the chancellor, rishi sunak, will deliver his budget and spending review shortly, and the government is now expected to make changes to universal credit, the bbc understands. it s expected the chancellor to allow in work claimants to keep more of the money they earn, by changing the taper rate, although the treasury would not comment on any changes. a number of policies have already been announced, but the government is under pressure to do more to help people struggling with the rising cost of living. so far, we ve been told there will be a rise in the national living wage from £8.91 per hour to £9.50, and an end to the pay freeze for public sector workers. there ll be £5.9 billion for nhs england to tackle the backlog of people waiting for tests and scans. and £2.6 billion to be spent on creating 30,000 new school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
taper rate. that s as you earn more, the amount you receive an universal credit goes down, and the government may be looking at changing that point so that you lose less of your universal credit as you earn more, which should in theory mean a bit more money in people s pockets. that s not been confirmed but that s one thing we are expecting, certainly something they have been looking at. other areas, we know they will not cut vat on domestic energy bills, something labour propose and the government has ruled out. they may have some mitigations around energy bills because that s a particular pressure point for people s household budget. more broadly, we will be looking at the chancellor s woods in the state of public finances and we think it will look more rosy than the number crunches has expected meaning the country has been recovering a little bit better than people predicted which may give the chancellor a bit more to play with. we know this is a chancellor who has been mindful of t
a cut to the taper rate. that s the rate at which universal credit is reduced once a claimant starts to earn above a certain threshold. currently if you earn an extra pound you lose 63p in benefit. that will be cut to 55p in every pound, allowing people to keep more of their money as they start to earn more. but campaigners say the amount doesn t address wider issues of cost of living and those who can t work. our home editor mark easton has been talking to people in wolverhampton. britain has among the worst inequality in the developed world. one person in six lives in poverty. so what do the chancellor s repeated promises to level up the mean for those on low incomes in places like wolverhampton? giovanni nursed his mum until her death last april. now living alone, depression and stress have stopped him working. having seen the £20 covid benefits uplift removed, he is left with 60 quid a week to cover everything, as the cost of living soars. it s very, very hard. you know, i don t e
to allow claimants to keep more of the money they earn by changing the taper rate. it s wednesday, it s 11.15, and we re live in westminster where rishi sunak is preparing to deliver his autumn budget and spending review. joining me for this politics live budget special, business editor simonjack, political editor laura kuenssberg and economics editor faisal islam. the chancellor will say the country can move on from the pandemic to an economy
there have been real worries about hardship, which means forfamilies not least in fuel bills, food bills and so on. so i think he needed to do something and clearly he is. this was his rabbit out of the hat, if you like, for the budget. i5 was his rabbit out of the hat, if you like, for the budget. is it was his rabbit out of the hat, if you like, for the budget.- you like, for the budget. is it a ve bi you like, for the budget. is it a very big rabbit. you like, for the budget. is it a very big rabbit, though? i you like, for the budget. is it a very big rabbit, though? do i you like, for the budget. is it a i very big rabbit, though? do know? i think we are very big rabbit, though? do know? i think we are still very big rabbit, though? do know? i think we are still assessing - very big rabbit, though? do know? i think we are still assessing it. it i think we are still assessing it. it is bigger than we expected. this morning we were talking about that taper rate being reduced t