Money, in brief

John Healey, the UK minister in charge of public money, gave his first Budget on Wednesday. [1]

About 20 million homes in England will get 100 pounds towards their energy bills. [2]

They are homes in council tax bands A to D, about 80% of England's homes. [3]

The money goes straight into bank accounts from January, with nothing to claim. [4]

The payment costs 2.6 billion pounds, Healey told MPs. [5]

A higher tax on big banks' profits, up from 3% to 6%, pays for it. [2]

Homes that use a lot of gas are promised help, but no details yet. [4]

Ofgem, Britain's energy regulator, now has to work out how the gas charge goes. [7]

The next test comes in January, when the payment lands and bills are due to rise. [2]

John Healey's Budget gives most homes in England 100 pounds in January and moves the gas standing charge into the price of each unit, while typical energy bills are forecast to rise by 276 pounds or more. [2][7]

The extra tax comes from lines frozen to 2031, and from higher tax on savings interest, rent and bank profits. [9][1]

A round 100 pounds paid straight into a bank account is easy to picture, while a tax line that stays still as pay rises shows up on no payslip as a single number.

The fixed daily fee moves into the unit price, so small users pay less; the UK Treasury says 60% of homes save 45 pounds a year on average. [8]

Large families and poorly insulated homes may pay more a year once the fixed charge moves into each unit. [6]

Tax on interest and rent rises to 24%, 44% or 49% from April 2027. [14]

They get no 100-pound payment, the Resolution Foundation says. [13]

How much January's energy bills will actually rise.

Cornwall Insight forecasts a 276-pound rise for a typical home, while other forecasts put a yearly bill near 2,100 pounds. The January price cap has not been set. [2][6]

Exactly which homes pay more when the gas standing charge goes.

The UK Treasury says 60% of homes save. Which? puts the losers above roughly 12,000 units a year, and Uswitch puts the break-even near 11,500 units. The promised help for big users has no details yet. [8][4][6]

When the gas standing charge actually ends.

The Budget says 2027 or as soon as possible after, and Ofgem has not yet said how it will do it. [1][7]

Income tax thresholds stay frozen until April 2031, the Budget papers show. [10]

A threshold is the income where a tax rate starts, such as 12,570 pounds. [10]

Until 2021 they usually rose each year in line with prices. [10]

Frozen, they pull more of each pay rise into higher tax bands. [10]

The OBR, the UK's official budget forecaster, has counted the effect. [9]

It says 6.8 million more people will pay income tax by 2031. [9]

The share paying 40% or 45% rises from 15% to 24% by 2030-31. [24]

The freeze is due to raise 58 billion pounds a year by 2030-31. [9]

Anyone who gets a pay rise keeps less of it while the freeze lasts. [9]

Frozen thresholds pull more of each rise into tax until April 2031. [10]

How many extra people the frozen thresholds pull into income tax.

The BBC cites the OBR at 6.8 million more by 2031. Which? cites 5.2 million by 2030-31 from the OBR and the House of Commons Library. The two counts use different years. [9][24]

Tax on savings interest outside an Isa rises from 20% to 24% in April 2027. [25]

An Isa is a UK savings account whose interest is free of tax. [25]

Higher-rate payers will pay 44% on savings interest, and top-rate payers 49%. [13]

Basic-rate payers can still earn 1,000 pounds of interest a year tax-free. [25]

The cash Isa limit stays at 20,000 pounds a year. [25]

Rachel Reeves, the last chancellor, had planned to cut it to 12,000 pounds for under-65s. [8]

Rules to stop savers moving money between Isas will likely be dropped too. [25]

In Guardian sums, one pensioner couple with savings income lose 1,101 pounds a year. [21]

The 20,000-pound tax-free limit stays, while interest outside an Isa is taxed more from April 2027. [25]

A planned 22% tax on cash held in stocks and shares Isas will not go ahead. [26]

A stocks and shares Isa holds investments, and often some cash not yet invested. [26]

The cash inside it will stay free of tax, as it is now. [26]

The UK government will consult on a reward for people investing for the first time. [26]

The BBC describes it as a new Starter Isa. [8]

No details of the reward have been given yet. [26]

Reeves's plan had aimed to push savers from cash into shares. [25]

