Retired person: “Investing in the NHS is a good thing.”
Richard Cox, 72, was one of the millions of pensioners who lost access to winter fuel allowance when the government announced changes to the payment in July.
But he and his wife can afford to miss it. “We are fortunate to be financially stable, so cutting benefits is not a problem,” he said.
Mr Cox receives a “very small pension” from Ireland in addition to his state and private pensions from his time working overseas in the UK and France. He and his wife own a home in Derby. He does not receive his full state pension because he lived overseas, but receives £786.04 a month. Under the “triple lock”, it will rise by 4.1%.
He is satisfied that the government has committed to investing in public services. “We have a problem with declining services in this country,” he says. “Schools are collapsing and prisons are in dire need of investment. So we will need massive investment in infrastructure. Investment in NHS infrastructure, that can only be a good thing. Health services are also digital. ”
Young worker: “I don’t know if it’ll cost a penny a pint.”
Issie Horne, 28, says people need to be extra careful as the end of the month approaches. “There’s a saying that if you walk down a London street for five seconds, you’ve already spent £40,” she says.
And cutting tariffs on draft beer by 1.7% (about 1p per pint) won’t help much. “I don’t know if 1p is the answer,” she added, “as long as all other prices are fairly stable it’s fine, but I think some people might still be offended.” he added.
But the e-cigarette tax is “great.” “My sister is 15 years old and I never want to see her smoking or vaping.”
Horn, who works in fashion communications, said that the rent takes up a large portion of her income, saying, “Rent is just so expensive.” She also makes “a little bit of money” through content creation on TikTok. Her London rent and bills amount to around £1,000.
The bugbear on every payslip is National Insurance. “I’d like to see a little more clarity on where that (money) is going to go, because we really don’t know at this point.”
Mr Horne said the investment commitments announced in the Budget for NHS Leaves were excellent. “My mum works in the NHS so I know they are really struggling.
Family: “I need a car to go to work.”
Chris Matthewman, 38, felt a great sense of relief knowing that fuel costs would not rise. After being laid off in July and out of work for several months, he took a 10% pay cut and returned to his old job as flight manager.
He and his wife Tracy, a schoolteacher, live in a rented house in Basildon, Essex. While he was looking for a job, they used up their savings to cover living expenses. He received Jobseeker’s Allowance but was not entitled to universal credit.
“Five years ago my council tax was £146 a month. Now it’s £225,” he said. “I used to pay £400 for a month’s worth of shopping. Now it’s almost £800.”
The rent is about 30% of the couple’s budget. When combined with other expenses, it can reach 80%. “And that doesn’t include fuel.” Their car is one of their biggest purchases. Including insurance, repayments and petrol costs, it would cost £750 a month. To fill up their Citroën, they spend between £65 and £80 on around 10 days worth of petrol.
Matthewman drives to work every day and cuts back on “small luxuries and trips” to save money. “I need a car to go to work,” he says. “We need it to go shopping. We need a car to do everything in life.
“The main takeaway from the whole budget was a sense of relief that the situation is not worse than yesterday, but at the same time disappointment that the situation is not better.”
Single parents: ‘The fight against poverty has been postponed’
Johnny Roberts, a single father of two, was keen to hear what the government was planning to do to “use universal credit to make people’s lives better”.
The 37-year-old, from Newbury, Berkshire, said his pre-budget focus was on taxing the wealthy rather than “what to do to help the less wealthy.”
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Johnny Roberts is at home with his children Santiago and Valentina. Photo: Adrian Sherratt/Guardian
After listening to Reeves, he said: “There were some small amendments to universal credit for people in debt, and expanded access to savings schemes was welcomed, but nothing helped the vast majority of people make ends meet.” UC . It feels like a budget that has postponed the fight against poverty. ”
Ms Roberts is a film and media studies teacher at a secondary school and has a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. He pays £1,200 a month to rent a two-bed apartment. But in his area, the local housing benefit, which sets the maximum amount people renting from private landlords can claim on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, is £875.
The national minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour in April after the Chancellor confirmed a 6.7% rise. This is said to be worth £1,400 a year to eligible full-time workers.
But Mr Roberts said: “The story that the minimum wage increase is worth £1,400 if you work full-time – the premise on which 35 hours is based – does not apply to people at UC.” . They would lose 28% in income tax and NI contributions, and the remaining amount would taper off their UC. ”The result was around £453 cheaper, he says. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s £453 in the pockets of the poorest people, but it’s pretty unimpressive compared to the total of £1,400.”
Pension saver: “Now all my worries are irrelevant”
Sean, 61, worries that pensions and capital gains tax could change, which could mean the difference between a “reasonably comfortable and secure” retirement and a “poor” one. was. But his worries never came true. “It’s like all my worries have become irrelevant,” he said.
Sean (who declined to give his last name) lives in Dorset and works full time in the manufacturing sector. “I earn a good income now, but I was poor most of my life,” he says. He has almost no pension and owns no real estate. The house he lives in is owned by his partner.
Sean. Photo: Rupert Jones/The Guardian
“I’m considering reducing my position by increasing my company pension payments,” he says. “Sometimes I think I want to retire tomorrow, and sometimes I think I have to work until I’m 90.”
He has a “hobby” for classic cars. “I have (by pure chance) accumulated assets that are now quite valuable.” This could help him fund his retirement, but changes to capital gains tax (CGT) will may affect.
Next is inheritance tax (IHT). Ahead of the Budget, Mr Sean was concerned about changes on the table, including the removal of the residential zero rate band.
But while CGT’s headline rate rose immediately, it did not reflect the changes he feared.
Overall, he thought Rachel Reeves’s “great performance” and said her budget “seems to have a political vision behind it.”
