STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

I RECEIVE a £2,000-a-year war pension as I was injured while serving in the Forces. Is it taxable? WAr pensions are not taxable. However, regular Forces pensions are taxed at normal income-tax rates. MY CARER topped up my EE mobile phone with £25 credit at the local Co-op two months ago, but I’ve just tried it and there’s no money left and the phone has been blocked. Can you help? EE can’t explain what went wrong and says your account is still active. It apologises for the confusion and has credited your account with £25 as a goodwill gesture. I HELD a large number of shares in Woolworths Group plc when it went under. Clearing out old paperwork, I have found my certificates and would like to know if these are worth keeping. Is there any chance of them being worth anything, or should I just destroy them? WooLWorTHS was finally dissolved in 2015 and, as a shareholder, you would have been on the share register and contacted — numerous times, no doubt — about anything you were owed.

I asked Tim cockerill, of stockbroker rowan Dartington, if there is anything you can do now. He says: ‘Sadly, the certificates no longer hold any value. You could chuck them out — or another idea might be to frame and keep them as your own slice of British retail history.’ MY INSURANCE company moved me into rented accommodation between August 2014 and February 2015 while work was carried out on my home. Since then, Scottish Power has sent me bills ranging from £800 to £2,600 and I can’t seem to resolve the matter. Your case was referred to the Energy ombudsman, which asked Scottish Power to provide the opening and closing meter readings it had used to calculate your bill for that seven-month period.

These readings confirm that you owe slightly more than £2,000. Scottish Power has set up a payment plan of £43 a month for the next four years to clear the debt.