Morning everyone,
George Osborne will be standing up to give his 2013 Budget at 12.30pm today. With the UK experiencing its longest period of economic stagnation for a century, and the public squeezed between rising fuel costs rise, falling welfare payments and flat-lining wages, the country will be giving him its full attention. In terms of family finances it's possible that the most significant announcement for most of us has been made already: the government outlined its plans for the Tax-Free Childcare Scheme yesterday (read all about it here). But inevitably there'll be plenty more to come - look out for announcements on fuel tax, first time buyers and alcohol (dear to your hearts, we know ... )
Here's a link to the BBC's live stream; for those of you at work who can't see it, we'll post the key announcements as they happen; do tell us what they mean for you.
And for those looking for an at-a-glance rundown of what's been said, we're delighted to welcome back Mark Dampier, head of research at independent financial advisers Hargreaves and Lansdowne, who'll be sending us his bullet-point version of the Budget as soon as possible after Osborne sits down. And Will Hadwen, rights adviser at charity Working Families, which offers advice on advice on employment rights, benefits and tax credits for working parents, will be giving us a breakdown of what the Budget means from their point of view.
Off we go ...