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Autumn Statement 2016
Just kicking off a thread to collect together any Autumn Statement stuff anybody comes across.
Here’s some for starters:
Govt ‘locked in discussions’ re whether to put more money into universal credit
From the House of Commons Library:
Age UK statement to HM Treasury with respect to the Autumn Statement 2016.
Autumn Statement 2016 Age UK representation (pdf file)
Under New Management - Options for supporting ‘just managing’ families at the Autumn Statement from the Resolution Foundation
Financial Times predictions include:
The need to keep public spending on a tight rein to bring down the deficit will prevail, but there is always scope for some additional money to address specific problems. The likely sums available will not be enough to reverse planned cuts to universal credit or the freeze in benefits.
Autumn Statement 2016 predictions: what to expect from Philip Hammond
Tomorrow’s Telegraph reporting that the Chancellor is to ‘pump’ £1bn into the ‘welfare system’ to ‘alleviate the impact of previous Tory cuts’ ... with the Universal Credit taper to reduce from 65p to 63p ...
From the Guardian:
Philip Hammond will cushion the blow of deep cuts to in-work benefits for “just about managing” households, as he delivers his first autumn statement.
The chancellor will seek to placate backbench rebels, including former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, by reducing the so-called taper rate at which universal credit is withdrawn as recipients’ earnings rise, from 65p to 63p in every pound.
The measure will cost the Treasury a total of £1bn over the next five years. But Hammond will reject calls to reverse the other key plank of his predecessor George Osborne’s cuts: the much larger, £3bn-a-year reduction in the work allowance ...
Chancellor says the govt has no plans for further welfare savings measures in this parliament (beyond those already announced) ....
... but of course higher inflation and benefit freeze will mean real term cuts ...
Confirmation that, from April 2017, the Universal Credit taper will be reduced from 65% to 63%
Chancellor abolishes Autumn Statement and Spring Budget .. and replaces them with an Autumn Budget and a Spring Statement!
2017/2018 tax credit, child benefit and guardian’s allowance rates
Other ‘highlights’ (in rightsnet news later) include -
- changes to the overall welfare cap
- allowing new tax credit claims to be made using digital devices
- the child tax credit issue that Jon identified here: http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/10515/
- devolution of the budget for the Work and Health Programme to London and Greater Manchester
- changes in relation to contributory benefit entitlement consequent on the abolition of Class 2 NICs
- a ban on letting agents’ fees
- a large-scale regional pilot of the Right to Buy for housing association tenants
- increases in the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage
- measures to incentivise credit union membership in communities at risk of being targeted by loan sharks
Let us know if you spot anything else of interest ....
Thanks Shawn.
For me, it felt like much ado about nothing really, we knew most of what was coming and were disappointed with what we didn’t hear about, for example, the AA devolution proposals, funding for sustainable social care services, etc.
Some reaction:
Autumn Statement “tackles some of the problems facing struggling families” - Citizens Advice
Autumn statement 2016 brings little joy for disabled people - Disability Rights UK
No additional investment in social care is a disaster for older people - Age UK
Welfare Cap to leave sour taste in ‘JAM’ budget - Turn2us
Autumn Statement giveaways fail to make up for losses - Gingerbread
Autumn Statement: Contact a Family’s response
Chancellor’s Autumn Statement is ‘half baked’ - The Children’s Society
Carers UK responds to the Autumn Statement 2016
Carers Trust response to the 2016 Autumn Statement
Scope responds to Autumn Statement 2016
Equality Trust Response to Autumn Statement
Autumn Statement: No measures to fix social care - LGA responds
[ Edited: 23 Nov 2016 at 04:11 pm by shawn mach ]Yes, all a bit of a non-event really by the looks of it.