alongside your initial deposit and the £15k in repayments, it would give you £60,000 of equity – roughly 19% of the total value. That means the LTV is now 81%.

However, in the example above, the repayments and extra value might give an LTV of 81% but it would still only mean getting access to deals in the 85% LTV bracket, rather than 80%.

When you’re really close to a new tier, finding some extra cash from savings or cutting back ahead of remortgaging would be well worth it. Here an extra £3,000 might seem a huge amount but the drop down to the 80% band could be a big saver over time.

Using our example mortgage size, a 0.45% difference between 85% and 80% LTV tiers over five years would be just £2,000, but over 25 years that variation in rate would be worth £15,000.

It’s worth having a go on our mortgage calculator to find out what effect things like different rates have on payments, so it’s worth taking a look at playing around.

How to get a new valuation for LTV

You can get a sense of price changes using a site like Zoopla. You put your postcode in and you’ll get an estimate as to the current value of your property. It’ll be shown in a range which can be quite broad. When I looked, for example, it suggested my house had gone up by £20k to £79k in value since we paid for it two years ago.

You can also get an idea from Zoopla and RightMove as to what the list prices were for other similar properties that have sold recently. Have a nose at the listings online so you can see if it’s a similar layout and standard inside. Remember these are just asking prices, so the actual deal could be different.

For a more accurate idea you could invite an estate agent over to give you their input – there’s no commitment for you to list the house if you do this. You can then put a figure on your application.

The mortgage lender will then want to do their own valuation (and charge you for it!). This could just be a drive-by looking at the outside of the property, or they might want to come into the house. You probably won’t know which one it is, so make sure everything looks good inside just in case.

This won’t happen though until you’re already quite a decent way through your application process so if you don’t get what you want to bear in mind you’ll start all over again with another lender.

Shop around for the lowest rate

Once you’ve checked the LTV you could just remortgage with your existing lender. That might be the quickest option, and it could mean you don’t need to go through as many hoops and cut out some fees. But it could also mean you’re missing out on some much lower deals.

You can find the best remortgage rates on our comparison tables, which are updated in real time and are really handy to get an idea of what’s out there.

You can also talk to a mortgage advisor, who will be able to give you a much better idea of what you could be offered based on your individual circumstances, and even ways to boost your affordability.

A few extras to bear in mind when comparing different rates:

Find out if you are able to overpay

It’s really worth looking to see what the rules are in terms of overpayment. Some won’t let you do it at all, while others might have annual limits. Best is complete freedom to pay what you want each month and the ability to clear it completely before the term ends.

Even if you don’t think you’ll be able to overpay by much, if at all, right now, you never know how things could change. It’s really useful to have that flexibility.

And overpaying can save you a fortune in interest charges as well as help you clear the debt earlier. There’s more on whether you should pay your mortgage off early here.

Compare mortgage rates and deals

Looking for a mortgage? Find the top rates from over 200,000 deals and 100+ lenders with our live tables.

Check out the best mortgage rates

Watch out for fees

You’ll get charged all sorts of different fees with different mortgages, and they can make good looking deals actually worse than ones with higher interest.

The main ones are the arrangement and booking fees. These facilitate the deal and could be non-refundable. You need to factor in these to the total cost of the mortgage deal.

Do this over the length of the deal (eg three years) to work out what you’ll actually be paying over time, and compare it to one with higher rates and lower fees.

Consider if you want to fix for longer

If interest rates are going to shoot up in the coming years, you might want to look beyond the usual two-year fixes. There are often five and 10-year options available, though you may pay a higher rate for these.

Check how much you’ve left to pay

One reason not to remortgage is when you’ve almost cleared your debt. That’s because the fees that are added to new deals could well wipe out the savings you’ll make by sticking put – even if it’s at a higher interest rate! So work out how much you’ll be paying by sticking put just in case it works out cheaper.

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FSCS Protected? Yes
Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
Interest on uninvested cash 3.75%
Fractional shares No
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Foreign exchange fee 0.70%
Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 944492
Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Offer Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares. T&Cs apply. Other fees may apply.

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When to remortgage

It’s worth looking for new deals around six months before your deal ends as it can take time to get the process approved.

Saying that, you can remortgage at any time, though if you do it before your deal ends you may get hit with exit fees – usually known as early repayment fees.

So generally it’s best not to do it early but you might want to keep an eye on any potential base rate changes by the Bank of England.

If it looks like there’s going to be a significant rise you might want to switch your deal early to get hold of lower price deals – but of course you need to factor in any early repayment charge as well as any changes to LTV.

Important

*Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Be Clever With Your Cash may receive a payment from Tembo Money if you complete a mortgage through the link provided. This will not affect the amount you pay for the service.

This broker fee discount of up to £499 is applicable for standard mortgages and remortgages only, more complex cases including guarantor, buy-to-let, adverse credit, and equity transfer may be liable for a fee. The fee you are required to pay will be clearly outlined by your adviser prior to an application being submitted on your behalf. The offer does not cover any other potential fees that may arise during the mortgage process.

Tembo Money Limited (12631312) is a company registered in England and Wales with its registered office at 18 Crucifix Lane, London, SE1 3JW. Tembo is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under the registration number 952652. Tembo Money was awarded Best Mortgage Broker at the British bank awards in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Rates are not guaranteed and may change by the time you come to apply. Eligibility criteria may vary by lender.

Our calculator is only an estimate of how much you are able to borrow and does not constitute mortgage advice

T&Cs apply.

Updated May 1, 2026 | Deals

TNT Sports deals and offers

BCWYC Team

The cheapest ways to watch TNT Sports on your TV or app

If you want to watch Premier League and Champions League football, Premiership Rugby, along with other sports, on TNT Sports, then you’ll need to sign up via your pay TV provider or use the Discovery+ streaming service.

Here are the best offers right now to save you cash.

What is TNT Sports?

TNT Sports is the new name for BT Sports. It now sits under the Discovery brand, though you can add just the TNT Sports channels to your Sky, Virgin and other pay TV services.

The channels are:

TNT Sports 1, 2, 3, and 4: available in standard and high definition, plus six red-button channels.
TNT Sports Ultimate: stream select events in 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos (with a compatible device).
TNT Sports Box Office: get pay-per-view access to exciting sports events (for both subscribers and non-subscribers).

