MSE News: Chancellor's Autumn Statement 2023

MSE_Laura_F

The Chancellor today (Wed 22 Nov) delivered the Autumn Statement 2023. You can watch Martin Lewis's instant reaction here. Our full news story is on its way and will lay out details of each of the measures:

What the Autumn Statement means for you – including wages, benefits, pensions, ISAs, national insurance and more

If you haven’t already, join the Forum to reply.

HillStreetBlues

I will avoid commenting  the idea of the new policies, just what I think it will mean.
It will be concerning that disable people could lose money in the hunt for the mythological work at home jobs that currently don't exist in the real world for disabled people.
Many non-disabled people would love to work from home and would happily do it even it it mean swapping jobs. No employer in going to upset their whole workforce by refusing to let their current staff work from home  and instead employ disabled to do this (I would expect Unions to be also against it).
So the outcome of this policy  wouldn't be beneficial to disabled people just cause more stress.

I'm not allowed to comment on the actual policy (if it's right or wrong)  just how it affects some disabled people.

MSE_Helen_K

Thanks for this discussion thread. We've just published a story on the ISA changes announced by the Chancellor today:

Autumn Statement: ISA shake-up announced – though no win for Lifetime ISA savers

ForgottenPensioners

As a lot of us Pensioners were born before April 2016, is it right that we lose out by not being on the New Basic Pension?
The Full Old basic pension from April 24 will be £169.50, whilst the New Full basic pension comes in at £221.20. That's a massive difference of £51.50 a WEEK. 
And with the triple lock, this difference will get wider and wider. 
It just is so unjust for those who have paid in over 40 years of NI contributions. 
I think there is a lot of pre April 2016 pensioners who have no idea about this. 
Be interested if Martin could cover this on one of his programmes. Explain please !!!

molerat

ForgottenPensioners said:

As a lot of us Pensioners were born before April 2016, is it right that we lose out by not being on the New Basic Pension?
The Full Old basic pension from April 24 will be £169.50, whilst the New Full basic pension comes in at £221.20. That's a massive difference of £51.50 a WEEK. 
And with the triple lock, this difference will get wider and wider. 
It just is so unjust for those who have paid in over 40 years of NI contributions. 
I think there is a lot of pre April 2016 pensioners who have no idea about this. 
Be interested if Martin could cover this on one of his programmes. Explain please !!!

But you would have had the possibility of receiving up to £387.85 per week.  Many on the pre 2016 pension are better off than those under the new scheme.  Also many on the old basic pension will be receiving add on benefits that are worth a lot more than the £51.50 difference. Not everyone retiring after 2016 with 40 or more years of contributions is receiving the full new pension.  Be careful what you wish for.

What is there for Martin to explain ?

More like Not Understanding Pensioners than Forgotten Pensioners !

scottleag

Worth bearing in mind that increases in pensions and benefits has to be offset against the loss of cost of living payments. When this is taken into account then rises are well below inflation rate 

dealyboy

@ForgottenPensioners said:

As a lot of us Pensioners were born before April 2016, is it right that we lose out by not being on the New Basic Pension?
The Full Old basic pension from April 24 will be £169.50, whilst the New Full basic pension comes in at £221.20. That's a massive difference of £51.50 a WEEK. 
And with the triple lock, this difference will get wider and wider. 
It just is so unjust for those who have paid in over 40 years of NI contributions. 
I think there is a lot of pre April 2016 pensioners who have no idea about this. 
Be interested if Martin could cover this on one of his programmes. Explain please !!!

Welcome to the forums from a New State Pensioner.

When they introduced the new pension in 2016 they tried to make it as fair as possible for all state pensioners, new and old, for those with additional state pensions and for those who contracted out of SERPS. There were also better deferment terms with the old state pension. I think overall they succeeded.

Just one note for those whose income is below the new state pension, it will also be below Pension Credit level and if you qualify it's like having the magic word to Aladdin's cave ... well maybe I exaggerate a bit  .

Muttleythefrog

It's a budget of resignation.... and will fool few. Many of the measures would require taking forward by another government after election. As expected an attack on some of the sickest and most disabled people in the country to fund tax cuts for rich.

MSE_Emily

Hi all, we've also just published this story on the impact on state pensions and benefits.

State pension confirmed to rise by 8.5% from April 2024 – while some benefits will go up by 6.7%

scottleag

Quick back of a fag packet (vape bottle actually) calculation. State pension increase of £17.35 pw is offset by loss of £300 from next year's winter fuel payment - £5.77 pw. 'Real' pension increase is £11.58 pw. Or 5.68% on current pension. Not so much rabbits out of hats as wool over eyes. 

PocketWatchMan

HillStreetBlues said:

I will avoid commenting  the idea of the new policies, just what I think it will mean.
It will be concerning that disable people could lose money in the hunt for the mythological work at home jobs that currently don't exist in the real world for disabled people.
Many non-disabled people would love to work from home and would happily do it even it it mean swapping jobs. No employer in going to upset their whole workforce by refusing to let their current staff work from home  and instead employ disabled to do this (I would expect Unions to be also against it).
So the outcome of this policy  wouldn't be beneficial to disabled people just cause more stress.

I'm not allowed to comment on the actual policy (if it's right or wrong)  just how it affects some disabled people.

One thing about working from home that many overlook - it sounds pretty good in theory, but there is the other side of the coin to think about. Which is this - if a certain % of staff work entirely from home, pretty soon you could all very well find yourself surplus to requirements. This has happened to several people I know the last 12 months, all of whom worked very hard and did their very best for their employers during changing times; in most cases the companies were already doing exceptionally well because they were allowed to keep working while millions of working classes, small businesses and small enterprises were at best restricted or banned from earning a living altogether for months on end 2020-21, so a lot of them went destitute and got swallowed up by the huge enterprises... huge enterprises that realized: if our UK team can work from home effectively, why don't we outsource?

One friend sadly is facing an incredibly serious time, gave years of her life to a major financial company in the city, who have just closed a large portion of their (physical) offices in prime London locations, and outsourced about 90%++ of their workforce online across multiple continents. probably at around half the UK wage bill. She is having a really rough ride at the moment.