Five ways the Budget will affect you if you are under 25
The chancellor announced a series of measures which will impact under-25 year-olds from housing to minimum wage.
Five ways the Budget will affect you if you are under 25
Government decisions on tax and spending can seem far removed from daily life, but many of the Budget measures will have a direct effect on you and your finances.
Here are five ways the Budget will affect you if you are under-25.
If you are 18 to 20 and earning the minimum wage, your pay will rise by 3.9% from next April.
Even so, the increase may be smaller than you were expecting. That is because Healey changed direction on how his Labour predecessor, Rachel Reeves, had been increasing the minimum wage for young people.
Labour had pledged to scrap "discriminatory age bands", which would have brought the minimum wage into line for everyone over 18. This year, 18-to-20 year-olds will get the same rise as older workers, so the gap will stay in place. That means 18-to-20 year-olds will see their pay increase to £11.27, while over-20s will receive a minimum of £13.21 an hour.
Remarkably, the rise also means a 21-year-old working full time on the minimum wage who took out a student loan after 2023 will earn enough to hit the £25,000 repayment threshold, above which they will begin repaying 9% of their earnings, according to economist Ben Zaranko.
The Budget also included measures to help people get on the housing ladder, including the launch of a "First Time Buyer Isa". This account will let savers build up a deposit, with the government adding a 25% bonus to contributions of up to £4,000 a year.
The new savings account will begin in 2029, replacing the current Lifetime Isa, which has been criticised by some for imposing severe penalties on people buying homes for more than the £450,000 cap.
The cap will stay, but the new "First Time Buyer Isa" will make sure savers are not penalised by losing their own money when they withdraw funds. The penalty on withdrawals from existing Lifetime Isas will also be reduced, to address concerns about savers being punished.
The government had already announced a £4.7bn scheme for first-time buyers in England called Your First Home. It aims to help 70,000 individuals and couples get onto the housing ladder.
The scheme will let people buy a new-build home with a 2.5% deposit. It will give them a loan worth 20% of the property's value to help with the purchase.
Capped at £110,000 outside London and £140,000 in the capital, it is designed for those hoping to get on the housing ladder without help from "the bank of mum and dad".
If you are one of more than a million 18-to-24 year-olds not in employment, education or training (Neet), Wednesday's Budget may have been a frustrating watch.
The chancellor acknowledged the seriousness of the crisis facing young people, but said solutions would not come yet. Ministers are waiting for a series of recommendations from Alan Milburn, who has been examining why so many young people are Neet in the UK.
Milburn has warned Britain is " at risk of a lost generation
" because of the crisis, saying a "round of ammunition" is needed rather than a silver bullet. He will put forward recommendations to the government later this year.
Another group left waiting were those with outstanding student loans, especially the controversial Plan 2 loans taken out between 2012 and 2023 - which many fear they will never repay.
If you have student loans, the government has said it is looking at ways to reform the repayment system. But no action was announced at the Budget, despite expectations beforehand that the issue might be tackled.
After the statement, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds said the loan repayment system is "under review".
"We inherited a system that is difficult and unfair on young people, but we weren't able to move on that today," she told the BBC.
If you are a young person hoping to start a business in England, the Budget brought good news.
The chancellor wants to level the playing field for young entrepreneurs with strong ideas, but who may not have the same family financial support as others.
To encourage more young people to launch their own businesses, the government will trial a "Young Entrepreneurs Allowance" in England.
The allowance will mean your living costs are partly covered by the government for the first year your business is running. Healey hopes it will persuade more young people to take the plunge and become entrepreneurs.
For now, details of the scheme are limited, with only that it will be introduced "shortly".