Budget today

Appreciate the £100 towards fuel bills - dependent on council tax band, - but I assume that’s home owners only?

Jaxjacky

Appreciate the £100 towards fuel bills - dependent on council tax band, - but I assume that’s home owners only?

Why? Why would it only be home owners? I’m not too sure but 80% of households were quoted?

Nothing to frighten the horses, as far as I can see it is steady as we go.

I’d say a fairly cautious and sensible budget but nothing particularly exciting

I for one am glad it is, "nothing particularly exciting".
Especially after last year, which seemed to have a build up of two months, with lots of media specualtion, not all of which came true[but that could have precisely been because of media speculation], and some of it bad in places.

The £100 toward fuel bills dependant on council tax band will surely include renters because they pay the council tax on the property they rent.

I don't think people in Band E homes will necessarily have more disposable income than those in lower bands, particularly as the bandings vary so much between areas, so that's a very blunt instrument. Council Tax really does need a shake-up.

Raising of the minimum wage is a good thing, IMO. I think the scrapping of standing charges on gas is good, and there is talk of doing the same with electricity too. At last that means that people can switch things off and not find they are still being charged.

I thought there would be more about benefits, but was pleased to see a large investment in social housing. I didn't take in the detail about the new ISAs for first time buyers, but that's potentially good, I think. I would have liked to see something about rent controls, too.

Overall, it was a bit underwhelming, I thought, but nothing much to complain about either.

It was ok, no big surprises, some help for those on lower incomes, yet again no relief or help for the squeezed middle , but I honestly wasn’t expecting any.

Personally I would like to have seen more spending on defence, as opposed to a pledge of working towards 3% of GDP.

Whitewavemark2

Nothing to frighten the horses, as far as I can see it is steady as we go.

I agree. Which is why I felt suprised to hear the guys on Political Currency asking if thus is a pre-eldction budget. He was easy to listen to.

Healey has effectively reintroduced the old age allowance (that was in force for decades until George Osborne abolished it) albeit aligning it with the rate of the full new state pension.

Martin Lewis:

From April 2027, if your total annual income is not more than full new State Pension (£13,037/yr) you will not pay tax. So this is £94 extra tax free. If your total income is slightly higher then for every £3 you earn above, you lose £1 of this extra allowance. So if you earn £13,186 (£150 above) you would get a 'Pension Tax Allowance' meaning you pay £44ish less tax than otherwise (ie £94 minus £50) So by total income of £13,319 you won't receive any extra allowance. HMRC will automatically apply this allowance you will not need to claim it. I will explain better on my show tomorrow. Rushing this now.

A agree that using the Council Tax bands as an yardstick for who gets help with energy bills is a blunt instrument and unfair. A higher band doesn’t necessarily mean a higher income. The Resolution Foundation has said: … the government has failed to learn the lesson of the last price spike – that poorly targeted energy support is wasteful.

I am pleased to hear about the removal of standing changes on gas. It should save me some money to offset against the extra tax I will pay on interest from April 2027. I’m not complaining about the latter. Tax free allowances on savings are generous so if you exceed those you can afford to pay a bit more tax. Removing the lower cash ISA limit for younger savers is welcome too.

Anything on defence? That concerns me far more than a few pennies off gherkins.

Yes, defence was mentioned. The speech will be available on iPlayer or ITVx if you missed it.

Full speech here:

www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-2026-speech

Once I'd got over his gushing tribute to his predecessor, I didn't feel there was anything to provoke any extreme reactions. All fairly normal stuff.

While raising the minimum wage is a good thing, it's a double-edged sword for employers here in the hospitality industry because it will push up payroll costs for local pubs, hotels, and holiday parks. So not all rosy in that area which requires lots of workers to operate.

Yes, that's always a tricky balance. I think rent and childcare need to be sorted out first, so people aren't spending such a high percentage of their income on those.

Sarnia

Anything on defence? That concerns me far more than a few pennies off gherkins.

