Budget 2021: What will be announced?

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will stand up and deliver his budget today, but what is he expected to say and what things have already been announced?

In the days ahead of the budget a number of things that will be announced have already been revealed by the government.

It's angered House of Common's Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle who highlighted that the ministerial code states important announcements of Government policy should be made to Parliament first

Sir Lindsay told MPs yesterday: “I was disappointed to see more stories in the media today with apparently very well-briefed information about what will be in tomorrow’s Budget.”

So what has already been announced? Here's everything we know about the Chancellor's budget:

A rise in the minimum wage and the National Living Wage

It was announced on Monday (25th October) that the National Living Wage is going to be increased from £8.91 an hour to £9.50 from next year.

The increase means that a full-time worker on the living wage will get a pay rise of more than £1,000 per year.

The National Living Wage applies to everyone aged 23 and over while the National Minimum Wage applies to everyone of school-leaving age/

For those aged 21 and 22 years old, the minimum wage will rise from £8.36 an hour to £9.18, while the figure for apprentices will go from £4.30 to £4.81 per hour.

Money to clear the NHS backlog

The NHS in England will receive an extra £5.9 billion in the Chancellor's Budget to tackle waiting lists.

The money will be used to help clear the backlog of people waiting for tests and scans, which has been affected by the pandemic and also to buy equipment and improve IT.

Public sector workers set for pay rise

Rishi Sunak has confirmed he will scrap the year-long freeze on public sector pay in his budget statement.

Teachers, nurses, armed forces personnel and many others could receive a wage increase from next year.

‘Levelling up’ transport

The Treasury said nearly £7 billion would be given to areas such as Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and South Yorkshire for projects ranging from tram improvements to introducing London-style improvements in infrastructure, fares and services.

Some £5.7 billion will be five-year transport settlements for the regions, while £1.2 billion of new funding will go towards transforming bus services to deliver London-style journey times, fares and number of services.

Health research and development

The Department of Health and Social Care will receive £5 billion over the next three years to fund research and development in areas such as genome sequencing and tackling health inequalities.

Part of the package will include genome technology to allow doctors to detect more than 200 conditions in babies, compared with existing tests which can only identify nine.

Skills and education

A cash injection of £3 billion will be given to both post-16 education but also to adults later in life.

Mr Sunak will announce the number of skills boot camps in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and nuclear will be quadrupled.

New school places for children with disabilities and special educational needs will be created with a £2.6 billion pot.

Up to 500,000 adults will be able to access a £560 million scheme to improve their maths skills, as it was revealed more than eight million people in England have numeracy skills lower than those expected of a nine-year-old, with the North East, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber worst affected.

Housing on brownfield sites

The Treasury said a £1.8 billion package of investment would help regenerate land and level up the country.

Mr Sunak will allocate £65 million to ramp up England’s planning system, including digitisation that will make local plans easier to access and £9 million to help local authorities create 100 new urban “pocket parks” across UK.

Other Budget announcements we know about

• Over three years, £850 million will “breathe life” back into cultural hotspots. The money will be used to restore and upgrade some of the country’s most popular institutions such as London’s V&A museum, Tate Liverpool and the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.
• Ageing Border Force vessels will be replaced by new cutters as part of a £700 million investment to improve the safety of Britain’s borders.
• Football pitches, tennis courts and youth facilities will see £700 million of funding to help foster the next generation of young talent.
• A £435 million package of measures aimed at preventing crime will form part of next week’s Budget – with a focus on violent offences against women.
• A £150 million pot of funding for the British Business Bank will encourage the development of regional networks of Dragons’ Den-style angel investors to help make people’s dreams of starting a business a reality.
• The Chancellor will announce a range of investments to give children the “best possible start in life” totalling £500 million towards support for families and children, including new family hubs.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his Budget and spending review to the Commons at around 12.30pm today (Wednesday 27th October), after Prime Minister's Questions.

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