hifinutt
hifinutt
some goodnews for many including parents in Todays budget
- Government subsidies limiting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year extended for three months, until the end of June
- £200m to bring energy charges for prepayment meters into line with prices for customers paying by direct debit - affects 4m households
- Commitment to invest £20bn over next two decades on low-carbon energy projects, with a focus on carbon capture and storage
- Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding
- £63m to help leisure centres with rising swimming pool heating costs, and invest to become more energy efficient
- 30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England expanded to cover one and two-year-olds, in a bid to help them work more
- Families on universal credit to receive childcare support up front instead of in arrears, with the £646-a-month per child cap raised to £951
- £600 "incentive payments" for those becoming childminders, and relaxed rules in England to let childminders look after more children
- New fitness-to-work testing regime to qualify for health-related benefits
- Funding for up to 50,000 places on new voluntary employment scheme for disabled people, called Universal Support
- Tougher requirements to look for work and increased job support for lead child carers on universal credit
- More places on "skills boot camps" to encourage over-50s who have left their jobs to return to the workplace
- Immigration rules to be relaxed for five roles in construction sector, to ease labour shortages