Beat 17% April bill hikes, Clubcard tri ple points axed, 264Mb broadband £18/month, marriage tax-break, FREE £50 investment, Bud get briefing

Martin's tips to steal a March on April changes
11 must-do NOWs, to beat April price hikes, grab tax back & more

This is set to be an April like no other. Forget fiscal showers, the raft of cost increases will make it feel like a storm peeing down on the nation's bank balances.

So this is a special email focused on helping you steal a March on April's changes (geddit?). There's so much to tell you, I've put it both here, and asked the team to add two big notes below, on how to save £100s beating broadband and mobile price hikes.

With a number of tax schemes you can backdate for four tax years (on top of the current one). The new tax year starts on 6 April, which means from that date you'll LOSE the ability to do claims relating to the 2018/19 tax year (ie, 6 Apr '18 to 5 Apr '19), so get your skates on...

1. Apply for marriage tax allowance now or lose up to £238. There are around 2.1 million couples eligible for the marriage tax allowance who don't get it. To be eligible you must...
- Be married or in a civil partnership (just cohabiting doesn't count).
- One must be a non-income-taxpayer, the other a basic 20% taxpayer.

If so, the non-taxpayer can apply to transfer 10% of their tax-free allowance, currently £1,260, to their spouse, so they now can earn that much more without paying 20% tax, so they pay £250 less tax.

If you were eligible for the whole time, this is backdateable four years so it's worth a total of £1,242, but do it now - as from 6 Apr, you'll lose the 2018/19 year, worth up to £238. Once you're signed up, it's paid automatically year after year. Full help, pros & cons in our Marriage tax guide.
For most it's simple, as Andrea emailed: "Big thanks for your weekly email - my husband hasn't used all of his personal allowance in the last four years so he applied for marriage allowance one Saturday & the following one received a £1,000 cheque - and my tax code's been adjusted."

2. Did you have a PPI payout? You're likely due tax back, but go quick. August 2019 was the final deadline for PPI claims via the ombudsman - it was a hugely busy time. And now we're about to hit the deadline to reclaim the tax most needlessly paid in some of the run-up to that (6 Apr '18 to 5 Apr '19). Here's how it works:
- PPI reclaims paid you back what you paid in, plus
- An added 8% annual statutory interest
- This statutory interest counts as savings interest for tax purposes
- Yet unlike savings, with PPI, 20% tax is automatically deducted
- And most people needn't pay tax on savings...
As basic-rate taxpayers can earn £1,000/year interest without paying tax (40% taxpayers £500), most paid tax on PPI claims unnecessarily and are due it back. My Reclaim PPI tax blog takes you through it - but if your payout was paid in the 2018/19 tax year, go quick.
As Mandy emailed: "I've just reclaimed £834.14 from HM Revenue & Customs for PPI tax... Thank you, as I wouldn't have known without you highlighting this."

3. Deadline extended to 31 July. Aged 45 to 70? Boost state pension by buying missing national insurance (NI) years - turn £800 into £5,500+ (free for some). A special deadline for people to backfill gaps for 2006 to 2016 was due to end this tax year. So many struggled to get through to jammed govt phone lines that it's been extended (& yes some blame me for clogging them up). Yet I need to keep saying... if you're 45 to 70 you should be considering this ASAP. It's not quick to do, but it can be immensely lucrative.

To get the full state pension you'll need 35-ish (only ish, it can be more for some) complete NI years. To top up gaps, first check if you're due them free, if not you can buy back years.
Easy starters: Watch TV clip | Listen to podcast (I did both before extension).
Full step-by-step: Boost state pension with NI years? guide.
Struggling to get through to Future Pension Centre? My quick tips.
As Kelvin emailed: "Dear Martin, I owe you a pint or maybe two. Following your simple guide I found I could top my pension up from £107 to £158/week by paying a sum that pays back inside 3 years and which will yield me around £50k if I manage to live another 20 years. It only took me a morning, two calls & a bank transfer, and I'm no money saving expert. PS: Wetherspoon's beer prices, mind!" (Ta. Can I have a hot chocolate instead?)

