What you need to know from the Budget

Our Budget will help to fix the NHS and rebuild Britain, while making sure working people don’t face higher taxes in their payslips.

We have taken difficult decisions on tax, spending and welfare to restore economic and fiscal stability, so that we can invest in the country’s future and achieve its mission for growth.

This Budget will help cut hospital waiting lists, and we will invest in Britain to rebuild our schools, hospitals and broken roads.

Here are some of the measures to help fix the foundations of the country and make a difference to working people’s lives.

Pay boost for millions of workers next year
We’re increasing the National Living Wage from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour from April 2025.

The 6.7% increase is worth £1,400 a year for an eligible full-time worker and is a significant step to making sure the minimum wage is a genuine living wage.

It includes funding to reduce waiting times by supporting the NHS to deliver an extra 40,000 elective appointments a week. Elective appointments are appointments planned in advance, such as knee replacements.

The Budget also includes: 

£1.5 billion to fund new surgical hubs which will help build capacity for over 30,000 additional procedures, and more than 1.25 million additional diagnostic tests (which use CT or MRI scanners)

£70 million to invest in new radiotherapy machines to improve cancer treatment

Over £2 billion for NHS technology and digital improvements to increase productivity and save staff time

Over £600 million increase in local government spending to support social care

£26 million to open new mental health crisis centres

Funding for more affordable homes
Our new housing package will deliver up to 5,000 new affordable social homes.

It includes £500 million in new funding for the Affordable Homes Programme, bringing total investment in housing supply to over £5 billion.

This will support the delivery of 33,000 new homes through £128 million for housing projects across the country.

Investment to rebuild crumbling schools
We are committing £1.4 billion to rebuild crumbling schools.

The investment will ensure delivery of the existing School Rebuilding Programme, with 50 rebuilds a year.

Alongside funding for children’s social care, breakfast clubs and early years childcare, the investment reflects the government’s commitment to putting education back at the forefront of national life, breaking down the barriers to opportunity for all children.

State pension increase
To help make sure pensioners are protected in their retirement, we have also confirmed a 4.1% increase to the basic and new State Pension, as well as the standard minimum guarantee for Pension Credit, from April next year.

Over 12 million pensioners will benefit as the full new State Pension will rise from £221.20 to £230.25 a week, providing an extra £470 a year.

The full basic State Pension will increase from £169.50 to £176.45 per week, worth an extra £360 annually.

Ending tax breaks for private schools
We’re ending tax breaks for private schools to better invest in state education.

Currently, private schools are eligible for tax breaks, like charitable business rate relief, and they don’t have to charge VAT on tuition or boarding fees.

From 1 January 2025, all education and boarding services provided by a private school or connected person will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%.

Protecting vital bus routes
We’re investing over £1 billion to protect vital bus routes and cap bus fares, particularly in rural communities and towns where there is a heavy reliance on buses.

Under the inherited plans, funding for the current cap on bus fares had been due to expire at the end of 2024, with fares set to soar by as much as £13 for the Leeds to Scarborough route, unless the government intervened to keep fares down.

Bus travel will be kept down at £3 at the Budget for an additional year – saving up to 80% on some routes.

This announcement will ensure fares remain affordable from 1 January 2025 and prevent a financial cliff-edge for bus operators that would have seen vital services put at risk across the country.

Taxing vapes
We’re introducing a new vaping duty to further support our mission to fix the NHS.

To disincentivise activities that cause ill health, we’re introducing a flat rate of 22p/ml from October 2026.

This is accompanied by a further one-off increase in tobacco duty to maintain financial incentive to choose vaping over smoking.

Capping how much Universal Credit can be taken for debt repayment
The government is creating a new Fair Repayment Rate which caps deductions made through Universal Credit at 15% of the standard allowance. Before this Budget, it was 25%.

This means approximately 1.2 million households will keep more of their Universal Credit payment each month, with households expected to be better off by an average of over £420 a year.

Savings boost for low earners
The Help to Save scheme has been extended and widened. The scheme offers lower earners a savings account where they can save a maximum of £50 a month for four years and receive a 50% government boost at the end of year two and year four.

This helps workers kickstart a lifelong savings habit and offers up to £1,200 over the four years.

The scheme was due to end in April 2025 but has been extended by two years until April 2027. Eligibility for the scheme will widen from April 2025. It will be open to all working Universal Credit claimants earning at least £1 a month.