Budget case studies: Britons have their say on Jeremy Hunt’s announcements

Britons were today reacting to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt after he said the UK will avoid entering a recession with the economy ‘proving the doubters wrong’.

Mr Hunt also used his Budget to promise a major expansion of free childcare and he also announced an extension of support for household energy costs.

He said every child over the age of nine months in eligible households will be offered 30 hours per week of free care in a policy to be introduced in stages .

The Chancellor added that the energy price guarantee, which caps average household bills at £2,500, will be extended at its current level from April to June.

In measures aimed at cutting the cost of living, the fuel duty freeze and the 5p cut will be maintained for another year, saving the average driver around £100.

Taking advantage of tax flexibility since leaving the European Union, a ‘Brexit pubs guarantee’ will see duty on draught products up to 11p lower than in supermarkets.

MailOnline and the Daily Mail have spoken to a series of people across Britain to get their views on how the country’s current economic position is affecting them.

And, you can use MailOnline’s Budget widget – built by household finance management system Nous – to work out how the Budget will affect YOU.

Simply enter your salary below and then scroll through the various options like childcare, benefits and fuel costs to add in more details about your situation.

ENTREPRENEUR: ‘Better than nothing – but it’s not an improvement’

• Name: Emma Thomson
• Age: 33
• Lives : Essex
• Job: Jewellery business owner
• Salary: Around £20,000

Small business owner Emma Thomson runs a jewellery engraving company from her home in Essex but has been hard hit by energy bills and would have liked more support from the budget.

She said: ‘There wasn’t much in it for businesses – it doesn’t seem like there is much difference.’

Miss Thomson would have liked to see more intervention for energy bills and said the extension of the cap doesn’t go far enough, saying: ‘It’s better than it going up, it’s better than nothing – but it’s not an improvement. It won’t make a big difference to me.’

She works from home and said: ‘The electricity bill, my machine and laptops have to be plugged in and running for a lot of the day and I’m at home and have heating and lighting costs – so it puts the bills up.’

Her business has a £40,000 turnover but she said recently ‘a lot of that has gone on operating costs’.

She pays herself a salary of around £20,000 from Gemz by Emz and sells hundreds of items each month but is very worried about her energy bills and mortgage costs.

Tax is also a big concern for her, she said: ‘My tax bill in January alone was £5,000 and then we have to pay in July, and then I have to wait until next year for a rebate. A lot of the money I made during Christmas went on the tax bill.’

‘I have to make sure I’m earning enough to pay the tax bill on top.’

She bought her own house last year and had to take on a second job in the NHS as a medical secretary to increase her deposit and get a better mortgage.

But she left the NHS when she heard the ULEZ was expanding. She said: ‘That would have been £12.50/day so it was cheaper to stay at home.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests Miss Thomson will be £36 worse off based on her £20,000 salary. 

FAMILY WITH DISABLED CHILDREN: ‘Energy bills are insane’  

• Name: Jo Spear
• Age: 32
• Lives: Littlehampton, West Sussex
• Job: Carer
• Income: £1,800 of universal credit and £61/week carers allowance

(From left) Max, 10, Jo, 32, Archie, 6, Jamie, 33, and Aubrey, 4, at home in Littlehampton

Parents Jo Spear, 32 and her husband Jamie, 33, rely on universal credit to care for their three children, two of whom have disabilities and say increased childcare support would have enabled them to return to work.

The pair, from Littlehampton, West Sussex, were forced to quit their jobs as a teacher and retail manager to look after their disabled sons Archie, seven, and Max, 10, and their five-year-old daughter.

Now, they receive £1,800 a month in universal credit and £61 a week each as a disabled carer’s allowance. But all of the money goes on food and electricity.

They said they were ‘infuriated’ by the budget which is ‘all bark and no bite’.

‘Archie can only eat a certain food, and he can’t tell when he’s full so he will eat and eat and eat – we can’t keep food in or he will eat it.

