Another budget one. Sorry.

[photodiva]

I keep seeing posts about how this budget will be so bad for us all, am I the only one who won't be (personally) directly affected? Or at least, in a negative way?

I get the issues around businesses and NI but I am a civil servant.

I will get a pay rise! Yep, you read that right. I earn NMW so my wages will go up.

And I don't have a 'gold plated ' pension.

I totally get there will be a lot affected but I can't be the only one who benefits can I?

Thank you for this measured response. My guess is that largely the public will back the budget. Lots of Conservatives will be upset. But they literally chose absolutely economically incompetence in the last five years. They gave this to Labour at the last election. I believe most of the country is small c Conservative. However to keep power you can’t elect a bunch of Tufton St fruitcakes. Small c the UK maybe but they want functional public services and low mortgages. If Labour deliver that then they will be fine.

@MeMyCatsAndI , Ms Reeves has stated this morning that the average worker will be £300.00 a year worse off. £100.00 extra to tax your vehicle or bus/train fare rises. Little prospect of pay rises you might otherwise have enjoyed for those not on minimum wage. Higher rents/mortgage payments. Higher prices on everything you buy. I would say £300.00 was (no pun intended) conservative.
Who are these ‘upper classes’ you speak of and how will they be affected?

According to a newspaper calculator, I will be 35p a year worse off. As pp have said that's not the whole picture though.

Workwise, it is likely to affect next year's pay rise. The rise in employers NI and minimum wage will need to be funded before pay increases can be considered. On the other hand, we may possibly be able to pick up additional contracts depending on what the NHS changes turn out to be.

Personally, costs will go up and so my bills and weekly shop will increase. I will avoid paying an extra £10 a month fuel duty though, as that has been left alone.

I'm glad to see investment in healthcare and education. It's what I voted for and what I expected to pay for. My main concern is what the detail is going to look like in the workers rights legislation. If it leads to businesses being reluctant to employ new staff, it will be a disaster for growth and employment.

Sorry, you misread me. I suppose I put it unclearly.

I don’t agree with the Count yourself lucky comments.

I think farmers are being fleeced so the land can be used for development.

Omg..seriously?

Farmers are making a lot of noise.

All family business's are being effected similarly. Your favorite local restaurant that has been family run for years, that garage round the corner that Bob took over from his Dad, the bakers and greengrocers, all at risk. Might be taken over by new people and improved, but may not. Profits in SME's in the UK are not massive, they are major employers and do pay a lot of tax. Often family owned and family run. Not enough profits to pay IT so will be sold off or just closed down. Either way, likely to change for good. Another kick for the independent parts of the high street. Its not a disaster, you can replace Roys of Wroxham with a few chain stores....but they will likely be manned by self service rather than actual people, so less jobs about and a little more romance will be stripped from life.

Sorry, I really fucked up this post.

I don’t agree with the Count yourself lucky comments. I think they are utter madness and completely heartless.

As well as not understanding the budget you clearly didn't read the thread either 🤦‍♀️

For those who think yesterday’s announcement doesn’t affect them, they might want to look a little deeper. How are businesses, faced with a large NIC hike, going to fund this? They are very likely to do this by passing on the cost through price rises, which we all pay for.

The cost of borrowing is also likely to be higher than it otherwise would have been due to decisions taken.

From Times today
“The cost of borrowing touched a near one-year high as the yields on UK government bondsrose again this morning in a sign the market is feeling minor jitters over the budget.
The yield on 20-year gilts rose to 4.85 per cent and for the benchmark ten-year gilt it rose to 4.41 per cent. Yields also rose for two-year bonds, which are more sensitive to the outlook for interest rates, as investors scaled back their bets on the likelihood of Bank of England interest rate cuts.”

inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/property-and-mortgages/mortgage-rates-likely-to-rise-after-budget-experts-warn-3353970?srsltid=AfmBOoq0M9OeS3uJ04XCW19Nbhbnc_SEQGXoHE-43eUCzMvaSE5k6F09

More funding for schools, but the highest cost for schools is staffing, usually 70-80% of costs. With NI and NMW increases this will increase their staffing costs, so what do you think the extra funding for education will cover?

Given that alcohol misuse is one of the biggest drains on the NHS (both long term health issues and alcohol injury, violence etc.) it would make far more sense to increase the tax on this, especially shop bought drinks.

I guess how you feel about the budget depends on whether you believe that the vast sums RR is raising will actually help the NHS or schools improve.

I don't believe they will, so to me the budget is ideological and short sighted.

Public services including schools are going to be given additional funding to cover the NI increases.

@295bkq , it’s an extremely sneaky budget and Ms Reeves is banking on the faithful left falling for the outright lies in the Labour manifesto. She’s managed to spin this as protecting workers when it’s anything but.

senua · Today 09:09

I will get a pay rise!

But your costs will go up even more. Who do you think will pay for the increase in NMW, in National Insurance, in the benefits bill as people get laid off, etc.
This is not a Budget for growth

It absolutely is! The UK has been at the bottom of the league table of investment in infrastructure in Europe for over 50 years. The borrowing to invest will begin to address that and boost growth.
Personally, we’ll have to pay more. No problem with that.

It's quite sweet that you believe that this is a growth budget.

No wonder this country is fucked.

Where i do sympathise with small businesses, larger ones could make up the shortfall by cutting back on bonuses and the pay of their executives. The cost doesn't have to be pushed on to the consumer. For example, the average FTSE 100 CEO was paid £3.91 million in 2022, and an average FTSE 250 CEO was paid £2.37 million. They've had massive pay rises when most of the country has had an accept stagnant wages.

Too simplistic a view with no consideration of the overall effect of same

It is if your employer is paying 20+% into your pension.
in the private sector it’s as low as 3%

@noblegiraffe is that in addition to the additional funding they announced for schools yesterday or rolled into that?

Brananan

It's quite sweet that you believe that this is a growth budget.

My very experienced (40 years) and extremely successful risk manager husband and the IMF are quite sweet, too.

Correction: this country was fucked, prior to the GE.

In addition to it. We don't know whether it will fully cover the cost of the NI increases yet, the details will be announced in the spring. Colleges and other public sector bodies will also get additional funding for this.

Gosh. I guess they know something that the OBR don't then.

Gosh. Possibly.

If a small percentage of private school kids now have to go to state schools, the schools budget has to be spread between more kids.