Am I the only one that thinks that the budget is good?!

[isitactuallybadthough]

NC’d for obvious reasons.

I mean it seems that they’re trying to help the working class?

I am not on benefits. I’m also not lucky enough to live in a property worth over £2,000,000. But surely the worst off in society will be better off under this? With the energy bill cut and two child benefit scrap? Also books for libraries, national wage increases. I do understand people feeling frustrated at the pension/ISA parts, that will probably affect DH and I but overall I’m pleased as the worst off will be slightly less worse off?

It's over£300 a month per child so should make a big difference

We're not raising tax for excellent public services are we? £15bn to raise benefits and uncap the two child policy. More fiscal headroom, yada, yada

Nothing in that budget on the NHS. Nothing at all.

I too am miffed about working families not being supported as I’m one myself, but you do realise the only people that will benefit from this after families that had children after the 2 child cap right? So they didn’t have extra children to get benefits because those benefits didn’t exist..? It’s a totally separate thing and just means the poorest CHILDREN in society will be better supported. How’s that a bad thing? When did society become so selfish that people begrudge children not living in poverty?

I think there are lots of low paid workers particular those without kids struggling to cover rent and bills. The tax threshold freezes & high rents means work doesn't pay and so it incentivises people to stay on benefits and the tax goes up even more. For some people the welfare system works well for example singles parents on benefits receiving ample child support from the non primary parent and others for example earning a decent wage with high work commuting costs & rent will feel penalised for working 60+ hours a week.

Only from existing NHS budgets. And £8 billion of existing SEN funding has been removed, now to be funded out of the education budget.

A country should raise more tax receipts by having policies to increase economic growth. Not by raising taxes per se.

More economic growth = more tax income = higher employment = improved family income

Exactly. But MN would have you believe that people are falling over themselves to get off benefits. And yet we have somehow 10 million people on working age benefits.

Yes I’m sure you’d sit in smug judgment if you met my friend, a 43yr old lone parent to 5 kids who has zero choice but to claim benefits…
What you don’t know, is that she’s a fully trained Paramedic who is now on the run from her recently-turned woman-beating husband. One day they were a happy, homeowning family of 7 with a dog and two full time jobs. The next, she’s sat in a council housing office an hour before they close with 5 crying kids and nowhere to go (ended up in a Refuge with no help from the useless council but that’s another conversation!). She’s had no choice but to claim benefits in order to provide for her kids and certainly cannot go back to her career.

But yeah, bad life choices….. 🤨

No - it’s a decent budget given the circumstances.

Yes, do you remember where Reeves said all of that almost verbatim last year?

You mean the non working class. And the elites.

Thanks - I wasn't aware of the SEN changes so will go and read up on that.

Agree. And rewarding people who foolishly have 3 children plus is gong to do what for growth?

I agree. I was shocked that my last prescription was free. I’ve just turned 60 and my finances are no different than a couple of months ago.

It’s not great. It's all buy now pay later...

Apparently, higher taxes to support an ever growing number of unproductive people is now the master plan for economic growth. Bring in a Nordic style system and weed out the chancers and slackers.

There is no real focus on actually growing the economy. Presumably that's on hold until 2028 like many of their other policies?

Child poverty will still exist. Because when all is said and done parents are the main reason that children in poverty will remain so.

Many of these posters think it will never happen to them…

That's so sad about your friend. I’ve struggled as a Lone parent for many years and it’s very, very hard.

I was dreading it but it could have been so much worse.

who’s people? I’m in my twenties still with three kids yeah I had ny first at 16 and had to go on benefits but I waited till I’d sorted myself out financially before having my younger two. That’s the REASON I don’t get these grown woman who have loads of kids while still on benefits. Two child cap was reasonable but having over two while still expecting people to pay for them all is taking the piss

I will be a little bit worse off but I’m not struggling. So if it helps lift children out of poverty (it will) and it means money is available for schools and the NHS, then I’m happy to pay. I DO care about the bigger picture

It’s another £30bn tax hike after pledging not to. Markets don’t care about taxes but not everyone will think that’s great.

I’m not aware of any money being allocated to schools or NHS?

I dont

I don’t think that’s true anymore.

You know they're pretending, do you?

I feel ok about it. Relieved actually as I thought it would be a lot worse.

There are work arounds to the ISA change so I dont see why that is a big issue.

I’m impacted by the pension change but as it’s just NI and not additional income tax on it, the amount I will pay extra is quite low and nowhere near enough to make the salary sacrifice not worthwhile. However, I am concerned about my employer making changes based on what their increase will be so will need to see how that plays out.

The additional council tax thresholds were fair in my opinion although I appreciate that there will always be edge cases for the £2m threshold in the SE that it causes an issue for.

Tax on EVs was also fair imo.

The freeze in thresholds for me was preferable for me that an increase in income tax and fairer across the board.

More needs to be done though about the number of people on benefits. It should be a short term safety net not a way of life. I don’t think more money should be given directly to parents of children in poverty- I would rather see it in the form of food/clothes vouchers etc so it’s more likely to actually benefit the children.