The Budget 2018

UKParliament

goodwithsaving wrote: »

reduce business rates to give the high street a hand

In his Budget statement Chancellor has this afternoon announced £675m Future High Streets Fund, various business rates cuts for small business and a new mandatory business rate relief for public lavatories. We'll share analysis and scrutiny of this as it becomes available.

You can find a Commons Library Briefing (they're politically impartial experts who pull together views and data from across the political spectrum to inform debates and decisions) on current Business Rates here >> https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06247

UKParliament

Dizzy_Ditzy wrote: »

More help for first time buyers - house prices are getting more and more prohibitive and rents going up and up and up

Hi Dizzy Ditzy,

The Chancellor has announced various housing initiatives, including the abolition of Stamp Duty for all first-time buyers of shared ownership properties valued up to £500,000. We'll add any available analysis of this announcement as soon as impartial experts have had time to scrutinise it.

fredandwilma

I hope you return to answer my question.

In regard to Universal Credit:-

Although the Chancellor announced extra ‘transition funding’ worth £1bn over five years, in addition to £3.5bn previously committed.

This means people moving over from legacy benefits Universal Credit will get extra support, he says. Details will be announced by Esther McVey shortly.

That's a non committal statement in my world.

As no mention was made of those who have already moved over from legacy benefits to Universal Credit, (such as the Severely Disabled,) thereby losing their Severe Disability Premium along with any transitional protection, what plans are there to support these people, or do they not matter/ exist in Ms McVey's world, the Chancellor's world, the Governments world, the DWP's world?

UKParliament

fredandwilma wrote: »

I hope you return to answer my question.
In regard to Universal Credit:-
Although the Chancellor announced extra ‘transition funding’ worth £1bn over five years, in addition to £3.5bn previously committed.
This means people moving over from legacy benefits Universal Credit will get extra support, he says. Details will be announced by Esther McVey shortly.

Hi Fred and Wilma,

We're impartial (we serve the whole of Parliament not any party or the Government), so I wont comment on the last bit of your comment, but I can direct you to what we know so far about Universal Credit and the 2018 Budget.

The House of Commons Library (impartial) summarised it as follows in their briefing,

"There will be additional spending on Universal Credit – paying for a £1,000 increase to the work allowance and additional support for transition. Savings will however be made through a revised implementation schedule. Overall these changes will cost around £700 million in 2019/20 and 2020/21, £500 million in 2021/22, £900 million in 2022/23 and £1.7 billion in 2023/24"

You can read the full summary report here

Regarding disability payments;
The Budget itself says:

"The Budget announces that the amount that households with children, and people with disabilities can earn before their Universal Credit award begins to be withdrawn – the Work Allowance – will be increased by £1,000 from April 2019. "

It also announced funding for previously announced changes for those on Severe Disability Premium.

"the Budget provides funding for the announcements made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in April and June 2018 to support the roll out of Universal Credit. This provided additional protections for welfare claimants, including:[...] enhanced protections for those currently receiving the Severe Disability Premium to provide additional support as Universal Credit is implemented."

You can find the Budget here
Beyond that, we're waiting for further detail from the government.
To see how your constituency has thus far been affected by Universal Credit, you can use this tool from the Commons Library, and if you have specific concerns or expertise, we always advise contacting your MP to advocate for you in Parliament.

UKParliament

The Commons Library, a politically neutral information and research service, have now published their initial summary briefing of the Budget. This is a really useful run down of the basic points covered in the Budget, while we wait for further information.

You can find the whole document here and below I've
picked out those sections which relate most closely to concerns and questions raised in your comments above.

- Additional spending on the NHS – rising from £7 billion in 2019/20 to £28 billion in 2023/24.
- There will be additional spending on Universal Credit – paying for a £1,000 increase to the work allowance and additional support for transition.
- There will be a £675 million Future High Streets Fund and other measures intended to support ‘a sustainable transformation’ of high streets

Spending in the short term (2018/19) for certain areas, ahead of next year’s Spending Review;
- Investing £1 billion in defence across 2018-19 and 2019-20, and £160 million in counter-terrorism police.
- £285 million in 2018/19 and £775 million in 2019/20 for social care
- £60 million in 2018/19 for prisons, courts and the justice system

Tax Announcements
- The income tax personal allowance will increase to £12,500 and higher-rate threshold increased to £50,000 from April 2019.
- There will be one-third off business rates for retail premises up to a rateable value of £51,000 in 2019/20 and 2020/21
- Fuel duty and duty on beer, spirits and most cider will be frozen