You can read more via this link about what the change means for existing BT Sport customers.

Get it via Discovery +

Monthly for £30.99 a month

This tier of streaming service Discovery+ gets you all the TNT Sports channels to watch via the Discovery+ app on your TV, smart stick, games console, computer, tablet or phone.

For an extra £3 a month you can also get lifestyle channels such as TLC, Quest and Discovery.

This is a monthly pass and you can cancel at anytime. This effectively replaces the old BT Sport monthly pass, though the difference is this will renew if you don’t cancel.

Get TNT Sports

Get it via BT

Check if it’s already included

Some BT Broadband customers, usually long standing ones who used to get BT Sports for free, may now have access to the full Discovery+ Premium package for free.

You’ll be able to tell by checking eligibility here.

Check if you can get Discovery+ for free via BT

Add it to BT broadband from £20/mth

If you get your internet services from BT then you can get the TNT Sport channels for an extra charge each month by adding BT TV. The sports packages starts from £20 a month.

Although you can still watch via the BT Sport App you’ll need to move to the Discovery+ app in due course.

If you’re adding it to an existing BT contract then it could mean you start a new contract for all your BT services, possibly for 24 months.

Make sure you shop around for deals that’ll bring the price down, such as using cashback sites for an added bonus.

Add TNT Sports to BT broadband

Get it via EE

If your mobile phone contract is with EE you can buy passes to watch on your phone using the Discovery+ app.

There are add-ons that let you watch it via the BT Sport app on your TV or improve picture quality to 4K.

Check if it’s already included

Some EE and BT Mobile customers that got BT Sports for free may now have access to the full Discovery+ Premium package for free.

You’ll be able to tell by checking eligibility here.

Check if you can get Discovery+ for free via EE

£20 a month mobile pass via EE

EE customers can get access to the TNT Sports via a Discovery+ Premium pass that costs £20 a month. You need to text SPORT to 150 to start your subscription. You can cancel anytime.

Get TNT Sports via EE

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Customer rating 4.7/5

Offer
up to £300 in free shares*
Annual fee
£0
Trading fee
£0
Minimum deposit
£0

Capital at risk. Other fees may apply. *Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares.

FSCS Protected? Yes
Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
Interest on uninvested cash 3.75%
Fractional shares No
Flexible ISA Yes
Foreign exchange fee 0.70%
Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 944492
Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Offer Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares. T&Cs apply. Other fees may apply.

View Deal

“Free” with EE Inclusive Extras

If you have a reasonably expensive contract with EE (via the Full Works plan), you can choose TNT Sports as one of your Inclusive Extras.

TNT Sports is probably the most expensive of the options, though alternatives include:

Apple One Individual
Google One Premium AI Plan
Netflix Premium
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Though there will be cheaper SIM deals out there, with EE or another network, it is much less than getting TNT Sports (and Discovery+) direct from the streaming service. The difference though is you’re committing to a 24 month contract, and prices will likely increase each spring with inflation.

Ultimately you’re probably better off shopping around for a cheaper SIM-only deal and getting TNT Sports as and when you need it.

Get it via O2

Save £6 a month via O2

Add TNT Sports to your O2 mobile contract and you’ll get charged a lower £26.99 a month, and then also get £2 credited back to your account each month.

There’s no long term commitment, so you can cancel at any time.

Add TNT Sports to O2

Watch TNT Sports for free

Watch the Europa League, Conference & Champions League final for free

Though TNT Sports has the rights to show the finals of all European competitions, they’re continuing the offer to watch them for free without a subscription.

You can watch for free via the Discovery+ app on TVs and devices, or you can also watch via the Discovery+ channel on Prime Video.

If you don’t have an account you will need to register, but there’s no need to pay for any of the packages.

Sky Sports and NOW deals

All my ways to save on this dedicated Sky Sports passes article

How to watch TNT Sports on your TV

So how do you get these options on your TV?

Check for an app on your TV or smart device

You can watch TNT Sport on your TV if you have the Discovery+ app (and the right level of subscription).

This is available on the following (though check the full list here in case you have older incompatible models)

Amazon Fire Sticks
Apple TV
Chromecasts
Samsung & LG Smart TVs
Android TVs
Roku devices (including NOW sticks)
Sky TV
Playstation 4 & 5
Xbox One and XIS

Buy an HDMI cable

As long as you have a laptop with an HDMI connector, you can just buy a cable to connect to your TV. This should be the cheapest option – but I prefer the smart stick options!

Sport on other channels

You can also watch sport on Sky, Amazon and Premier Sports. Here’s our guide to the ways to save on each of them.

Updated April 24, 2026 | Articles

Does it cost more to order groceries on Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats?

Zoe Roddy

What you’ll really pay if you get your groceries delivered from a takeaway service.

It’s never been easier to get takeaways or your supermarket shopping delivered to your front door – including getting those groceries collected and dropped off by Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

You can order supplies and get them within a few hours, if not less. It’s certainly convenient. But as with using these apps and websites for takeaways, I wanted to find out if you’ll actually be overpaying.

So I’ve compared prices from the apps vs going direct to the supermarkets, plus looked at any extra charges. Here’s what you need to know before ordering.

Which delivery apps offer grocery delivery?

You’ll find the major supermarkets as well as some convenience stores on Uber Eats, Just Eat or Deliveroo.

There are similar services such as Getir, Gorillas and Beelivery too. These often have their own warehouses rather than working with traditional retailers. I’m not covering here as the reach is still limited around the country.

Which supermarkets are on Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo?

The apps have partnerships with Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, as well as smaller shops like McColls, One-Stop and even some petrol stations.

Of course, you need the supermarket to be in your delivery area to appear on the app. And even if you have a store near you, they might not partner with the apps in your area.

All three apps seem to have an offer with most supermarkets – it used to be that you’d have to use a specific app to shop at specific shops.

Ordering & delivery

Using these apps is completely separate to the supermarket’s own delivery service, so you don’t need an account with the supermarket itself.

You will need to download the Deliveroo, Just Eat or Uber Eats app, or access them via a web browser. You then need to sign up if you haven’t already.

Making an order is exactly the same as with a takeaway. If you have a participating supermarket near you it’ll appear on the app.

Add the items you want to your basket and pay. Then wait for them to arrive at your door.