Critics said it added confusion without evidence it would make more people invest. [25]

Tax on rent income rises two more points from April 2027, the Budget says. [23]

Last year's Budget had already added two points from the same date. [23]

Basic-rate landlords will pay 24%, higher-rate 44% and top-rate 49%. [18]

Scotland sets its own rates for this tax. [13]

The OBR says the extra cost may lead to a steady rise in rents. [13]

It says some landlords may leave, and new ones may stay out. [13]

A yearly charge on homes worth over 2 million pounds still starts in April 2028. [23]

Buyers above the 450,000-pound cap now lose 20% of a Lifetime Isa, not 25%. [23]

A Lifetime Isa is a UK account for saving towards a first home or retirement. [23]

The lower charge started at midnight on 29 October. [23]

The old charge meant savers lost some of their own money, not only the bonus. [27]

A First-Time Buyer Isa will replace the Lifetime Isa from April 2029. [23]

Savers can put in up to 4,000 pounds a year and get a 25% bonus. [23]

The bonus is paid only when the money buys a first home. [23]

Buyers over the 450,000-pound limit will no longer pay a charge to take money out. [23]

Savers caught by the old cap keep more of their own money. [27]

Since 29 October, first-time buyers using a Lifetime Isa above the 450,000-pound cap lose 20% of the balance, not 25%.

Your First Home, a UK government loan for first-time buyers in England, now has dates. [23]

It is for new-build homes from builders taking part in the scheme. [18]

Buyers put down 2.5% to 15% of the price, and the UK government lends 20%. [23]

The loan is free of interest for five years. [23]

Pre-registration opens by the end of December, and full applications in February. [23]

Households earning over 110,000 pounds, or 140,000 pounds in London, cannot use it. [18]

Rightmove, a property website, says a typical two-year fixed mortgage costs 5.54% now. [18]

It was 4.25% before the Iran war began. [18]

From April 2027, pensioners with income up to the full state pension pay no income tax. [14]

A new Pension Tax Allowance does it, worked out by HMRC, the UK tax office. [14]

In 2027-28 the allowance is worth 93 pounds, Which? says. [28]

It shrinks by 1 pound for every 3 pounds of income above the full state pension. [28]

Above 13,316 pounds a year, a pensioner gets none of it. [28]

It lasts from April 2027 to April 2030. [28]

Pensioners who saved more in private pensions gain less, and many gain nothing. [28]

For everyone else, the tax-free allowance stays at 12,570 pounds until 2031. [14]

The state pension rises 3.9% next April under the triple lock. [28]

The lock raises it by prices, pay or 2.5% each year, whichever is highest. [28]

This year pay grew fastest, so the pension follows pay. [28]

The full new state pension rises by 488 pounds a year. [29]

The IFS, a UK think tank, compared it with a pay-only pension since 2011. [28]

It found today's pension about 14% higher, after allowing for prices. [28]

From 2030 the direct link to pay growth goes, in a plan called the double lock. [28]

The savings are meant to pay for free personal care for older people in England. [22]

They are forecast at 15 billion pounds a year by the end of the 2030s. [28]

Why a pension that rises by the best of three numbers pulls ahead

Each April the state pension rises by prices, pay or 2.5%, whichever is highest

In a year when prices jump fastest, it follows prices

In a year when pay jumps fastest, it follows pay, and in a quiet year it still gets 2.5%

So it never falls behind prices or pay, and keeps each good year

Over 15 years the good years stack up, and it ends above all three

A rise that takes the best of three numbers each year keeps every good year and skips every bad one. After many years it sits above all three.

From April the full state pension sits above the frozen line where income tax starts.

The lock lifted the pension to 13,036 pounds while the tax-free line stayed at 12,570 pounds, so a new allowance was needed to keep pensioners out of tax.

Each year the best of the three measures won, so the IFS finds the pension about 14% above a pay-only path, and the UK government now removes the pay link.

Typical incomes in homes without pensioners are set to fall 3%, while the pension still rises, because the lock never gives less than 2.5%.

The lead builds only when the three measures take turns at the top. If pay rose fastest every single year, the lock would just follow pay.

Pensioners see the rise each April. Workers pay the taxes that fund it, and in many years their own pay rises more slowly.