Mrs Spear said their energy bills have jumped from £36 a month a few years ago to close to £200 now.

‘Energy bills are insane, the washing machine is on constantly Archie is sick and soils himself a lot. He chews his clothes, so there’s a lot of washing, baths. He doesn’t sleep so there’s always a tv on or something going on.’

The extension of the cap on bills has done little to help, she said: ‘They’ve extended it until June, it’s not exactly a long measure – in June they can do whatever they want.’

The pair would love to return to work but they can’t as the cost of paying for childcare would be too much.

Mrs Spear said they tried ‘everything they could’ to keep her husband in work, but they had ‘a complete lack of childcare to support us through it’.

‘The irony is they would have paid out less in childcare than having to pay universal credit now.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests Ms Spear will be £2,787-a-year better off based based on their combined monthly benefits income of £2,044. 

MOTHER CONCERNED ABOUT CHILDCARE: ‘Very positive step’

Name: Kate Lancaster

Age: 37

Location: Chelmsford, Essex

Job: Marketing and Blogger

Salary: £60,000 joint income with partner

Mother-of-two Kate Lancaster said childcare for one and two-year-olds is a ‘very positive step’ but her family is still facing a year of ‘crippling costs’ until it starts.

Miss Lancaster, 37, from Chelmsford, Essex, left her full-time job in marketing when her second child, Jude, was born in 2021, as childcare was too expensive.

Her partner, Mike Goncalves, 35, works full-time as a brand ambassador, and Miss Lancaster runs a successful food blog, The Dairy Free Mum.

Between them, they earn around £60,000 before tax each year but spend over £1,600 a month on nursery including the 30 hours that their four-year-old Violet gets free.

‘For a couple of parents that both work – albeit I work part-time – it’s just crippled us, we’ve been having to use our savings every month to pay for childcare.’

She said the new allowance for one and two-year-olds is a ‘really positive step’ and added: ‘It will benefit us financially a little, but it’s not as quick as people were hoping, so it asks the question of what will happen in the next year? We’re still going to have a year of crippling costs.

‘My only other concern would be how to make sure the nurseries involved get adequate funding and the staff gets paid enough.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests Ms Lancaster could be up to £22-a-year better off, based on her individual salary.

HIGH EARNER: ‘No incentive for me to maximise profits’ 

• Name: Lawrence Barton
• Age: 49
• Lives: Birmingham
• Job: Business owner and entrepreneur
• Salary: Six figures

Lawrence Barton, 49, has run a range of businesses for 25 years but is concerned about the struggling night time economy which he says is not helped by high levels of taxation.

‘I’m not pleased that there was no cut to the planned rise in corporation tax. It means there is no incentive for small to medium enterprise, no incentive for me to maximise profits, it is counterproductive.

‘However, as a high earner I welcome the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance, as I do contribute to the pension fund.

‘I welcome that and think that is positive and being able to use them and do something with them to minimise onerous tax, and fund commercial projects with our pension funds is a good thing.’

His current portfolio includes bars and nightclubs in the centre of Birmingham, a couple of manufacturing businesses and a conference centre that fall into the SME bracket.

Collectively he employs in excess of 100 full time staff. Lawrence earns a six figure salary, and is in the highest personal tax bracket.

‘For directors all of them have seen some form of increase and that I’m afraid is going to suffocate the SME market. It punishes industry and incentives for an SME or for an entrepreneur.’

Business is not helped by stifling energy costs: ‘The non-regulation around utilities, where you’ve got utility companies bragging about huge profits whilst we’re struggling to actually pay the bills.

‘Our quarterly electricity bill, for example, doubled from £35,000 to over £70,000. We’ve just had a gas bill that would usually be around £12,000 pounds and It’s £27,000.’