Charges and extra fees

On Deliveroo, most of the supermarkets say it’s free delivery, but on Uber Eats all added a fee of around £2. Some charged a different rate depending on how close you were to the supermarket, others charged a flat fee. Just Eat charges £1.29 to £3.29 for delivery.

There’s also a minimum order of around £15 with Uber Eats and Deliveroo, although Just Eat doesn’t seem to have one. If you don’t meet this threshold, you’ll be charged an additional fee, often around £3.

You’ll also find that most add an extra service charge. For Uber Eats, it’s 10% of the order. On Deliveroo it was generally 5%, with a minimum of 49p and cap of £2. And Just Eat charges a service fee of 99p to £2.99.

And on top of this, you might be charged for carrier bags at 10p per bag, though one dummy order I set up added 40p despite having just four items. There’s also the option to provide a driver tip.

It’s possible to request a specific time slot or just ask for it as soon as possible. You’ll get an indication of when the delivery will be made, and you can track progress. In my experience of using both for takeaways, there’s always a good chance it’ll be late! You might be charged more for this or a priority order.

Can you collect your loyalty points?

Previously, you couldn’t use your loyalty cards using these apps, but you can now link your loyalty apps to Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Not all loyalty apps work with both apps, but we’ve seen that you can connect your Nectar card, MyWaitrose card, Morrisons More card and Co-op membership. It’s likely that other supermarkets (and Just Eat) will follow suit.

In some cases, you get member prices by linking your card.

Our podcast

Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Steve Alderton and Editor James Andrews.

Episodes every Monday.

Listen now

Shopping experience & cost

Reduced range

You can’t order anything you want. While the number of items has increased over the years, there’s nowhere near the same number of products available as going into store.

This means it’s impossible to do a full shop this way. And even if you only need a few things, you’ll likely have to compromise, opt for more expensive brand names or go without.

Prices are higher

This is the real kicker, although some are now opting to align their prices with the in-store prices, and sometimes there are reduced prices for linking your loyalty app, aligning them more.

I selected some random products for each supermarket, and the prices were all noticeably higher. Here’s a small selection.

Supermarket	Product	Direct	Best delivery app	Mark up
Asda	Cadbury’s Giant Buttons	£1.50	£1.85	23%
Morrisons	Cathedral City extra mature cheddar (350g)	£3.75	£4.55	21%
Sainsbury’s	Febreze Classic Spray	£2.50	£3.25	30%
Waitrose	King Prawn, Garlic & Chilli Sourdough Pizza	£6.75	£8.10	20%

Prices correct as of 24 April 2026

All the items I checked cost more on the app than buying direct from the supermarket – and that’s before those extra service charges.

You miss out on special offers

The prices you see aren’t just higher, and even when they have the same prices and in-store, they don’t take into account special offers at the supermarket. This means you’re not just paying the premium added on top, you’re missing out on further savings.

This includes multibuy promotions and sometimes reduced prices in-store.

Featured deal

IG Stocks & Shares ISA

Customer rating 4.7/5

Offer
up to £300 in free shares*
Annual fee
£0
Trading fee
£0
Minimum deposit
£0

Capital at risk. Other fees may apply. *Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares.

FSCS Protected? Yes
Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
Interest on uninvested cash 3.75%
Fractional shares No
Flexible ISA Yes
Foreign exchange fee 0.70%
Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 944492
Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Offer Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares. T&Cs apply. Other fees may apply.

View Deal

Extra discounts

I often get emails or notifications from the apps saying I can get 50% off my grocery order or £10 off, so it’s worth looking for these. Uber Eats sometimes offers a reduced price for fruits and vegetables.

However, don’t think this will make your basket cheaper! Since items are already more expensive and there are extra charges on top, you might find you’re only saving a few quid if anything at all. Plus the reduced range means you might be struggling to meet a £40 minimum order of things you actually need. Don’t be tempted to order things you don’t want or need just to reach a discount threshold.

The pros and cons of using takeaway apps for groceries

Pros

Quick delivery
An alternative way to get delivery if all direct slots are full
Lower minimum order total cost than going direct

Cons

Limited range of products
Increased prices
No special offers
Extra service charges

Should you order groceries from Deliveroo and Uber Eats?

Zoe’s analysis

I tend to keep my use of delivery apps for groceries to a minimum. For the most part, I’d prefer to take a walk down to my local Waitrose or drive to another supermarket if I want something. However, these apps do sometimes come in handy.

When sick, pet-sitting or downright busy, it can be handy to order something in. The 50% off fruit and veg often offered by Uber Eats does, often, save a fair amount of money, as long as I’m mindful about what I order.

It’s a huge improvement to finally be able to connect your loyalty cards to the apps, too.

Updated April 19, 2026 | Articles Best Buy

The best American Express cards

Andy Webb

Which Amex credit card will earn you the most cashback or rewards in the UK in 2026?

There are a number of different American Express cards, so which is the best?

In this best buy guide, I’ll take you through my top picks whether you want to get your first card or change the one you already have.

The best American Express for welcome offers

There are a number of great welcome bonuses from American Express that could earn you more than £100 extra in your first few months. They are often boosted too, making them even more profitable.

Importantly you can only get these offers (on most cards – more on this in a bit) if you’ve not an an Amex in your name in the last two years.

Each offer also comes with a spending requirement to trigger the bonus, so make sure your normal spending will fit this.

The best first Amex card welcome offers

To keep you eligible for additional welcome bonuses, I’d actually only consider one of these two cards, even though you’ll earn less from the bonus. They rarely have boosted welcome deals so I’d go for them at any time.

If you aren’t going to later for a second bonus with the Amex Platinum then you could also consider the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold – though I’d wait until it’s boosted.

Here are the standard offers you can expect, and we share boosted Amex welcome offers here.

Card	Fee	Standard welcome offer	Condition	Value	Ongoing cashback rate
Nectar American Express credit card	Free in year one, then £30 a year	20,000 bonus Nectar points (+ 2,000 points from spending)	Spend £2,000 in the first three months	£120 in Nectar points	2 Nectar points per £1 (=1%)
American Express Cashback card	£25 a year	5% cashback	On the first £2,500 spent in the first three months	Up to £125	0.75% on the first £10,000 spent a year, then 1.25%
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card (review)	Free in year one, then £195 a year	20,000 bonus Amex points (+3,000 points from spending) Most recent boosted welcome offer here	Spend £3,000 in the first three months	£115 in Nectar points	1 Amex Reward point per £1, bonus points for every £5,000 spent (= 0.5% to 0.75%)

Additional Amex welcome offers

After the Nectar or Platinum Cashback, there’s the chance to get another boosted offer on both the British Airways American Express Premium Plus (as long as you’ve not had either BA Amex card in the last two years) and the American Express Platinum credit cards (as long as you’ve not had the Preferred Rewards Gold or Rewards cards in the same time). I’ve written in more detail about this multiple Amex welcome offer hack here.