Other announcements
- The National Living Wage will increase by 4.9%, from £7.83 to £8.21, from April 2019.
- In the context of Brexit, the Chancellor said that he reserves the right to take whatever action is appropriate if there is a material change to the outlook, including if necessary upgrading the Spring Statement to a full Fiscal Event, such as a Budget

Do feel free to post any follow up questions and we'll continue to update with pertinent, unbiased information as it becomes available throughout the next few days of debate.

welshmoneylover

Abolish inheritance tax.
Abolish housing benefits.
Abolish universal credit.
Time limit all benefits, apart from the very sick, most people are capable of some sort of work.

fredandwilma

UKParliament wrote: »

It also announced funding for previously announced changes for those on Severe Disability Premium.

"the Budget provides funding for the announcements made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in April and June 2018 to support the roll out of Universal Credit. This provided additional protections for welfare claimants, including:[...] enhanced protections for those currently receiving the Severe Disability Premium to provide additional support as Universal Credit is implemented."

we always advise contacting your MP to advocate for you in Parliament.

Thankyou for your extensive reply of statistics, which are of little interest to me.

The facts are - Despite Governmental propanganda, they haven't met these claims, or substantiated how they are going to meet these claims.

They haven't provided protection for those who lost their SDP when naturally migrating to Universal Credit. Nor have they provided enhanced, (transitional) protection for these claimants.

Truthfully, some people will die before they ever receive the support which has been taken away from them.

Regarding MP's, that depends on your MP, unfortunately.

Some MP's just aren't interested in supporting their constituents.

They are more interested in supporting Government policy.

Rubik

UKParliament wrote: »

Hi Rubik,

Thank you for sharing your personal experience of this issue. I really appreciate it. This afternoon the Chancellor has announced increased funding for the NHS, and specifically mental health services. As more detail is made available, we will hopefully be able to update you further on how the specifics of this funding may affect policy.

I'll keep an eye out for any pertinent, impartial analysis coming from experts in the House of Commons library and share anything relevant. In the mean time, you may find their research briefing on the current situation a useful resource for background information, should you wish to contact your local MP or a government minister to share your experience.

https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7547

Thank you for your reply, I'd welcome any information/analysis that you may wish to share on this issue.

The announcement re MH funding is welcomed, and I sincerely hope that more people will be able to access the help they need. My daughter is also going to write to our MP about her experiences of accessing (or rather, not being able to access) MH services in our area, and what she thinks needs to be done to help young people here.

System

UKParliament wrote: »

Hi xXMessedUpXx

The Chancellor has indicated an increase in funding to Mental Health, and I'll try an update you as to what exactly that means as soon as we have more details.

Thanks for getting in touch

I've seen it, they pledged half as much as is actually needed. Can you tell me if this money is ringfenced and will definitely be spent on mental health?

UKParliament

Rubik wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, I'd welcome any information/analysis that you may wish to share on this issue.

The announcement re MH funding is welcomed, and I sincerely hope that more people will be able to access the help they need. My daughter is also going to write to our MP about her experiences of accessing (or rather, not being able to access) MH services in our area, and what she thinks needs to be done to help young people here.

Hi Rubik,
That's great news, it really can make a difference to have people who are experts (from living a situation) informing their MPs who can advocate for real change. I hope that your MP is responsive and active, they should also be able to direct you/your input to opportunities to submit evidence to committees scrutinising mental health proposals. I'll also post anything pertinent here.
Today is the final day of debate on the budget, after which we will start to see committees formed and more specific information coming out of the Treasury. The Government stated

"The NHS will also prioritise services for children and young people, with schools-based mental health support teams and specialist crisis teams for young people across the country. For adults, the NHS will expand access to the Individual Placement Support programme to help those with severe mental illness find and retain employment, benefiting 55,000 people by 2023-24."

MPS in the Opposition have broadly welcomed the increase, but queried whether this goes far enough. The Labour MP for North Durham, Mr Kevan Jones,

"I welcome the proposal to put mental health workers in schools, but many of the young people we are talking about do not attend school. We need investment in local communities’ support network.
We must also ensure that we have the mental health professionals in place, because there is a crisis with them that we need to address. That is where the money needs to go. We need to hardwire mental health into Government policy making" (From Hansard)

If we have any further impartial analysis once the committees begin I will post it here for you,
All best