Following weeks of anticipation, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled the details of the Budget.
The policy adjustments include a freeze on income tax thresholds, the introduction of a new tax on electric vehicles, limitations on tax-free cash savings, and a levy on high-value properties, often referred to as a “mansion tax.”
BBC News has gathered perspectives from individuals across various income brackets regarding their reactions to the measures outlined in the Budget.
For issues you would like explored further, please contact BBC Your Voice.
Neal Stead and his wife, Tara, both work in administrative roles, with Neal in a contact center and Tara at a hospital.
With a combined income of approximately £100,000 and having paid off their mortgage in Bradford, Neal acknowledges they are not facing significant financial hardships. However, at 58, he expresses concerns about retirement.
He voiced disappointment over the reduction in the annual tax-free savings allowance for cash ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) from £20,000 to £12,000 for those under 65.
“That’s a significant blow for me, as I’m a saver approaching retirement,” he stated, adding that he feels penalized for saving for a more comfortable retirement.
“The message I received was to spend your money and not worry about the future,” he commented.
Neal felt the Budget was presented as a means to address the cost of living, but he says, “I don’t see the cost of living decreasing for me, only increasing.”
“I will have less money in my pocket than I did yesterday.”
Kat Watkins, residing in Swansea, is employed by Disability Wales. Her earnings account for slightly under two-thirds of her income, supplemented by Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Kat, who has osteogenesis imperfecta type 3, or brittle bone disease, notes the higher energy bills she faces due to the need to charge her wheelchair and other equipment.
She described the Budget as not a “complete disaster” and welcomed the removal of certain energy levies, which the Chancellor claims will reduce bills by £150 annually for millions of households.
However, Kat disagrees with the changes made to the Motability scheme, which will mean “luxury” cars such as BMWs will no longer be available.
Eligibility for Motability requires recipients to be on the higher mobility rate of PIP, which Kat describes as “exceptionally difficult” to obtain.
Last week, Kat applied for a new car under the Motability scheme, which assists individuals with disabilities in leasing vehicles. She says the only suitable car for her needs is a Mercedes Vito with a wheelchair lift at the rear.
“It’s a scary thought; if I had waited one more week, I wouldn’t have been able to get it,” she says.
Kat says that there is a lot of misinformation around Motability: “If a person wants a luxury car…they’re not going to get it for free.”
Motability customers pay the additional cost for a premium vehicle.
Steve Williams works as an IT contractor, and his wife is a counselor. They are both self-employed, and Steve estimates their combined annual income at £150,000.
They live in Basingstoke and both drive electric vehicles (EVs).
Steve says he doesn’t mind the idea of paying a per mile charge.
“What I mind is the fact that there’s already a tax on EVs,” he says, pointing to annual vehicle excise duty.
If someone had a Tesla Model 3, they would pay the annual vehicle excise, the luxury car levy that’s paid on cars worth more than £40,000, VAT on electricity, and now the 3p per mile, he says.
EV-owners may also pay more for their domestic electricity, if they are on a green tariff, he adds.
“I don’t mind paying for the use of the roads, and I think paying per mile is a relatively fair way of doing it,” he says.
“[But] there was a massive push by the government to get people driving EVs in the first place. They are now punishing the people who actually took them up.”
Deborah Crowley, 63, works 33 hours a week in an NHS admin role. She recently sold her house and now lives with her son in Sheffield.
She is pleased with some measures in the Budget, including the reduction in the tax-free amount people can pay into their pension.
“There are many people, I believe, who can afford the extra tax,” she says, adding “mansion taxes” on homes worth over £2m will help the NHS and local communities.
However, she was unhappy that the freeze on income tax thresholds was extended to 2031, as this means both she and her son will see a “back door tax increase” in that time.
Deborah is currently paid £20,000. Modelling from EY shows that if her pay rose in line with inflation, she would pay £871 more in income tax in by 2031 as a result of the threshold freeze being extended by three years.
She thinks instead of scrapping the two-child benefit cap, the chancellor should have introduced spending vouchers for larger families on Universal Credit.
Wesley Thorne, 52, and his wife Toni live near Bristol with their two daughters.
Overall, he feels there was little in the Budget for his family and it was “nothing to get excited about”.
They’d like a bigger house and were hoping Rachel Reeves would freeze or lower stamp duty.
Stamp duty is a tax due if you buy a property or land over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland.
But since the chancellor didn’t lower these rates, Wesley doesn’t expect they will move. “Stamp duty would cost us £15,000 plus fees. It’s ludicrous,” he says.
However, he says the removal of green levies and a customer-funded scheme to fund insulation from energy bills “will help a little for sure so that is positive”.
Wesley and Toni run an online sweet shop and market stall. Wesley says he didn’t see “anything to encourage small businesses” in the Budget.
He told us before the Budget that their cost pressures have “never been as bad”. He was hoping for some support to help him to cover the rise in minimum wage.
“Everybody who’s earning is being squeezed,” Wesley said.
Fatima Tehan Jalloh is a single mum who lives in council housing in north London. She’s a level 4 apprentice construction site supervisor.
She says she is disappointed there was no help with childcare bills and not enough measures to bring down the cost of living.
According to EY’s modelling, Fatima would pay £215 more in tax in 2028/29 as a result of the freeze extension, if her income rose in line with inflation.
The chancellor announced an end to some energy bill levies which she says will lower bills for millions of households by £150 a year.
But Fatima, who uses a pre-payment meter, says she tries to use as little electricity as possible, so does not think she will notice a difference.
Also in the Budget was a freeze to train fares in England but Fatima says the prices are “already too high”.
“I have family in Derby and a train ticket is £150 so I cannot afford to see them whether that price is frozen or not,” she says.
She says she is angry at the government for not making good on its promise to turn the UK’s fortunes around. “I will never vote for Labour again,” she says.
“I’m considering moving… my quality of life is nothing,” she says.
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Stormont’s Finance Minister John O’Dowd says the funding means Stormont will only get an extra £18.8m this financial year.
Some pension savers face a hit to the amount of money they can put into their pension without paying national insurance.
This is about buying breathing space, politically and economically. The two factors are now inseparable.