However, these cards come with big fees and the bonuses have large spending requirements, so I’d wait until they are boosted and you can earn more points.

If you are a member of Vitality health or life insurance then you will also be eligible for a £100 statement credit when you spend £2,000 in the first three months, even if you’ve got any other Amex.

Here’s what you could be looking at based on increased sign-up offers that have run recently.

Card	Fee	Most recent boosted welcome offer	Potential condition	Total value	Ongoing cashback rate
British Airways American Express Premium Plus card	£300 a year	60,000 bonus Avios points (see most recent promotion here)	Spend £6,000 in the first three months (and earn 9,000 more points)	£330 in Nectar points	1.5 Avios per £1 (=0.75% in Nectar points)
American Express Platinum card	£650 a year	100,000 bonus Amex Reward points + £250 travel credit (see latest promotion here)	Spend £10,000 in the first six months (and earn 10,000 more points)	£550 in gift cards + £250	1 Amex point per £1 (=0.5%)

The latest Amex offers

Check out this article with details of boosted referral bonuses and other extra offers with your American Express card.

The best American Express card for spending

So what do you do once you’ve got bonus (or bonuses) and you’re faced with a fee at the start of the second year? Well, I’d be looking to ditch that card and find an alternative.

But the headline cashback/reward rate isn’t the only thing to consider. You need to take into account whether there’s a fee or minimum spend. And you also need to decide how you want to receive your money back – as cash or points?

Depending on which card you went to for your first card (the Nectar or Cashback), I’d actually then get the other one next or look at the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold which is free in year one.

But after the first year on each of these, the annual fees on all three will eat into your cashback earnings.

But if you want to keep an Amex, then there’s the Amex Rewards card or BA Amex which are both always free. Just don’t get these (or the Gold) if you haven’t yet claimed those additional Platinum and BA Amex Premium Plus welcome bonuses.

Amex card	Annual Fee	Cashback/Reward	Equivalent rate
Nectar	Free in year one, £30 after	2 Nectar points per £1	1%
Cashback	£25 (first year can be covered via referral link)	Up to 1.25% cashback (paid on year anniversary)	0.75% on first £10,000, then 1.25%
Preferred Rewards Gold	Free in year one, £195 after	1 Amex Reward point per £1, bonus points for every £5,000 spent	0.64% to 0.75% if you spend at least £5,000
Reward	Free	1 Amex Reward point per £1	0.5%
British Airways American Express	Free	1 Avios point per £1	0.5% (if converted to Nectar)

Best Amex for extra offers

There’s a final category to consider when choosing your Amex – are there extras that come with the card? And if so, how much will they cost?

This table shows the main additional card benefits you might want to take advantage of.

Amex Card	Key additional benefits	Annual fee
Preferred Rewards Gold	2 x £5 Deliveroo credit every month 4 Priority Pass airport lounge visits each year	£195
Platinum	Worldwide family travel Insurance £200 UK dining credit each calendar year (£100 every six months) Airport lounge access all year	£650
British Airways Premium Plus	BA Companion voucher if you spend £15,000 each year (lasts 24 months, and valid in all classes)	£300
British Airways	BA Companion voucher if you spend £15,000 each year (lasts 12 months, and only valid in economy)	Free

I wouldn’t keep the Gold card once the fee kicks in after the first year. I’d also avoid the Platinum after the year which includes a welcome bonus.

It’s a harder call with the BA cards. If you opt for the free BA card, it’s only valid for 12 months and only in economy, which might make it hard for you to find a flight you want to use as tickets are released 12 months in advance on the BA site, so you could well miss out on big destinations.

The Premium Plus voucher lasts longer, but you will be paying £300 to get it. From my experience it’s hard to get that back on economy flights, so you’d want to aim for Business.

But, to use a 2-4-1 Companion voucher you need to have enough Avios points to pay for the first flight AND you have to pay for taxes and fees on top. If that’s unlikely then neither are worth it. And you also need to weigh up whether you’ll be able to get a cheaper flight shopping around.

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Customer rating 4.7/5

Offer
up to £300 in free shares*
Annual fee
£0
Trading fee
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Minimum deposit
£0

Capital at risk. Other fees may apply. *Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares.

FSCS Protected? Yes
Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
Interest on uninvested cash 3.75%
Fractional shares No
Flexible ISA Yes
Foreign exchange fee 0.70%
Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 944492
Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Offer Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares. T&Cs apply. Other fees may apply.

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Best Amex for 2-4-1 flight vouchers

Two American Express cards can earn you British Airways companion vouchers. However, don’t get the free BA Amex card before the BA Amex Premium Plus if you want to try for the higher welcome offer with the latter card detailed further up this article.

With the Premium Plus you’ll need to spend £15,000 in the first year you’ll get a BA Companion voucher. This gets you 2-4-1 flights or an upgrade and is valid for two years and in all flight classes. Remember there is a £300 annual fee.

But after this year you have two options. If you cancel completely you won’t lose your Avios as they’ll have been added to your British Airways Executive Club account. This resets the clock to enable you to (potentially) get another bonus in two years time.

Or you can downgrade to the free BA Amex easily via a call or live chat and this will mean you keep an Amex without a new credit check.

If you choose to keep spending on it you still need to hit £15,000 in a year for a BA Companion voucher to use in economy class, valid for a just one year.

With both companion vouchers, bear in mind you need to have enough Avios points saved up to cover the cost of one ticket before adding the 2-4-1 voucher, and you still pay tax and fees on both tickets.

Amex card	Annual Fee	Cashback/Reward	Equivalent rate
British Airways American Express	Free	1 Avios point per £1	0.5% (if converted to Nectar)
British Airways American Express Premium Plus	£250	1.5 Avios point per £1	0.75% (if converted to Nectar)

Best Amex to protect your Amex Reward points

If you decide to cancel the Platinum card at the end of your first year, make sure you protect any Amex Membership points linked to it before doing so. You’ll need to swap them or open up a different Reward card to ensure you don’t lose them.

