On March 15th Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his first full Budget since his hasty appointment last October.
His previous emergency outing was last November's Autumn Statement where he announced many stealth tax rises and reversals to his predecessor's more radical plans.
In November Hunt's speech entailed the following: tax thresholds frozen, extra taxes, lower top rate, cut dividend allowance & exempt amount, windfall energy tax, bill support for vulnerable, pensions rise, inheritance tax stays same, EVs pay VED, benefits increase, higher living wage, employers' NICs discount up to £5,000 until 2026.
In 9 days time, Hunt will confirm if any of those announcements from November are to be reversed, u-turned or altered in any way. He will also announce spending plans and the findings of various forecasts for the UK economy.
Predictions
The forecast for the UK economy in 2023-24 looks brighter than it did last year, despite the soaring cost of living and energy bills. The government is still committed to doing its best to support households and although Mr Hunt is unlikely to make any massive tax cuts, he may have a few tricks up his sleeves to help struggling families.
The good news is that it looks like the government is going to maintain their Energy Price Guarantee for the next three months from April, which means energy bills should remain at the current level of £2,500 for a typical household. As wholesale energy prices have gone down in the time since the first announcement of the scheme it means the cost to the public purse should be lower now.
It looks like there might be an increase in childcare support for young children in England. Parents of children aged nine months to three years could potentially get up to 30 hours of free care a week during term time. If the changes are announced it means the support will no longer be ring-fenced to just 3 and 4 year olds.
Fuel duty could rise a quarter above current rates, but there is stiff opposition to this within the government. The fuel duty cut of 5 pence was brought in by Rishi Sunak as a response to high pump prices, but this discount comes to at the end of March. We hope that a fuel duty freeze will be announced.
People over the age of 66 might have to delay retirement plans as the state pension age could go up soon. Reports suggest that the increase to 68 would happen earlier than the mid-2030s. This would mean that people born in the 1970s would have to wait longer to draw their state pensions. This is part of Mr Hunt's attempt to get more people over 50 back into the workforce.
The tax-exempt amount you can save in your pension pot could increase. The current limit is £1.073m, and won't be going up for the next few years. This could mean some pensioners having to pay taxes, and possibly even retire early, which is something the government doesn't want. The Health Secretary recently said they will be looking into ways to make it more worth people's while to continue working.