Defence spending to rise

Defence spending will rise to 3% of GDP (a measure of everything produced in the economy) by 2030 and to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

Details of how this will be done were not announced and will instead come at the spending review next year, Mr Healey said

Doodledog

Yes, that's always a tricky balance. I think rent and childcare need to be sorted out first, so people aren't spending such a high percentage of their income on those.

Isn't rent covered by The Renters' Rights Act 2025.

Defence spending will rise to 3% of GDP (a measure of everything produced in the economy

3 years away.

Is it me, or does he say a lot of things "by 2030.
When presumably there may well be a General Election.

So nothing much has to be done about anything until then?
And me being cynical, maybe not then, as everything could change.

Fully prepared to be corrected[nicely!] if I have got that all wrong.

A agree that using the Council Tax bands as an yardstick for who gets help with energy bills is a blunt instrument and unfair.
It does seem an unusual yardstick to use.

Band D Council Tax in Wandsworth is £1,028 pa
The Mean (Average) Salary is £63,129 pa
The Median Salary in Wandsworth is £45,394

Band D Council Tax in Dorset is £2,765.02 pa
The Mean (Average) Salary is £32,862 pa
The Median Salary is around £29,783 to £35,311 pa
Dorset earnings generally track below the UK national average

Broad approval from me, I was expecting tax rises but cutting expenses instead so unless there is something unexpected in the small print fingers crossed it balances out

I'm very pleased to see the gas standing charges tackled.
It has always seemed an inequable charge.

OldFrill

Doodledog

Yes, that's always a tricky balance. I think rent and childcare need to be sorted out first, so people aren't spending such a high percentage of their income on those.

Isn't rent covered by The Renters' Rights Act 2025.

Depends what you mean by 'covered', really.

There are limits on the number of rises per year, and a right to challenge unfair hikes, but no controls on the amount charged, which will, in most cases, be the maximum the market will allow.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act

It goes back to the first tranche of help in 2022 in the the wake of the energy crisis, a quick way to get help to people. It’s a method favoured by Martin Lewis who does seem to have a lot of sway with Ministers. I think Healey has been listening to him rather a lot.

Some London council tax bands are a bit of an anomaly for a variety of reasons. Perhaps more realistic to compare out of London bands.

Valuations are based on rentable value so they don’t correlate with income which targeted help should be based on. It's the same argument that haunts the winter fuel payment.

IMO, it would have been better to raise the amount of the Warm Home Discount - which was what had been expected.

Asda has been running an Income Tracker since the autumn of 2008. The research for it is carried out by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The tracker is published every month and the one for October (presumably using September's figures) is now out on line (Thanks to Richard Murphy for drawing attention to it)

One of the thinks the Tracker does is divide households by income in quintiles (20% intervals) and estimate how much spare money the households will have each month after all their essentials are paid for, it's called 'discretionary income.

Discretionary Income is what is left after taxation, groceries, electricity, gas, transport costs and mortgage interest payments or rent. Obviously Asda is very interested in this because it sells a wide range of goods as well as groceries and it wants to know how big the potential market for these might be.

So, in the latest release the bottom quintile has a monthly 'discretionary Income (DI) of minus £76. The next quintile has DI of £11, the third quintile has DI of £93, the fourth has £295 and the fifth has £940. So 60% of UK households are either unable to cover all essential costs each week or are close, or very close. to it. 60% have just over £5,000 a year, or less to spend on holidays, entertainment, replacing a large item of household equipment, savings...

Has anyone noticed the huge jump between the fourth and fifth quintiles?

The question that needs asking is how much do the budget measures which are supposed to address the cost of living crisis actually mean for the first three quintiles? Clearly they will do little for the 1st quintile, who have a DI deficit of nearly £4,000 a year.

Sorry, forgot the link to the Tracker. It makes interesting reading

asdagroceries.scene7.com/is/content/asdagroceries/Z%20FUTURE/Microsites/Corporate/Asda_Income_Tracker_October_2026.pdf