There are two options here. The Reward card and the Preferred Reward Gold card. Remember, do not open up either of these cards before the Platinum if you think you’ll try for the boosted welcome offer on that card at some point.

Amex card	Annual Fee	Cashback/Reward	Equivalent rate
Preferred Rewards Gold	Free in year one, £195 after	1 Amex Reward point per £1, bonus points for every £5,000 spent	0.64% to 0.75% if you spend at least £5,000
Reward	Free	1 Amex Reward point per £1	0.5%

Updated April 10, 2026 | Deals

Save money on Netflix

BCWYC Team

Reduce how much you pay for your Netflix subscription

It’s one of, if not the best film and TV streaming services with a great range of shows and films to watch. It’s also one of the cheapest – if you choose the most basic tier.

Though it’s rare to find deals to save money on your Netflix subscription, it is possible to pay less. Here are a few ways to save.

How much is Netflix a month?

Here are the different levels of Netflix you can get. Netflix prices range from £5.99 to £18.99 a month.

The big difference between each one is how many streams you can watch simultaneously on different devices and the picture quality.

The cheapest option at £5.99 a month is Standard with Ads. As the name suggests, it has commercials playing at points in the programmes you watch. You also can’t download to watch offline, and some shows are missing due to rights issues.

The others are ad-free and have the full library available. For most people, the Standard tier should suffice, or being an Extra Member on someone else’s plan.

Tier	New Price	Number of streams	Picture quality
Standard with Adverts	£5.99	2	HD (1080p)
Standard	£12.99	2	HD (1080p)
Premium	£18.99	4	4K
Extra Member – Standard with Adverts	£4.99	1	HD (1080p)
Extra Member – Standard	£5.99	1	HD (1080p)
Extra Member – Premium	£5.99	1	4K

Netflix price increase 2025

In February 2025, Netflix increased prices on all of its packages. Prices for Standard with Adverts and Premium rose by £1 a month, and the Standard plan rose by £2 a month. Meanwhile, the cost of extra members also went up by £1 a month.

Netflix money saving hacks

Switch your subscription level

There are three levels of Netflix. The Standard with Adverts package costs £5.99, but you’ll get adverts and can’t download.

The next level is £12.99 a month and you’ll get HD and be able to watch on two devices at the same time.

The premium package is £18.99. For this, you get 4K quality (if the content you want to watch is actually available with that version) and you can stream or download to four devices at the same time.

Personally I think most people will be happy with the Standard options and very few people will get the full benefit of the top tier. Switch and you could save yourself £6 a month.

Split the cost

Since 23 May 2023, it’s no longer been possible to share your Netflix account outside your household, and there’s now an additional charge each month to add an “extra member”. We’ve written a full analysis of how it works and whether it’s worth it.

This is £4.99 on top of the main fee for the Standard with Ads tier and £5.99 a month for the other two tiers. You can only add one extra member to the Standard tiers and two to the Premium tier.

So the total costs would be:

Standard with Ads + One extra member: £10.98 a month
Standard + One extra member: £18.98 a month
Premium + One extra member: £24.98 a month
Premium + Two extra members: £30.97 a month

Of course, there could still be savings if you split these, but it’ll cost more.

If you do split this then make sure you’re clear with friends and family who is paying what and how they’ll pay the main account holder.

Should you share your Netflix password?

When you can and when you can’t share streaming services with other people

Change how you pay

Pay direct to Netflix

There is an option to bundle Netflix with Sky, BT TV and TalkTalk, although I’d avoid this. Here’s more on the best ways to pay for Netflix. However, Netflix with Ads is included at no extra cost with some Virgin Media packages.

Pay with a cashback credit card

You can use a cashback credit card to earn money back on your subscription. We’re not talking huge amounts here, but it all adds up.

Discounted Netflix gift cards

It’s rare to spot these, but if I do I’ll share them in the deals section of this page.

A workaround might be to buy a discounted gift card for a different retailer, such as Amazon or Tesco. Technically, it’s not always allowed, but you might be able to then use that gift card to buy a Netflix one.

Featured deal

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Customer rating 4.7/5

Offer
up to £300 in free shares*
Annual fee
£0
Trading fee
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Minimum deposit
£0

Capital at risk. Other fees may apply. *Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares.

FSCS Protected? Yes
Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
Interest on uninvested cash 3.75%
Fractional shares No
Flexible ISA Yes
Foreign exchange fee 0.70%
Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 944492
Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Offer Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares. T&Cs apply. Other fees may apply.

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Netflix deals

Free with EE

Selected EE mobile contracts will give you Netflix Standard with adverts every month for free as part of your tariff. Of course, it might be cheaper to get a lower-cost SIM with a different network and pay for Netflix separately.

Get Netflix via EE

Free with Virgin Media TV and broadband packages

Virgin Media has started to include Netflix with Ads subscriptions with its M500, Gig1 and Gig2 broadband, and all of its TV bundles.

If you’d prefer to have Netflix without Ads then you can pay the difference on top of your bill.

The included packages include:

All broadband and TV bundles, including the entertainment, cinema and sport + cinema bundle
Max Volt
M500, Gig1 or Gig2 Fibre Broadband

Get Netflix via Virgin Media

Netflix and NOW TV for £5/month for six months (expired)

If you have BT broadband (or sign up for it), you can add on an EE TV package (formerly BT TV) that includes Netflix and NOW for £5 a month for six months. You’ll get:

Netflix Standard with adverts (£5.99 a month)
NOW Entertainment (£9.99 a month)
Discovery+ basic (£3.99 a month)

With this deal, you’re locked in for at least 24 months. For the first six months you’ll pay £5 and this goes up to £20 a month from month seven. It then costs £22 a month from 31 March 2026 and £24 a month from 31 March 2027.

You’ll need to factor in if you can get broadband for less elsewhere, and that you’ll be tied in for two years.

If you want to upgrade your Netflix package you’ll have to pay more. Similarly, if you want HD and no adverts on your NOW pass that’s another £6 a month. And it’s often possible to get cheaper NOW packages directly with NOW – that might not be the case if you pay via your BT bill.

