Autumn Budget 2024

The Autumn Budget is when the Chancellor of the Exchequer provides an update to parliament about the state of the UK economy, and the government’s plans.

The UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, presented the first Budget from this Labour government on Wednesday 30th October. 

Here is more information about some of the key points that were shared in the Budget that might be useful information for people living with cancer. If you are worried about money, there is more information about the support that is available. 

The Government announced new protections for Universal Credit, capping debt repayments to allow more households to keep more of their financial support.

Capping deductions from 25% to 15% of Standard Allowance. Limiting the impact of deductions is something we had been calling for, alongside the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Trussell, and this is a welcome step in the right direction. This new protection will bring vital financial relief to many. The Government estimates this will allow 1.2 million households to keep more of their Universal Credit award and be better off by £420 per year on average.

This is an important step towards an Essentials Guarantee, to ensure that Universal Credit provides an adequate amount of financial support for people living with cancer to meet the cost of essentials.

We would like to see more action on this in the Spring budget and the maximum amount of Universal Credit uprated so that it can properly meet the basic costs of the needs of cancer patients.

We have more information about Universal Credit.

The Chancellor announced changes to the Work Capability Assessment, but it is currently unclear whether there are any differences between these proposals and the previous Government’s WCA plans and more detail is needed to fully understand the affects for people with cancer. 

The previous Government’s WCA reforms put people with long-term side effects of cancer and cancer treatments at risk of both inappropriate job-seeking requirements and sanctions, and at risk of a potential financial drop of around £400 per month. 

We will keep this blog updated when we have more information.

We have more information about Carer’s Allowance.

The Government confirmed they will provide £1 billion to extend the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments in 2025-26.

These are crisis support payments from local authorities that Households can apply for additional discretionary crisis financial support, including for food and energy costs

One of the key focuses the Chancellor takes in a Budget review are measures to balance public spending. To fund new investments for public services, including the NHS, she announced increases to employers' national insurance payments of 1.2%.

The challenging financial environment over the past few years has put increased pressure on many charities. Costs are higher and there is more demand for support which means that money doesn't go as far as it has done in previous years. These changes will mean increased costs for many businesses and organisations including those in the charity sector, and charities across the UK will now be looking to understand how these changes will impact their organisations.