| Good evening, I hope you are staying dry in this wet and windy weather. It’s often a difficult task to make sense of a budget announcement, including working out what is actually new money for projects and what is re-hashed and re-worded for impact. What we all really want to know is how it will hit our pockets and support our local areas. Universal credit has been a thorny topic since the Covid uplift was cancelled, leaving the very poorest out of pocket. If you are getting back into work but are still on Universal Credit, you could be left with a pretty big windfall. Universal Credit starts to be phased out when you start earning again. For every £1 you earn, your Universal Credit was in the past cut by 63p. This figure, known as the Universal Credit earnings taper rate, will be reduced to 55p, leaving an extra 8p per pound to spend. If you drive - or fly - within the UK the price of petrol is likely to be lower after the Chancellor announced he was scrapping a planned hike in fuel duty. If fortified wine or high strength white cider are your thing, your drinks tab is about to go up. But lower-alcohol drinks and draught beer served in pubs will also see a lower taxes. But there’s no hope for energy bills, with the price cap rising as energy prices soar. All round a mixed picture - for more details of today's announcements please check out the websites. Regards, Nicola | 