Get Netflix via EE TV

One month free via Sky Stream (expired)

Sky Stream is a box you plug into your TV and broadband to access Sky channels without needing a satellite dish. The core package comes with Netflix and Sky Entertainment included, and you can try it free for one month.

You need to be a new Sky TV customer, and can’t have had a Sky free trial in the last 12 months. However you can be an existing Netflix user, and you can link an existing Netflix account. This will move the payment over to the Sky bill.

The Netflix tier included is the £5.99 “Standard with Ads” package.

It’s a rolling 31-day contract, so you can cancel at any time. If you don’t do this it’ll be £31 a month. That’s more than getting Netflix and Sky channels via NOW separately – so it’s unlikely to give the best value. However, you will also get access to Freeview channels, which is handy if you don’t have an aerial.

If you cancel you’ll also have to return the Sky Puck device. This ends on 23 May 2024.

£100 gift card for £90 (expired)

This offer is over on Amazon and will save you 10%. You’ll get a physical £100 gift card for £90. It’ll come in the post.

I don’t think this is just for Prime customers, but if it is, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial here.

Save 10% on Netflix

Watch Netflix for free (expired)

Sadly Netflix stopped the free trial in the UK in late 2019, though there are occasional offers.

It also briefly had a page with a limited selection of content you could watch without an account, though this comes and goes.

At launch, it included:

Films

Murder Mystery
The Two Popes
Birdbox

TV (1st episodes only)

Stranger Things
Grace & Frankie
Our Planet
Love is Blind
When They See Us
Boss Baby Back in Business
Elite

Watch selected Netflix content for free

50% off your first two months (expired)

This offer has ended, but it’s worth checking to see if it returns. It could be that you see an offer when others don’t!

New users can save 50% when they first sign up to Netflix. After the first two months at this discounted price you’ll pay the full price for the level you’ve chosen.

It’s possible you’ll see a different offer, such as buy one month, get a second free. It works out you’ll pay the same amount overall, but do let me know what you see.

See if you have a welcome offer

Try a different streaming service

Netflix is great, but there are other options with plenty of content – and plenty of deals. So pause your subscription for a month or two and try out free trials from the likes of Amazon Prime Video and Disney + or get dirt cheap passes for Sky channels via NOW TV. Here’s my guide to the latest offers.

Updated March 25, 2026 | Articles

Will you miss out on the full State Pension?

Andy Webb

Here’s how the State Pension works and how to get the full amount

Your State Pension is a regular payment paid out by the Government once you’ve hit your State Pension age (which is currently 66 but is slowly increasing). It could allow you to stop working earlier or wind down the amount you work in later years.

You might think that it’s pointless to care about it until you’re approaching retirement, but there are important questions you should ask, such as how much you’ll get, what age you’d be getting it, and whether you’re even eligible.

When can you get the State Pension?

To start, let’s go back to basics. The State Pension is a guaranteed weekly income paid to you when you reach the State Pension age. You can, of course, retire earlier if you have other income sources or other pensions, but you don’t get this cash until you hit the State Pension age.

The State Pension age is 66 and it’ll keep rising — first to 67 between 2026 and 2028, impacting those born after 1960 and then to 68 years old. This latter change is meant to happen around 2044 (adding a year for those born around 1977) but could occur up to 10 years earlier between 2035 and 2039 (meaning those born after 1968).

Though of course, these ages could – and probably will – change again. I imagine I’ll be 69 when my time comes. And, it’s anticipated that anyone currently under 30 will have to wait until 70 years old to get the payments. Indeed, in 30 years there might not even be a State Pension at all anymore!

How to find out your State Pension age

The way to find out what the date will be (as things stand now) is for you is to use the State Pension age tool on the Gov.UK website.

You simply enter your date of birth and ta-da, you’ll see your State Pension age.

Quick note – as the earlier increase to 68 is just a proposal it’s not been factored into the calculator, so add a year if you were born after 1968 to be on the safe side.

Why you should care about your State Pension now

So you now know when you’ll get it, and it could well be a long time until you reach State Pension age. Hey, for me it’s at least another 25 years! So we can forget about it until then, right?

No – there are important reasons I care now, and you should too.

It reduces how much you’ll need in your other pensions

The full amount from the New State Pension might not seem much – currently just £230.25* a week and going up to £241.30 a week in April 2026.

That’s £11,973 per year until you die (or £12,547 after April 2026). If you live for 20 years after your State Pension age then it’s worth more than £250,000.

Say you’ve worked out you need £30,000 a year to live when you retire, the full State Pension means you’ll only actually need to save enough to cover £17,500 a year from your State Pension Age. That’s a much easier (and less scary) total to target.

* How much you get can get a little complicated so this is the most. I won’t go into detail here but you’ll get less if you ever “contracted out”. Or if you would have been better off under the older system, it’s possible you might get small top-ups when you retire.

You’re not automatically entitled to it

But, you don’t automatically qualify for the State Pension. You might think it just starts when you hit the State Pension age, but you’re wrong. You need to make at least 10 years of National Insurance contributions to qualify. Less than this and you won’t get anything.

You generally make National Insurance contributions through your pay, or you might get National Insurance credits through things like child benefit, jobseekers allowance, carers allowance and maternity leave.

You might not get the full amount

That 10-year figure is the minimum. You’ll need as many as 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full amount. But, depending on your age, it could be a little less – more on this later. It’s well worth making sure you have made or will make enough contributions to reach this number.

If you only qualify for two-thirds of the full amount (roughly what you’d get if you only made 24 out of 35 years of full contributions) then you’d be around £3,900 worse off a year. That will make a difference.

I’ve detailed further down the article how you can check your current status and how much you’d get (at current figures).

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You might have missed some years

If you’ve been working or on certain benefits each year since school or university (or even before) then it’s likely you’ll have each year so far marked on your record as full. But if for any reason you took time out – a gap year perhaps – you’ll have a missing year.

And the closer you get to retirement, the bigger the impact any missed year will have on how much you get. But if the missed year is within the last six years you can voluntarily pay to top it up.

Of course, if you’ve got plenty of years to catch up you might not need to do this, but it’s worth thinking about if you’re approaching the time you’d like to stop working.