Carers will stop losing a whole week's allowance for earning a penny too much. [22]

Carer's allowance pays 86.45 pounds a week to people caring 35 hours or more. [22]

Now it stops completely if weekly earnings pass 204 pounds after tax. [22]

Instead, it will shrink by 1 pound for each pound earned above the limit. [22]

The change starts only in 2030-31, after a new computer system is built. [14]

The UK government expects about 48,000 carers in England and Wales to gain. [22]

The cliff edge left tens of thousands of carers owing big sums by mistake. [22]

Carers in England and Wales will no longer lose a whole week's allowance for earning a penny over the limit. About 48,000 carers are expected to gain when the change starts in 2030-31.

The 5p cut in fuel duty, the tax on each litre, now lasts until July. [8]

It began in 2022 and was due to be phased out from January. [8]

Drivers keep paying 52.95p a litre in duty. [30]

Diesel costs near 1.99 pounds a litre, and petrol near 1.73 pounds. [15]

Dave Herbert, a driver on 30,000 pounds, spends about 350 pounds a month on petrol. [30]

He wanted a cut, and called himself pretty angry. [30]

A Worcester haulier says thieves took 400 litres of diesel worth about 800 pounds. [16]

He blames the price of fuel for the theft. [16]

The Plan 2 student loan threshold stays at 29,385 pounds for three years from April. [21]

Plan 2 covers students from England who borrowed between 2012 and 2023. [27]

Graduates repay 9% of whatever they earn above the threshold. [21]

For a graduate on 28,500 pounds, almost any pay rise now starts repayments. [21]

A 21-year-old on the new minimum wage will reach the 25,000-pound threshold for newer loans. [27]

Students had hoped for help with Plan 2, but there was no change. [13]

The UK government says repayments are still under review. [27]

The repayment threshold is frozen at 29,385 pounds for three years. [21]

Healey promised a smaller benefits bill before the next general election. [31]

Welfare spending rises 19 billion pounds this year, to 353 billion pounds. [31]

The OBR expects 431 billion pounds by 2031-32, mostly health and pensioner benefits. [31]

Two reviews come out in November, on disability benefits and on young people out of work. [31]

Almost one million young people are out of work, education or training. [31]

Healey ruled out crude cuts but gave no details. [31]

Emily Nelson, 19, from Swindon, says waiting for the plan is frustrating. [30]

People on disability benefits wait to learn what changes. [31]

What Healey's smaller benefits bill will cut.

He gave no details, and two reviews on disability benefits and young people out of work come out in November. [31]

The OBR says real income per person will be barely above its pre-Covid level. [3]

By the end of the decade it will be just 1% higher, the OBR says. [3]

David Miles, who runs the OBR, called the picture pretty grim. [1]

The Resolution Foundation says typical incomes in homes without pensioners will fall 3% by 2028-29. [12]

That is about 1,050 pounds less a year. [12]

Housing help for private renters stays frozen, hitting over a million renting families. [12]

The Foundation says 91% of those families are in the poorer half. [12]

The OBR expects prices to rise faster, peaking at 3.8% in 2027. [15]

Child poverty is still set to fall by 2.6 points this parliament. [12]

Typical incomes in homes without pensioners are set to fall 3%, while the pension still rises, because the lock never gives less than 2.5%.

The housing allowance stays frozen into 2027-28, hitting over a million families. [12]

Child poverty in the UK is still set to fall by 2.6 percentage points across this parliament, the Resolution Foundation says.

Wales will match the 100-pound payment for about one million homes. [32]

Scotland's government says it will seek to copy it. [2]

Northern Ireland cannot pay it unless its ministers agree a budget. [2]

Stormont, Northern Ireland's government, is 7 months into the year with no budget. [33]

Its parties say they need about 1.5 billion pounds to make a workable plan. [33]

The UK government offered 525 million pounds more this year. [33]

So homes there wait while England's homes are paid in January. [2]

Whether homes in Northern Ireland get the 100 pounds.

Its government cannot pay without a budget, and it has had none for seven months. [2][33]

Business owners who sell up lose half of a tax relief from April 2027. [26]

Business Asset Disposal Relief lowers the tax owners pay on the profit when they sell up. [21]

It lowers the rate from 24% to 18%. [21]