The Budget

Pittcity As biglouis pointed out, people on "certain" benefits will get £900. Those receiving Housing Benefit but no other benefits aren't eligible. Housing Benefit isn't being increased either.

LizzieDrip I'm extremely glad the increase wasn't limited to those on Pension Credit! My total income is just above the Pension Credit threshold, so I wouldn't have received anything. I most certainly do need an increase.

Even The Spectator refers to Rachel Reeves as the coming woman and potentially the first female Chancellor. She certainly did well at the despatch box today roasting the Tories for incompetence. Of course she had a career as an economist so she is an expert (one of the despised class during the Brexit fiasco).

Suffolk is getting an elected mayor, along with Sizewell C.

Other mayors elsewhere, including one for the North East ... precise area to be announced - they need a bone or two to throw at those Red Wall areas!

Whitewavemark2

If you pay tax, we will all be paying more.

Fuel bills will be higher.

Yes.

Whitewavemark2

We are all paying for Tory mismanagement.

No. We’re paying for the Covid expenses and in particular furlough. And we’re paying for the war in Ukraine and everything that entails, including the huge rise in energy.

maddyone

Whitewavemark2

We are all paying for Tory mismanagement.

No. We’re paying for the Covid expenses and in particular furlough. And we’re paying for the war in Ukraine and everything that entails, including the huge rise in energy.

I agree maddyone

More from Martin Lewis here
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-nkEKaylQE

growstuff

Pittcity As biglouis pointed out, people on "certain" benefits will get £900. Those receiving Housing Benefit but no other benefits aren't eligible. Housing Benefit isn't being increased either.

I was quoting Martin Lewis. He said that he was writing hurriedly and that there would be corrections made in due course.

Grantonow
In the city it is said that she passes the sniff test
In case there’s any confusion, that’s a good thing as far as the money men/women are concerned.

Pittcity

growstuff

Pittcity As biglouis pointed out, people on "certain" benefits will get £900. Those receiving Housing Benefit but no other benefits aren't eligible. Housing Benefit isn't being increased either.

I was quoting Martin Lewis. He said that he was writing hurriedly and that there would be corrections made in due course.

No problem. I expect somebody will make the point to Martin Lewis before long.

I'm just a bit (a lot?) miffed about people writing that there's loads of support for the poorest. There really isn't.

GrannyGravy13

maddyone

Whitewavemark2

We are all paying for Tory mismanagement.

No. We’re paying for the Covid expenses and in particular furlough. And we’re paying for the war in Ukraine and everything that entails, including the huge rise in energy.

I agree maddyone

And Brexit, Trussonomics, 12 years of public sector austerity, etc.
More head burying.

I'm extremely glad the increase wasn't limited to those on Pension Credit! My total income is just above the Pension Credit threshold, so I wouldn't have received anything. I most certainly do need an increase.

I know what you mean growstuff. I’m also just above the threshold for any benefits so currently get nothing (apart from pension). On a personal level, yes those in our situation do need the increase. I really don’t know what the answer is to make the system fairer - I was merely posing the ‘pension credit’ idea. I’m sure you will agree that many wealthy pensioners will benefit from this rise - is that fair? As I say, I don’t have an answer myself.

I don't know the answer either. I guess the best solution is to claim it back through the tax system.

maddyone

Whitewavemark2

We are all paying for Tory mismanagement.

No. We’re paying for the Covid expenses and in particular furlough. And we’re paying for the war in Ukraine and everything that entails, including the huge rise in energy.

It's a package, lots of factors- You forgot to mention Brexit.

I think I've found out how Hunt thinks the UK is going to become a science superpower. It's to do with something called Solvency II, which is an EU directive to make sure that insurance companies and banks, etc reduce risk. Solvency II has been scrapped, so the theory is that financiers can take more risks when investing in science and tech. Hmmm ... I guess he thinks somebody is going to come up with a new Amazon, Twitter or Tesla.

LizzieDrip

Felt like all smoke and mirrors to me - very low on detail. I feel somewhat torn about the pension triple lock actually - unpopular view, I know. As a pensioner (who had to wait 6 years for her state pension) I will benefit. However, there are many pensioners who genuinely don’t need the pension rise - some of them very well-off indeed. I thought Hunt might limit the rise to those at the lower end of pensions eg. those on pension credit etc. Whilst this would have excluded me, I wonder if it would have saved the country some money? Of course, Hunt didn’t want to p** off the rich Tory voting pensioners! Not sure about it all at the moment - I’ll wait for Martin Lewis to explain.

You could only limit who gets pensions by having all state pensions paid on a means test. I'm not sure that would be very popular although I think the right wing of this government might go for it.

We are still going to be worse off with the pension rise - 10% of very little is still very little. Fuel duty is going up 23% next April - that will be the death knell for lots of businesses.

growstuff

Pittcity As biglouis pointed out, people on "certain" benefits will get £900. Those receiving Housing Benefit but no other benefits aren't eligible. Housing Benefit isn't being increased either.

I think the "certain" benefits must have been in the small print but biglouis is right. They are:

Universal Credit
Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Income Support
Pension Credit
Working Tax Credit
Child Tax Credit

CoolCoco

We are still going to be worse off with the pension rise - 10% of very little is still very little. Fuel duty is going up 23% next April - that will be the death knell for lots of businesses.

Local Authorities are also able to put the Council Tax up by up to 5%, should they wish to.
As they’re all hard pressed for money a rise is to be expected.

Surely if you have paid into a state pension fund all your working life, you should, whatever your financial circumstances are the end of the day, be entitled to a full state pension + triple lock or whatever. Its like paying into an insurance policy, and then being told it won't pay out because you are too rich.

Jaberwok

Surely if you have paid into a state pension fund all your working life, you should, whatever your financial circumstances are the end of the day, be entitled to a full state pension + triple lock or whatever. Its like paying into an insurance policy, and then being told it won't pay out because you are too rich.

Well, it's a nice theory, but ...

growstuff

Jaberwok

Surely if you have paid into a state pension fund all your working life, you should, whatever your financial circumstances are the end of the day, be entitled to a full state pension + triple lock or whatever. Its like paying into an insurance policy, and then being told it won't pay out because you are too rich.

Well, it's a nice theory, but ...

No butts growstuff if you have payed all your due taxes and NI during your working life then you should get your State Pension whatever your circumstances.

Not forgetting that better off pensioners also pay tax on their pension income. As people who have income over £125k will now pay 45% tax that will swallow up the whole rise for some of the best off pensioners. People with private pension schemes will also be paying either 20% or 40% tax on their state pension.