You won’t want to be making future contributions if you retire early

Do you want to keep working until you actually reach the State Pension age? If you can afford to retire earlier it makes sense to ensure you don’t have to keep making (voluntary) contributions when your income is low, in order to get the max State Pension available to you.

Say you’re aiming to quit in 10 years at 55 years old but have 23 years of contributions so far. You’ll either need to change your goal to 57 years old, or you’ll need to make voluntary contributions for another 2 years to reach the magic number of 35 years of contributions.

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Customer rating 4.7/5

Offer
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Annual fee
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Trading fee
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Minimum deposit
£0

Capital at risk. Other fees may apply. *Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares.

FSCS Protected? Yes
Transfer in existing ISA? Yes
Interest on uninvested cash 3.75%
Fractional shares No
Flexible ISA Yes
Foreign exchange fee 0.70%
Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees depending on the funds you choose
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes: FRN 944492
Risk warning Capital at risk. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Offer Invest a minimum of £300 and get up to £300 in free shares. T&Cs apply. Other fees may apply.

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How many qualifying years do you need?

Under the current system (introduced in April 2016), you qualify for the State Pension after 10 years of contributions and will get the full rate after 35 years of contributions (this is for men born after 1951 and women born after 1953).

But as I mentioned above, it’s not going to be 35 years for everyone – it could actually be less. This is despite pretty much every major newspaper and personal finance website stating it’s now 35 years for everyone. It’s not! And I’m proof of this.

If you started making contributions before April 2016, which is going to be most people in their late 20s and some younger – the total number of years is based on a mix of the new and old systems.

For me, I only need to make a total of 30 years of full National Insurance contributions. For my wife, it’s 32 years. This is despite the fact we’ve both already contributed the same number of years so far.

A few years ago I called up the HMRC helpline to find out why this was and why so many sources reported a blanket 35 years. The answer wasn’t massively clear, but it might be down to me being a little older than her, or me earning more in some of those years. Whatever the reason, we’re both examples of people who need to pay less than 35 years – so it could well be the same for you.

How to check your State Pension record

There’s a way to check how much State Pension you’ll get when you retire, based on your current record and also if you continue paying in. You’ll also be able to see if there are any gaps.

It’s a five-minute job well worth doing so you know if you’re on track, or whether you need to take action now – and if you’re over 40 you may well need to fill in any missing gaps.

You need to request a State Pension forecast. It’s easy and doesn’t take long. You need a Government Gateway ID, and it might take five to 10 minutes to set this up. You need to validate your identity using your passport or a recent payslip, but once sorted you can find out how many years you still need to contribute to get the full amount.

In the same system, you can check your National Insurance record. You’ll see how many years you’ve already made full contributions. Add those figures and you’ll get the total number of years that you need to pay.

This page will also tell you how many more years you have left to make contributions – i.e. before you reach the State Pension age.

See if you can top-up your State Pension

Though you’ll keep gaining qualifying years when you work or claim certain benefits, you can also pay money now to fill in some gaps. This is limited to the past six years.

There’s a cost to any top-up – roughly £824 per full year if you do it for 2025. This is a sizeable amount, but for each year you add now, you’ll break even if you claim the State Pension for at least three years. So claim it for four years and you’ll be better off.

If you’re self-employed, then you’ll need to pay less per missing year to make it a qualifying credit. There are different rates for this.

Broadly, this isn’t going to be worth it for those under the age of 45, and probably a good few years after that. But the closer you get to state retirement age, the more likely it is you could benefit from a top-up rather than missing out on the full amount or having to keep working for longer.

Of course, those who are able to get free credits from things like missing child benefit, carer’s allowance or other benefits, should make sure they claim those to help fill any gaps.

You’ll probably want to contact the Future Pension Service on 0800 731 0175 before making any overpayments as they can advise on whether you need to. There have been huge backlogs and delays getting through (hence the extensions), so keep trying.

Alternatively, if you’re sure you want to go ahead, some might be able to make the payments via their government gateway account – it’ll show as an option when you check your current NI record.

Updated March 17, 2026 | Articles

How to get a refund for delayed trains

Andy Webb

A delay of just 15 minutes could mean you get compensation.

I hate being late. I’ll always try to leave early, if not bang on time, so any kind of delay is the kind of thing that really annoys me. And trains are among the worst for getting me somewhere later than I planned.

Just a few weeks ago my train down to London from Yorkshire was cancelled. Though my ticket was valid on the next train it would mean I’d arrive back 30 minutes later than planned – and this meant I could get a partial refund!

With that cash arriving in my account this week, I thought it was time to share my guide for getting a refund when your train is delayed or cancelled.

When can you claim a refund for a train delay?

The main requirement is your train has to be delayed by at least 15 minutes, though a handful will only pay out after a 30 or 60-minute delays.

Most of the operators have signed up to the “Delay Repay” scheme which will pay out for any delay, though a handful say the delay has to be the train company’s fault in order to get a payout.

How do you claim?

This is set to change in 2026, though no date has been announced. When this does happen, all claims will be managed by the combined Great British Railways, and you’ll even be able to claim via third party booking apps like Trainline.

However, until then, delays are currently refunded by the train operator where the delay happened, regardless of where you bought the tickets.

You can do this online or via the apps, but if you’d rather do it on a paper form you should be able to pick up one at the station, ask the conductor for one, or print one out from the different websites.

If you have a physical ticket, sure you keep hold of it as you’ll need to send them in with your claim if it’s via the post, or take a photo if you’re doing it online. For digital tickets you can upload a screenshot, or sometimes just connect the ticket in your wallet to the provider’s app.

A handful, including Northern and C2C, will automatically issue a refund if you meet certain criteria such as holding a smartcard or booked in advance via their website or app.

How much can you claim?

Again, how big a refund you’ll get depends on the different operators. The length of the delay will also have an impact.

With Delay Repay, most providers will return you 25% of a single delayed journey that’s delayed between 15 and 29 minutes. It jumps up to 50% back for delays between 30 and 59 minutes, and the full single fare back if you are delayed by more than an hour. Some will refund your whole ticket, including the return leg, if the delay is longer than 60 or 120 minutes.

If the train company isn’t part of Delay Repay you’re looking at 50% back for delays of an hour or more.

When do you need to claim a refund by?

You need to submit your claim within 28 days of the journey.

Can I get a refund if the train is cancelled?

If you don’t travel due to cancellation you can get a full refund from where you bought the ticket, including third party booking sites like Uber and Trainline.

