Earlier today, Jeremy Hunt stood proudly at the dispatch box and delivered his plan to improve and stabilise the British economy as it emerges from the recent challenges it has faced.

Hunt used a combination of words that start with E to emphasises the key points of his economic plan so I’ve decided to do the same (but I’ll use some different words for the bits I find most important).

There’s a multitudinous amount of topics I could cover in relation to this Budget but I’ve decided to cover those that have the most impact and are also vaguely interesting even if they don’t directly affect you.

Energy

A big consumer finance talking point is the changes to energy and how it affects how much people will be spending on their utility bills.

The Energy Price Guarantee will be continuing beyond April this year (when it was planned to end) meaning that energy bill rates will be capped at a level of £2500 for those on typical use.

A possibly more significant piece of news is that prepayment meter customers will now have bills on par with those who pay buy direct debit. This is a massive step forward as under the current system the poorest in society face the highest bills.

Enterprise

The most exciting bit of the Budget for me was the changes to the business landscape in the UK that hope to make us a more prosperous and enterprising nation.

One part of this is building 12 new ‘Enterprise Zones’ across the UK (mostly in the North) which are to be like Canary Wharf with lower business rates and lower energy prices in order to stimulate business activity.

Another key part of the enterprise strategy is the changes to Corporation Tax. The rate of tax is going to be raised from 19% to 25% for large companies and smaller businesses will also see a rise.

However, the government has moved towards full capital expensing meaning that companies will be able to offset investment in new machinery and IT equipment against their Corporation Tax bill – very beneficial and should stimulate business spending.

Employment

A key focus of the Budget was motivating more people to be part of the UK workforce after it shrunk considerably as a result of the lockdowns and the Coronavirus pandemic.

One part of this strategy is removing the lifetime tax-free pensions allowance so that high earners can put more in their pensions. This benefits the NHS as top consultants were supposedly retiring due to their pensions being taxable.

Another element of the Chancellor’s plan is to improve provisions for childcare with all under-5s being eligible for free childcare from September 2025 if both parents work more than 16 hours a week so that mothers and fathers can return to the workforce more quickly.

The final part of this plan (that I’m mentioning here) is the fact that searching for and gaining employment will not affect claimants of disability benefits so they are able to enter the workforce if fit do so without risking losing their benefits.

Economy

As per usual, a sizeable chunk of the Budget was about the economy and predictions relating to it.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicts that the UK will not technically enter a recession in 2023 despite the Bank of England suggesting the contrary earlier this year.

The OBR also predicts that inflation will fall to close to the Bank of England’s 2% target by the end of the year at 2.9% however some view that forecast to be overly optimistic.

Finally (as I’m not sure where else I’d put this), the government has frozen income tax thresholds creating the phenomenon of ‘fiscal drag’. As wages are rising due to inflation, more money will be taken from people in tax than before as they are pushed into a higher tax band – thus bringing in more revenue for the government.