November 8, 2024
Financial Assets

Eight major money changes announced by Labour’s Rachel Reeves and how they will affect you


Scores of UK households will see some changes in their budgets after a series of financial announcements by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

The new Labour Party chancellor said she was looking to plug a £22b black hole in public finances as she outline some crucial changes. She scrapped some winter fuel payments and shelved the long-delayed cap on what people would pay for social care.




Ms Reeves also announced that ministers would accept the recommendations of pay review bodies for a series of public sector workers, which will result in pay rises, reports BirminghamLive. Meanwhile, private schools will have to charge VAT on fees from next January. More details on the changes are given below.

Winter fuel payment

The Chancellor has scrapped some winter fuel payments, along with a raft of other government programmes and policies to plug a projected government overspend of £22b. She said those not in receipt of pension credit will no longer receive the extra money as she repeatedly told MPs: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.”

The chancellor laid the blame for her decisions on the previous government, accusing the Conservatives of having “let people down” by making “commitment after commitment without knowing where the money was going to come from”.

Pay rises

Ms Reeves announced that ministers would accept the recommendations of pay review bodies for a series of public sector workers, which are largely about 5%, and so above inflation. There has also been agreement to try to end a dispute with junior doctors in England by giving them a 22.3% pay rise over two years.

Cap on social care costs scrapped

The Chancellor also announced that adult social care charging reforms, which had been delayed by the previous government, would also not go forward on the new government’s watch – in a move that will save more than £1b by the end of next year.

The cap would have meant that people would not have to spend more than £86,000 on personal care during their lifetime. The amount of savings and assets people are allowed to keep would also have increased from the current £23,250 to £100,000. The Conservative government had already delayed the cap by two years.

Roads, rail and hospital projects axed

The Restoring our Railways programme will be scrapped as it was “unfunded”. Ms Reeves added the A303 Stonehenge tunnel and A27 road upgrade schemes would not go ahead. She also said that a retail share offer to end the taxpayer’s stake in NatWest would not go ahead, as such a sale would involve substantial discounts and therefore represent poor value to the public purse.

Private schools will lose tax breaks in January

Private schools will have to charge VAT on fees from next January. The institutions will also lose an 80% discount they get on business rates. The money will be used to pay for an extra 6,500 teachers in state schools, improve training for headteachers and create 3,300 nurseries in primary schools to boost the availability of childcare.

Plan to scrap A-Levels abandoned

There are also two smaller savings: a £185m saving next year by not going ahead with Rishi Sunak’s plan for the Advanced British Standard, a replacement for A-levels; and £120m over the two years by cancelling the freeports-focused Investment Opportunity Fund.

Pay-offs for disgraced ex-ministers ditched


Government ministers who leave their jobs in disgrace will no longer be entitled to severance pay. Ministers who only served a short period of time will also get less money. HMRC will get extra staff to crack down on tax dodgers, while the government will cut spending on marketing campaigns and fees for consultants.

National Insurance, tax, VAT

Ms Reeves said the government would aim to recoup £5.5b of the £22b funding gap figure this year, and £8b next year. Government departments have been asked to find combined savings of at least £3b. She confirmed there would be a budget on 30 October to set out full measures. Rises in income tax, national insurance and VAT were ruled out, in line with Labour’s election manifesto, as was a wealth tax.

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