Really impressed with the budget

[Fullrecoveryispossible]

I’ll give it to the chancellor. He delivered a bloody good budget today. Childcare reform (including increasing rates paid to providers by 30%) and 30 hours free for 1&2 year olds. Uk has avoided recession despite a global pandemic and Ukrainian war, more money on occupational health, plan to get more people into work

Can't wait to pay for my spiraling energy and food costs with the £100 that not increasing fuel duty would have saved.

Cheers Jez.

I wouldn't get too excited about the childcare funding. Who is building all these nurseries and training / recruiting all the staff? It's not like nursery work is glamorous and they're grossly underpaid. If anything, this policy will drive more nurseries to close.

@WeWereInParis ahh yes I think that's what I must have misunderstood, sorry, and thanks for highlighting it!

Correct.
I filled out DLA forms for years before PIP came in and found PIP a lot more humane and appropriate. The DLA form never failed to depress me and reduce me to tears, despite me thinking every time that I was mentally prepared.

I think this is a relatively good budget for women, and given the economic shitshow, we are in a better situation than I would have guessed a few months ago. They can’t promise something for everyone as they can’t fund it, someone always loses out when needs are prioritised. I don’t benefit from this budget but I don’t think a budget that would benefit me would be for the greater good at the moment.

Maybe Labour would generate more funds to allocate and prioritise better, I don’t know, but under present circumstances this is not a bad budget, taken together with the November budget. These are dark times across Europe.

note the cap is per utility to overall cost.

not*

Yes this was my first thought when I heard the dates!

Pip is awarded due to extra care needs, not extra costs.

Not strictly true. For most cases it is, but if a person is deaf then PiP can be awarded to enable visual alarms to be fitted, to help with the cost of interpreters etc. It depends on the level of hearing loss/deafness but it's not based on care needs. Even those who are in managerial roles who are deaf can claim PiP.

www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2022/april/dwp-reviews-pip-decisions-many-ddeaf-people

There are two different mechanisms at play. The budget is, at its heart, a general statement of the country's financial position, the economy and any changes to taxation / allowances - the latter having an effect (or no effect, depending on personal circumstances) at an individual / household level.

Public sector departments are allocated their Treasury funding via Spending Reviews, each of which covers a three year period. We have currently just entered the final year of SR21, which set departmental resource and capital budgets from 2022-23 to 2024-25, so the next SR is due in 2024.

And by the time it rolls around to enact the Tories just shrug and say can’t afford it now, we did want to.
Just like the 40 brand new hospitals.
Just like the 350,000,000 for the NHS.
but by then hardly anyone will care because it sounds good right now and like someone in government is in control and all the middle class parents with 2 children will vote for them because it sounds like it’ll help the poverty stricken, ill, disabled, carers, and of course the benefit scroungers to be forced to work and put their children in childcare (but not the same nursery as Tarquin and Rupert).
And all of society’s problems will be solved (except for rudeness, being late and having unexpected visitors).
People without young children don’t go to work for reasons that ought to, but of course are not being addressed here. Trying to say free childcare frees up all those relying on UC to work more .. not the real problem Tories!

It's a good budget, lots to like. Those sneering that it's to win an election entirely missing the point - of course it is! Probably too late though.

They have announced this so that Labour will look bad when they say it can't be funded. The Tories are banking on losing the next election - a lot have already announced they won't stand - and Labour will have to clean up the mess (again).

Thank you for clarifying but - surely a person could be unfit for work without having additional care needs? Such people won't be able to access benefits anymore at all unless they agree to be a jobseeker. You can have a long term condition that sees you unfit to work currently/for the foreseeable future and yet not qualify for PIP. I'm unclear how those people will be able to claim benefits unless they have to go along with a pretence that they're fully able to take on full time work and presumably be sanctioned if they don't do so.

I'm unclear how those people will be able to claim benefits unless they have to go along with a pretence that they're fully able to take on full time work and presumably be sanctioned if they don't do so.

I imagine that's the point.

Pip is awarded for the need for the alarms.
people don’t actually need to fit the alarms though.

Its like the care needs - you can be awarded PiP for the need even if the need is not being met.

Yes. I suspect so WeWereInParis.

They won't even have access to the so called 'support' for people with long term health problems seeing as those problems won't exist allegedly as they don't get PIP.

They won’t be able to claim. That’s exactly the point.

It’ll be dressed as a widening of Pip and giving people more freedom.

In reality it’s yet another attack on disabled people and disability benefits.

It’s exactly the same as the bereavement benefit changes

That was dressed as a “widening” and “equalising” because the over 45 age limit for those without children was removed.

In reality it absolute decimation of the amount people widowed with young children receive. From help until the child is 16/18 (unless they remarry) down to £350 a month for 18 months plus a lump sum.

@MrsSamR we are in exactly the same position. When our second starts nursery in September we’re in trouble. I don’t know what we’re going to do…we’ve already cut everything we can.

As a non-Tory voter, my view is that the budget is about as good as could be expected in the current political and economic circumstances.

Thought exactly the same.

Got excited when I first read it until I realised how far away it is!

Fantastic job from the Tories!

There's no such thing as free childcare, just higher taxes.

It sounds like they should fund some budget skills training for people who feel they can't manage on over 100k a year! They clearly need some serious help.

OP must be Mr or Mrs Hunt or someone who works for them. Apart from ending the prepayment meter scandal and maybe helping pubs survive cant see a lot in it. Energy prices are falling - government "help" might actually not be needed - and lets not forget it was Tories refusing to fund gas storage that made things worse than other countries. Where is the household funding for energy efficiency measures?

Child care changes mean worse standard of care for children and maybe jam tomorrow - except that they are unlikely to deliver it.

Boasting about increases in benefits that only cover past inflation and as the increase in food costs is higher than inflation generally doesnt help those who spend more of their income on food.

I'm sure we all appreciate our MPS being able to put more money into their pensions under the guise of helping the NHS. Are their pensions still paid from age 65 and anyone know what the taxpayer contribution currently is?