MOTHER & BUSINESS OWNER: ‘Full-time childcare is extortionate’ 

• Name: Louisa Dunbar
• Age: 41
• Lives: Reading, Berkshire
• Job: Business owner
• Salary: £40,000

Small business owner Louisa Dunbar, 41, has to date spent £70,000 on childcare for her son, two, and daughter, five, so that both she and her husband can work.

By the time her son reaches school age the business owner estimates that this figure will have topped £100,000.

The married mother-of-two’s remote business Neuro Web Design has an annual turnover of £400,000 and her personal income is £40,000 through a mixture of dividends and PAYE.

She is appreciative of any help with childcare that relieves the burden on working parents. She has five employees who she needs to retain but cannot afford their increased pay demands in the face of the cost of living crisis.

‘The corporation tax rise is going to affect me as an SME trying to grow significantly. I thought we’d get more help with childcare this year but we won’t because my kids will be too old for the extra help by the time it rolls around.’

‘It’s a step in the right direction looking at childcare from the bigger picture point of view. It means the government are starting to notice that people need help but it still doesn’t touch the sides of what we need and is not on the same level as other countries.’

Louisa also stressed that the rise in corporation tax means she ‘can’t give the pay rises we were hoping to. The tax doesn’t just effect profits but also means we can’t give the team what they deserve.

‘Both my husband and I working has meant full time childcare, the costs are extortionate in conjunction with the cost of living crisis. I’ve had to reduce pension payments, and savings which is not ideal at all.

‘I think consideration for people in all walks of life, single parents people really trying to make it by running their own businesses.

‘Small businesses need that kind of help at that moment, lots of people out there are worried and we need to encourage people to spend again.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests Ms Dunbar will be £36 worse off based on her £40,000 salary. 

BUSINESS OWNER: Chancellor has ‘done the right thing’ 

Name: Ian Beaton

Age: 52

Job: Business owner

Business owner Ian Beaton, 52, believes the Chancellor has ‘done the right thing’ by abolishing the lifetime allowance.

Mr Beaton runs a successful tool-making business, with a £1 million turnover, producing parts for Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin.

He and his wife, Michelle, have each saved £600,000 in their pensions and contribute the maximum each year and were worried they would soon hit the threshold.

But now, Mr Beaton said the scrapping of the allowance has ‘given me more confidence in pensions – to use that as a vehicle to save for retirement.’

His pension is all self-invested and he built his business alone from the ground-up.

The changes will allow him to ‘keep putting the maximum amount in, to see us through and have an enjoyable retirement.’

He added: ‘We’ve bought a property overseas in Florida and we’d like to spend the winter months over there and that would take some money to do that.’

He is also concerned about corporation tax. He said: ‘It seems at the moment my position as a business owner with corporation tax increases, it seems like it’s hardly worth setting a business up. Now I don’t know if I’d bother.’

He said: ‘If you’re taking a risk to run a business and contribute to society it feels like there should be benefits.’

FATHER ON BENEFITS WHO WANTS TO WORK: ‘Possibly hopeful’

• Name: Paul Lane
• Age: 47
• Lives: Exmouth, Devon 
• Job: Used to run theatre company, but gave up work due to Crohn’s disease

Paul Lane, 47, and Fiona Tatchell, 42

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced what he described as the ‘biggest change to our welfare system in a decade’ with the scrapping of the work capability assessment (WCA) to assess eligibility for sickness benefits.

Devon father Paul Lane said he feels ‘possibly hopeful’ and ‘slightly encouraged’ about the changes, but added that he would need to see more detail on what it means for him and his family.

The 47-year-old, who previously ran his own theatre company, had to give up work when he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which he said prevents him from carrying out normal day-to-day activities.

Mr Lane and his partner, who had to give up her job as an area manager for a coffee company in 2014 after developing chronic fatigue syndrome, live entirely on benefits but both said they want to be able to work.

‘I am concerned about the strengthening of sanctions for people refusing to look for work, and how that will be applied and interpreted.’

