CHANCELLOR Jeremy Hunt promised to help Britain’s hard workers in yesterday’s Autumn Statement.
And Sun readers are all better off after he CUT National Insurance, RAISED the National Living Wage and boosted benefits along with pensions.
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Our Tax expert Jim Lee looked at the finances of eight Sun readers and they are ALL better off.
And the readers from all walks of life told Mike Ridley how they rated the government’s giveaway.
Couple – £597 better off
PHILLIP and Lindsey Lee, both 40, are reasonably comfortable but the cost-of-living crisis means they still can’t save for the future.
Phillip earns £30,000 a year as an administrator for a surveyors company and Lindsey is an assistant at a nursery, on £25,000.
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They recently secured a five-year mortgage on their home in Tamworth, Staffs, fixed at 4.84 per cent but it means having to find an extra £230 each month.
So they were happy that they will jointly be nearly £600 a year better off – thanks to the cut in National Insurance.
From January 6, National Insurance will fall from 12 per cent to ten.
Phillip says: “We don’t get any benefits or help so any little bit is extremely helpful. Anything additional will go into the house.
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“It makes me more likely to vote for the Conservatives again. It was a good Budget.”
White Van Man – £297 better off
STEPHEN JACKSON set up a removals company after finding himself out of work when Redcar steelworks closed.
He earns around £2,000 a month with his Ford box van but pays up to £150 a week in fuel.
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The 59-year-old, from Middlesbrough, says: “These are hard times for White Van Man but getting rid of Class 2 National Insurance and cutting Class 4 from nine per cent to eight per cent is a bit of good news for the self-employed.”
He also supports the Chancellor’s campaign to get the jobless back to work.
Stephen says: “Putting people on mandatory work experience if they don’t look for a job is a good idea. But I’d have given them three months to find work – 18 months is generous.
“It has become too easy for people to sit at home claiming benefits.”
Couple with kids – £2,442 better off
DAN SCARFE, 36, and wife Emma, 33, both work in care homes and are in for a near £2,500 pay rise thanks to the boost to the National Living Wage.
Dan does the night shift, earning £14,500 a year, while Emma works during the day for £19,500.
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It means they can save on childcare for their two sons, Oliver, six, and Luke, four.
They get £39.90 a week in child benefit, which will rise by 6.5 per cent in April.
The couple, from Ipswich, will both also gain from the Living Wage rising by 9.8 per cent to £11.44 an hour.
Plus they will get an extra £177 from the National Insurance cut.
Delighted Dan says: “This Autumn Statement was for regular people who are just above the poverty line and it won’t make them feel like they’d be better off stopping working.
“I vote Labour but this Budget has made me think. ”
Unemployed – £392 better off
AFTER suffering health problems, Zenab Qazi gave up her retail job and is currently on Jobseekers Allowance of £149 a week.
She gets housing benefit too, on her home in Tower Hamlets, East London.
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She will gain from benefits rising by 6.7 per cent.
But under Chancellor Hunt’s new rules she must look for work and secure a job within 18 months or face losing all her benefits.
Zenab, 31, says: “You have to do what they’re asking. I think that’s fair. I’ve always attended my appointments. If they tell you to go on a work placement, and you lose your benefits if you don’t, then that’s your fault.
“But I don’t think it’s fair to give someone a job they don’t want to do. It needs to be something they want to do. I found the Government’s Restart scheme was helpful. I do think they help people get back into work.”
Pensioner – £801 better off
WHEN Chloe Lambert retired, she gifted her farm and land to her son to avoid paying inheritance tax – which the Chancellor flagged up but decided not to change.
Chloe, 76, of Aylesbury, Bucks, currently gets £725 a month state pension plus £216 a month from an annuity.
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But from April, her state pension will rise by 8.5 per cent – an extra £801 a year.
She says: “I am pleased they are keeping the triple lock. The increase in pension will help with the fuel price increases and rising grocery costs.
“I’m glad they are freezing the tax on alcohol, particularly for communities like mine.
“Pubs are very, very important, particularly in the countryside.
“This won’t affect my vote. I’ve voted Tory all my life. I’ll vote Tory again. That won’t change.”
Disabled worker – £682 better off
DAD Olaniyi Alabi earns £28,000 as a coordinator at London’s King’s College Hospital.
His wife Jumoke, 39, is on £23,000 as a support worker.
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Child benefit for their seven-year-old son will rise by £83 from April.
Despite suffering from polio, Olaniyi drives from the family’s rented home in Westminster to work every day, spending £300 a month on petrol.
But thanks to the two per cent cut in National Insurance from January 6, the couple will be £517.20 a year better off – that’s £10 a week.
Olaniyi says: “It’s a morale booster for people like me going to work with a disability no matter how hard and painful it is.
“It’s good the Government is enforcing that.
“Claiming you have mental health issues and not going to work makes us hard-working people look foolish.”
Single mum – £2,164 better off
KIRSTY McGee has three children, aged 17, 14 and 12.
She earns £771 a month as a part-time housekeeper at a local college.
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Kirsty, 38, from Cambridge, also gets £1,550 a month in Universal Credit and £172.90 per month Child Benefit, which will increase by £139 a year.
From next April her Universal Credit rises 6.7 per cent – an extra £1,246.
The Living Wage rising by over £1 an hour to £11.44. give her another £918. Kirsty says: “That is amazing. I can take the kids on holiday. The last time we went away was in 2019.
“That will make such a massive difference.
“I really thought there would be nothing left to help us out. I work with a lot of women, mainly single mums, I’ve never seen so many so stressed out.
“I’ve had to borrow money until I get paid. So this will really help.”
High earners – £1,508 better off
BANKER Nigel Owen, 46, and wife Marrianne, 48, who is in recruitment together earn £180,000 a year.
The couple live in East Molesey, Surrey, with Marrianne’s 16-year-old son.
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Thanks to the two percentage point cut in National Insurance they are more than £1,500 better off.
Nigel says: “The Autumn Statement seemed to be playing to lower income workers. But clearly it helps those of us at the higher end as well. If the ship has turned around and things are on the way forward it will probably turn out to be a good budget.
“But if there are rocky patches ahead it may become unstuck.”
He adds: “I was planning to vote Tory anyway, so it won’t change anything for me.
“But it makes me more optimistic that the Tories might win next year’s general election.”
