Budget 2013: did you see it? What did you like/not like?

[SarahMumsnet]

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 ...

At least those of us stuck with CTF can now switch them to Junior ISAs although I missed that bit being announced.

MrAnchovy + solong - I imagine if you are self-employed you could.

Oh can we Chazs? That is good news. CTF is useless.

Does anybody have links to more info? I am very interested in the social care costs as my DM went into residental home a short while back and we are in the process of doing up her house and working out costs to see if we need to sell it to fund her care.

Pain for life-glad its not just me who thourght that,

Only people i know who brought in recent years are 2income families and people who had financial assistance from families most who had no kids at all!

As he announced it the caveat was subject to banks checks and conditions be like lending to small businesses its a scheme announced and availible but not many benefit from it.

Short of inheritance cant see us owning hubbys 41 this this year and under 50k. we have some consumer debt we are paying off, big loan in 2015 and houses round here the kidn of size would would need as in buy stay in and ie as moving up ladder so hard these days.

Other alarm bells up to 600k thats huge amount to guarantor.

Also another point bbc raised its not for 1st time buyers can be used by those who already own to move up ladder providing they can find some mug to buy their overpriced starter home!

So the couple on 150k each get to upgrade to house with room for pony and childcare help and the 100k a year working couple can get childcare help keep cb, get income tax cut and now this.

They should stop buy to let as they not building at a rate that replaces and theres huge demeand shortage but if the build too much think figure quoted was 15,000 home drop in ocean compared to whats needed then that will lower house prices

Would love to see obbsesion move fro home ownership why is aspiration just owning cant people aspire to living wage, a few luxuries ie travel or just aspiring not to worry about how much shopping is in a supermarket?

I aspire for my kids to do well.

latly i aspire to emigrate and live elsewhere as uk so depressing at times.

I would like to see new rules that my agents dont fleece me for admin fees every time they renew contract, that they dont harass me by doing 3monthly inspection, that im allowed a family pet, that the rent is fair and repairs done prompty to high standard and they treat with with some ounce of respect when i go into their office.

I recognise right now and we only have 3years that we cannot buy.
still we have 3lovley healthy kids which we fully support ourselves other than child benefit.

I would love to go back to work but their childcare proposal stil doesnt help me unless I get a high earning job and dont have the after school provision here and holidays for older kids.

Chaz not this financial year I don't think, although I am really pleased to see that it is being looked at.

I don't even mind if the CTF just sits there doing absolutely nothing, provided I can open an ISA for DS1 as I am going to for DS2 (who doesn't qualify for a CTF).

Hippi
I just checked in the full Budget document and it says they are going to consult on ways to transfer the CTF to a Junior ISA so watch this space.

Ali
x post I was reading the budget document. Yes you are correct it won't be right now but at least they seem to have recognised the problem at last.

I don't like the way some of the things aren't coming in until April 2015 - a couple of months before the next election. Seems like a ploy to gain votes just in time for the election.

Ah well. Maybe in a year or two.

Chocolate that is normal, for the measures being announced to be for one, or two years ahead. The things which will change next month in relation to tax credits, tax thresholds and so on were announced last budget or possibly even the one before.

I don't sound cynical do i?

I'm still not over the fact he did a U-turn on VAT on hot take away food (pasties/pies/sausage rolls.) It's unfair that as a small business we have to pay VAT on hot food we sell from a hot cabinet (been law since the 80s) yet big companies such as Greggs carry on using the legal loophole to avoid VAT by exployting the fact they have a high turnover of customers so can therefore bake throughout the day and sell it from there unheated display because have a quick turnover.

Last Budget they tried to close that loophole until Greggs made it sound like the Government were bringing in VAT on hot takeaway food for the first time when in actual fact it had been law since the 80s to charge VAT on food served from a hot cabinet or if it is kept hot from heated lamps. VAT was never applied to food that is cooked and left to cool because that covered things such as pies that would be bought and re-heated later at home for tea etc. Sadly Greggs and the like took advantage of this loophole by baking throughout the day and serving lukewarm pasties to fool the public they wanted you to have it "freshly baked." In other words serve you lukewarm pasties to aviod VAT.

So smaller business loose out and the big guys win as usual.. that lost you my vote Mr Osbourne.

@TeWiSavesTheDay
MrAnchovy + solong - I imagine if you are self-employed you could.

No that would not be legal.

@Alibabaandthe40nappies
The things which will change next month in relation to tax credits, tax thresholds and so on were announced last budget or possibly even the one before.

Actually the changes to tax credits and other benefits (increase by 1% instead of CPI) and the income tax threshold of £9,440 (was planned to be £9,205) were only announced in December 2012.

MrAnchovy I was generalising.

It is fairly usual to announce measures further out though, isn't it?

The nanny point is surely that if you directly employ your nanny (not through an agent or if she is self-employed) and currently pay employers' NI etc then you count as a micro-business and ought to benefit.

Certain things they could do sooner. To me it just looks like a ploy to bring certain changes in just in time for it to fresh in the voters mind when Election times come. I could be wrong but i don't trust this Government.

I am involved in the beer industry & thought I'd point out that although the beer duty looks cut at odds with government policy it's not really been reduced to help drinkers.

There has been an almost 50% hike in beer duty in the last 5 years which has affected thousands of jobs in pubs and also closed thousands of pubs. That has a knock on effect on jobs in breweries (one of the few British manufacturing success stories in recent years) & also their related suppliers and agriculture.

Sales of beer has plummeted, meaning the amount of tax the government was raising fell short of targets. Beer, which is usually low strength, is not a big factor in the binge drinking problem. Generally people are going to the pub less & drinking, relatively cheaper, imported wine at home instead.

There has been a massive campaign over the last year to cut the beer duty escalator, so this is not a simple 'please the masses' quick fix.

Surely the home buying scheme will just mean that new builds will cost more as developers put their prices up. It certainly will where I live which is economically buoyant with lots of new build selling like hot cakes

God i must hate red ed i wish he would just sit down he looks like a random that just wondered in and picked up the mic

I shudder at the thought the lefties will no doubut vote him in to rule over us all maybe they may bankrupt us again

Dear lord cant even imagain this foll standing next to obama the might think hes the work experince boy or worse its a joke

Snog i m a bit gutted about the house situation i think he could of done more help for forst time buyers than helping people who already have a house

We live in london and we would at least need 350k to buy a home and thats in a shitty area

We can afford the mortage but not the 50k -70 deposit that most banks want ffs

My sister and her dp have just brought a hime also live in lonon and had to find 55k deposit they earn wAy more than us but as a result have no money left there roof fell[has to buy a fixer uppper ] in lest week and are living under tarploine they dont even have £50 spare now

We just want to buy a frigging house we dont even mind being lent the deposit and are happy to pay it back

Help to buy your own home! Great, borrow the deposit, owe even more at even more interest, and it's got to be a new-build rabbit hutch. Your kids get a room the size of a single bed and a garden too small to play in.

portraitoftheartist i know we have a large. Council home with a massive garn gidion should explain why we would give that up to live in a tiney home above a frigging lidel

Gidiot thinks the medicine we need is to stoke up another housing bubble, more fictitious growth based on debt.

Domjolly do you live in a council house? you who is the backbone of the striving class?