Horrors of their first budget.

[escapeUK]

Guessing contractors will have to pay that employers NI increase - trying to avoid it with lower salary means no state pension.

That said, it'll still be a small increase on a small salary so ..

Yes and no. Pension entitlement is the lower earnings limit which is currently £6,396. Its always a good idea to retain a bit in the company so you can continue to hit this minimum during any off time, unless of course you already have enough years.

[fiisch]

Spouse maintenance or child maintence.

Child maintenance only last until the child is 18. It's cheaper to send their kid to live with their father.

And yeah very few people put in more than they take out over their life time. However not everything can be counted in money.

Child, both of which are very young so they have 15-odd years remaining.

But beside the point - £2900 a month net income for someone who is not working is bonkers, whichever way you look at it. That is a disincentive to work - it is a bizarre scenario where someone who goes to work and supports their family and earns a decent £30k (decent in terms of national average away from the southeast) will take home significantly less than someone who is collecting state benefits.

Benefits should be a safety net, something to break someone's fall, not a comfortable lifestyle that affords luxuries and holidays.

[gables]

pepper you say? interesting will give it a try.

Yep, and for me ground white pepper :-)

[escapeUK]

Benefits should be a safety net, something to break someone's fall, not a comfortable lifestyle that affords luxuries and holidays.

Yes. its obscene. Benefits should be capped at the minimum wage. Even that is too much.

[Snooky]

We look forward to hearing you've died of it.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone, however selfish and stupid they are. I've known quite enough people who died of it and many more who are still sick years later. I do wonder how many people he/she has blithely infected though, with such an insouciant attitude.

Anyway, back to the budget.

[vetran]

Yes. its obscene. Benefits should be capped at the minimum wage. Even that is too much.

Sadly our governments haven't built enough housing so the majority of benefits go on housing.

If your housing is £400 a month (social housing) living with two kids on £1500 a month is doable.

[GregRickshaw]

I miss the days when the only thing anyone cared about, in the budget, was how much of an increase would there be in the price of fags and booze.

[The Spartan]

Sadly our governments haven't built enough housing so the majority of benefits go on housing.

If your housing is £400 a month (social housing) living with two kids on £1500 a month is doable.

Crazy isn't it, however I believe the problem is generally the individual who gets the money not spending it on what it's meant for. Hence the need for breakfast clubs so that children have at least on decent meal a day in term time.

[Martin@AS Financial]

UK increases stamp duty tax on second homes

Full story here:

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-...20March%202025.

So far there does not appear to be much in the way of details here - for example what happens if exchange of contracts has already taken place but completion hasn't and whether the extra stamp is paid then.

[The Spartan]

UK increases stamp duty tax on second homes

Full story here:

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-...20March%202025.

So far there does not appear to be much in the way of details here - for example what happens if exchange of contracts has already taken place but completion hasn't and whether the extra stamp is paid then.

I wasn't happy about this and I then I remembered, here in Wales we pay Land Transaction Tax (LTT) which already starts at 4% I wonder if Wales will follow suit and raise it by 2%?