Mr Lane said he is also worried about how his benefits might drop depending on how many hours he was able to work ‘and being able to maintain a household and a budget at a similar level to what is necessary’.

His partner Fiona Tatchell said the announcements sound like ‘a good start’ but questioned the situation for people who need ‘real flexible working, who couldn’t guarantee a certain amount (of hours) every week’.

FIRST-TIME BUYER COUPLE: ‘We’re stuck in this middle point now’

• Name: Charley Beale and Blair Girvin
• Age: Both 25 
• Lives: Cambridgeshire
• Job: Argos assistant buyer and machine warehouse operator
• Salary: £27,500 (Charley) and £30,000 (Blair)

First-time buyers Charley Beale, 25, and her partner, Blair Girvin, 25, have been saving for a deposit to move into their first home together.

The pair have saved £12,000 and are looking between their parents’ houses in Daventry and near Cambridge but are concerned about house prices and mortgage rates.

They found a small new build house they liked in Rothwell last year, but they didn’t have enough for the deposit.

Now they are weighing up the risks of saving for longer to get a better mortgage, or buying sooner in case house prices go up. But with inflation, Charley worries that their savings may not be worth much in a year

‘If I have saved £10,000 by next July, is that going to almost mean nothing because of inflation and everything?’

They’re still living at home while saving more to try to be eligible for a 10 per cent mortgage.

‘We’ve kind of looked into renting and stuff, but I think with mortgage rates going up, rent is going up massively as well. So we’re kind of like stuck in this middle point now having no idea kind of what to do, or do we just wait or I don’t know.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests the couple could be £336-a-year worse off based on their joint income. 

GEN Z RENTER: ‘I think of the future and it’s definitely daunting’

• Name: Issy Rose
• Born: 1999
• Lives: Bermondsey, South East London
• Rent: £700/month, £850 including bills (shared house)
• Job: Public Relations
• Salary: £25,000 

 

Issy Rose studied journalism and works in PR as well as running a magazine. She also does freelancing on top to earn extra income, and has lived in London for five years. She resides in a house of three flatmates and spends £150 a month on rail travel commuting to Vauxhall.

‘I would honestly say every day is different. For me it depends on what I have in the pipeline, if I have freelance and know I have extra income coming. 

‘I think of the future and it’s definitely daunting. The way I get around that is I make myself constantly busy and have stuff to look forward to. The cost of living crisis is definitely a main factor to make that stress worse. 

‘I know a lot of people around my age having a quarter-life crisis at the moment which is just made worse with everything that’s going on in the country. I’m kind of not letting myself.

‘The way I work is try and get through one day at a time and not think too much about the future. A lot of people look towards it too much, and not living right here and now. 

‘Most of my friends think making experiences and having memories are much more important than that financial security. It is a big topic because it means Gen Z’s attention is more on relationships instead of being able to save and get a house. 

‘It is good but it can bring some badness because in the future we don’t have any plans in place.’

‘We’re hoping for a housing crash. Speaking to my dad, he believes it has to happen. Parents have worries bringing children into this world and them thinking they can’t do anything they want to do. You had a plan and now the world’s going in a different way.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests Miss Rose could be up to £168-a-year worse off. 

 GRANDMOTHER: ‘Every little bit helps in this economic climate’

• Name: Yvonne DeBurgo
• Age: 78
• Lives: Witney, Oxfordshire
• Job: Retired receptionist and campaigner
• Pension Income: £1,000 a month

Pensioner Yvonne DeBurgo from Oxfordshire is a widow and now lives alone with a pension income of Witney.

She is a retired receptionist who volunteers for Independent Age and has campaigned for greater awareness of the availability of Pension Credit. She has a son who travels for work and three young grandchildren.

‘The campaign keeps me interested and keeps the brain active.

‘There is a couple of billion waiting to be claimed by pensioners who are entitled to it. A lot of them think it’s means tested or don’t know how to go about applying. And the idea was the campaign was to get MPs to be involved with their constituents.’

