Finance expert Martin Lewis has reacted to the government’s Budget, announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt today.
The Money Saving Expert highlighted changes to limits on pensions and universal credit, as well as an expansion of childcare funding announced in the Budget today.
In a series of tweets posted today, Mr Lewis, who was name checked in the budget, said: “The Childcare uplift in Universal Credit WON’T apply to those on legacy benefits (ie tax credits). So the question will be should those who pay for childcase on tax-credits ask to move to UC.“
He also claimed Two million jobseekers on Universal Credit will have “more rigorous sanctions if they dont take ‘appropriate’ work. So its going to be tougher for people who don’t work and who govt thinks can. “
Mr Lewis also pointed to changes to limit on pensions. He said: “The maximum annual amount you can put into a pension is to increase (I presume from April) from £40,000 to £60,000.”
He continued: “PLUS he didnt say but Money purchase allowance up from £4k to £10k. This is the amount you can put in your pension once you’ve already taken some of it.”
The finance expert also thanked the government for postponing the Energy Price Guarantee 20% rise, which, he says, means “in practice it’s cancelled.”
In a letter to the Chancellor, Mr Lewis previosuly claimed the rise in the Energy Price Guarantee – the state-subsidised energy rate – “will increase energy bills yet again for almost every home accross England, Scotland and Wales.”
Amongst the measures announced in the Budget today was a major expansion in state-funded childcare, aimed at boosting economic growth.
The chancellor also revealed he would add £11bn to Britain’s defence budget in the next five years and extended energy bill support for another three months.
The Chancellor said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now forecasts that the UK will not enter a technical recession this year and that the government “will meet the Prime Minister’s priorities to halve inflation, reduce debt and get the economy growing”.
Despite “continuing global instability”, Mr Hunt said, the OBR expects inflation in the UK will fall from 10.7% in the final quarter of last year to 2.9% by the end of 2023.