4. Is your tax code wrong? Millions may be - check now. A tax code is a series of letters & numbers, eg, 1257L, which tells your employer/pension provider what tax to deduct. It's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, not HM Revenue & Customs', nor your employer's, to check if it's wrong, and if it is (millions often are each year), it can mean you're overpaying, and are due cash back. You've until 5 Apr to do it for the 2018/19 year. Full help via our Free Tax Code Calc.

5. Wear a recognisable uniform to work? Claim a uniform tax rebate. Even if it's just a branded T-shirt, if you wash or repair it yourself, you can likely claim a tax rebate. The minimum allowance is £60/yr (so it's worth £12/yr for a basic 20% taxpayer, £24 for a higher 40% payer). As you can backdate four years, go quick or you'll lose 2018/19. Full help in Uniform tax rebate.

April Fool's Day is far from the month's most frustrating tradition - sadly each year there's a raft of utility and public service price hikes. And this year, often due to high inflation, it's not looking great...

6. Stamp prices to rise up to 16% on 3 Apr - beat the hike. 1st class stamp prices are set to rise to £1.10 (from 95p), 2nd class stamps to 75p (from 68p). Yet buy 1st or 2nd class now and they will still be valid after, so stock up. For more help, including what to do with non-barcoded stamps that soon become invalid, see stamp on price rises.

7. Beat April's 14% to 17% broadband and mobile price hikes. Lots to tell you, including best buys, so jump to our broadband big note and/or mobile big note which will take you through it.

8. Council tax bills UP 5% (c. £100/yr) for many on 1 Apr - are you in too high a band, or due a discount? Most English councils have signalled they'll raise bills right up to the 5% capped amount, adding a typical £100/yr for a band D property (a few have been given permission to raise it more). In Wales & Scotland changes are council by council. Little we can do about the hikes, but there are two main things to look at here...
- Are you one of up to 400,000 in the wrong band? If yours is too high, you could be due a backdated payout of £1,000s plus a lower bill. Try my 10-min council tax check 'n' challenge to see.
- Are you due a reduction? Many may well be... those who live alone (or with students/children) | full-time students | those on low incomes | with disabilities | a 'severe mental impairment' (often with dementia, severe strokes etc) | and carers. So check, are you due a council tax discount?

9. Water bills UP an average 7.5% from 1 Apr (Eng & Wales). The rise varies hugely depending on your water firm. While SES Water's rise is 14%, South West Water's is only 2%. You can't do much about the hikes, so look at the bills in their entirety, but here's my rule of thumb...

More bedrooms in your home than people (so, eg, three bedrooms, two people), or the same number? If so, a water meter is likely to save you cash

A water meter calculator can show you how much you could save. As Bronwyn emailed us: "Thanks to you I took the step to have a water meter installed and my bill has gone from £65 a month to £17 [saving £576/yr]. Thank you." If they say you can't get a water meter, ask for an 'assessed charge'.
Plus, there's lots more help in our water savings guide, and some of these work for Scotland too, including...

- Over a million free water-saving gadgets
- Help with water meter costs if you're on benefits
- Cap for some who've certain medical conditions or 3+ children

10. Prescription charges up 30p to £9.65 on 1 Apr (Eng only). Three quick steps that can help here:
a) Use the NHS prescriptions calc to see if you can get 'em free.
b) If you get a lot of prescriptions, a 'prepay season ticket', where you pay a one-off fee and then don't pay for any prescriptions, could save you lots. The price of these is rising in April too so go quick. On average if you get 12+ prescriptions in 12mths or 4+ in 3mths you'll save.
c) Can you buy it over the counter for less? More help in cheap drugs.

11. Energy Price Guarantee WON'T now rise, but you will pay more. The planned 20% April rise in energy bills has, thankfully, been shelved (see the Chancellor's letter to me agreeing to postpone it and my video explaining what'll now happen to bills this year).
However, the £66/£67 government support (paid monthly from October to March) will end as planned, so everyone will still pay more from April. Plus, tweaks to standing charges and unit rates will also see a shift in costs - see our 'What'll I pay from April 2023?' calc for more, including the new rates.
- Cut bills by cutting usage. Try our 70+ energy savers, then Heat the human not the home and Energy mythbusting.
- Struggling to pay your bill? Hardship grants may help. See our full Struggling to pay energy bills help.