‘Pensioners are struggling anyway on the amount that you get for a state pension. And you know, every little bit helps in this economic climate.

Yvonne’s smart meter shows her bill going up by £80 a week when she was previously paying £78 a month for fuel. Her food bill is also now a minimum of £60 a week, £240 a month.

‘I couldn’t go back to work now even if I wanted to as I’m disabled and how I’ve been since I was 60. And I was very fortunate that I fell into the bracket, where I could retire at 60. I mean, now they put the age up.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests Ms DeBurgo could be £1,008-a-year better off.

 FAMILY OF FOUR: ‘Energy price cap will make the biggest difference’

• Name: Jenny Butler and Jack Butler
• Age: 48 (Jenny) and 47 (Jack)
• Lives: Midlands, three-bedroom house with their twins aged four
• Mortgage: £1,500/month 
• Job: Communications (Jenny) and data management (Jack) 
• Salary: £30,000 (Jenny) and £35,000 (Jack)

 

Jenny and Jack Butler live with their two young twins in a three-bedroom house. Both work from home, but Jenny goes into the city a few times a month. Jenny said she managed her incomings and outgoings via the online budgeting tool IE Hub, which helped them to sort out what they could and could not afford.

‘I think for our personal circumstances it is going to be the energy price cap that will make the biggest difference to us. The fact that it is fixed will be a relief and that small change will make the biggest difference to us and will help us squirrel away some money in the future.

‘It still doesn’t detract that everything is still going to be expensive. We still have got to cut our cloth accordingly and we still won’t be able to afford luxuries and certainly abroad holidays this year. But hopefully next year we will.

‘You want to have the best quality of life that you can experience and afford. And sometimes when it seems that families around us are having a better holiday or better luxuries then you want to keep up with that, and you can’t.

‘So you have to have a chat with yourself and tell yourself that you are OK given the situation and to be grateful that you have a roof over your head. We are hoping for better times ahead.’

The MailOnline Budget calculator – which you can use by clicking here – suggests the Butler family could be up to £144 worse off a year.

 MORTGAGE BROKER: ‘It would be great to have a housing strategy’

• Name: Riz Malik
• Age: 43
• Lives: Southend-on-Sea, Essex
• Job: Director of R3 Mortgages

‘Rather than devising a quantum strategy, it would be great to have a housing strategy. 

‘The Chancellor must have left part of his speech at number 11 Downing Street. Even potholes got more of a mention.

‘The Chancellor is more concerned with filling in holes in the ground rather than building on it. 

‘I’m sure first-time buyers struggling to get on the ladder or people worried about their mortgages will take consolation in the fact we will be investing in a £900million supercomputer.

‘The Government is handing Labour the keys to Number 10 on a plate. 

‘The saving grace is that increasing childcare provisions for every child over nine months will potentially help with mortgage affordability.’

EMPLOYEE WELLBEING EXPERT: ‘This was a missed opportunity’

• Name: Carla Hoppe
• Age: 38
• Location: Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
• Job: Founder of employee wellbeing specialists Wealthbrite

‘Older, wealthier workers will be able to put more into their pensions while many younger workers are stopping pension contributions because of the cost of living crisis.

‘While welcome for some, this Budget was a missed opportunity to help struggling young people build long-term wealth and secure their financial future.’

SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: ‘Stuck between heat or eat’

• Name: Jenny Blyth
• Lives: Enfield, North London
• Job: Small business owner, Storm in a Teacup Gifts

‘Despite Mr Hunt proudly declaring new incentives and celebrating these supposed ‘wins’, the self-employed micro businesses remain stranded. 

‘Stuck between heat or eat, we are once again forced to sit on our hands and wait for our turn. 

‘Where is the help for the single woman, working from home with anxiety and chronic illness? 

‘Where is my break, my investment, my win? I work 60+ hours a week so why am I being punished?’