If you travel on a different train (check with platform staff first that it’s ok to do this), you’ll only be able to get a refund if you arrive more than 30-minutes later than the original booked train.

How can you receive the refund?

For a long time all you could get were those annoying train travel vouchers. But for a good while now you can pick one form of payment such as a refund to your card, payment to bank account or even via cheque. For example, LNER lets you choose to have a payment made to your bank account or your PayPal account.

What if you used a split ticket?

Split tickets can sometimes cut the cost of a ticket by letting you pay for multiple tickets rather than one for the same journey. Sometimes you don’t even have to leave the train!

The same refund rules should apply here as it’s the entire journey that’s covered for delays. However, in practice it’s not always as easy to claim, so check each provider’s guidance on how to do this. For example you often can only submit one claim for an entire journey.

You’ll also need to watch out for minimum connection times when changing trains. If you didn’t leave enough time here you could be rejected. You’ll also probably miss out if there are gaps in the journey, for example if you come into London in one station but continue your journey from another. Normally the connection via tube is included in your ticket, but a split ticket might break this.

What if I have a season ticket?

You’ll be entitled to compensation equivalent to a single journey. Some train providers will also offer discounts on future season tickets if the service is consistently delayed.

What if you used pay as you go Oyster or Contactless in London?

You can claim for tube and TFL Rail journeys delayed over 15 minutes. It’s a bit of a faff and you need to use your Oyster account for this, but it’s worth doing.

Hacks when claiming for train delays

Here are a few more tricks to boost your claim when you’re on the train, when you arrive at the station and when you get home.

On the train

Track the length your delay

With most train operators you’ll only be able to claim a refund (usually 50%) if you’re delayed by more than 30 minutes. So if a delay had been 29 mins, I’d not only have been inconvenienced, I wouldn’t be able to claim!

On some journeys, the conductor actually informed us that we could get a refund, though this often doesn’t happen – so it’s usually down to you to track the length of your delay.

The rules do change – more will refund you if the delay is 15 mins, while some require at least 60 minutes.

Ask why you’ve been delayed

The cause of the delay doesn’t matter if the train operator has signed up to the Delay Repay scheme. But if it hasn’t, you might be only to claim if the delay could have been avoided (so bad weather or strike action don’t count).

To help your claim, ask the guard if the company has signed up to Delay Repay, and if not what was the cause of the delay

Take a photo of your ticket

You’ll need proof of your journey to claim a refund, so if you have a physical ticket, take a snap with your phone just in case you lose it.

At the station

Don’t use the electronic gates

This one has caught me out a few times. Most automatic gates will eat your ticket, and no ticket means it’s harder to claim your compensation. So even if you’ve taken a photo it’s best to find the manual gate with a guard so you can keep hold of your ticket for the claim. Of course, with more and more tickets now digital when booked online, you can scan and go without worry.

Take a screenshot of live information or the arrivals board

Once you’ve arrived, take a photo of the arrivals board or the live tracking information on an app. You might not need it, but it’s extra proof if your delay time is close to one of the compensation brackets (normally 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes).

Get a form at the station

You’ll be able to apply online for most if not all train firms now, but if you want to be sure or prefer doing it via post, you can pick up a compensation form at the station. Though it’d be nice if these were easy to find, I imagine you’ll need to ask for one at the ticket or information desk.

It’s not the end of the world if you can’t get one as you can usually print a form from the website.

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When you get home

Find out how long a train was delayed

If you didn’t make a note at the time, then check out the Recent Train Times website. It’s not the most user-friendly, but it shouldn’t take you long to find out exactly how long a delay was.

Work out where to apply

You’ll need to apply directly with the rail company where the delay occurred. So if you’ve changed lines during the journey, then it’ll be the one responsible for the delay who should pay you for the full ticket (assuming it wasn’t a split ticket).

Find the form online

If the train provider allows online claims this is usually quicker. You can upload a picture of your phone, which means it’s often easier to do this from your phone rather than a desktop. Here’s a list of all the different rail firms.

Ask for a bank transfer

It’s not always clear but you are legally entitled to a bank transfer or cheque refund. If you don’t ask for this you could be sent an annoying rail voucher than can only be used at ticket desks.

Take a copy of your ticket and form

If you’re posting your compensation claim form and ticket, make sure you have a copy (just take a photo if you don’t have a scanner). If you’re filling it in online you should be able to save a copy.

And make a note of to chase if you haven’t heard back within the time stated on the form.

Put the refund claim in before 28 days pass

Remember, you’ve only got four weeks to request your refund, so don’t leave it too late.

Updated March 3, 2026 | Deals

Flower discount codes and offers

BCWYC Team

Get the best deals on flowers for valentine’s, mother’s day and any other special occasion.

Here’s a round-up of the latest offers we’ve found. Don’t forget to check cashback sites such as Quidco and TopCashback – and if you’ve never used them make sure you get the new member bonuses available. Here’s more on how to claim those (worth up to £47.50 combined).

Bloom & Wild flowers offers

Bloom & Wild: £10 off your first order

New customers at Bloom & Wild can get £10 off the first order when using this referral link.

Order flowers from Bloom & Wild

Bloom & Wild: £5 free credit

Set three reminders for dates like mum’s birthday and you’ll get £5 credit added to your account. Head to the Bloom & Wild home page and scroll until you see the Save the Date offer.

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Bloom & Wild: 50% off on your birthday

Once you’ve joined the Rewards Club you’ll be prompted to add your birthday, and in return, you’ll be sent a voucher to get 50% off an order on that date each year.

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Bunches flower offers

This is a really good online florist — plus there’s free delivery.

Bunches: 15% off

You can get 15% off all flowers with the code SAVE15

Shop at Bunches

Interflora

Interflora: 15% off when you sign up to their newsletter

If you register for Interflora’s newsletter, you get a 15% discount on your first order. If you’ve already signed up, you can nab a £5 discount for each date you set a reminder for.

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Serenta flowers offers

Serenta Flowers: 10% off your first order

You can knock 10% off the price of you tfirst order at Serenta flowers with the code: SERENATAD

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Waitrose florist offers

Waitrose Florist: Various deals

Waitrose usually offers a discount of some kind on certain flowers, especially for specific occasions.

Get Waitrose flowers

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