Budget 2024: Five things you may have missed including Child Benefit and mortgage help

The document released after the Budget by the Treasury has revealed changes from Rachel Reeves that you may have missed - here is what you need to know

Rachel Reeves has delivered the first Labour Budget in 14 years - with changes to pensions, inheritance, benefits and taxes all confirmed.

The Chancellor used her speech to announce £40billion in tax rises, with businesses bearing the brunt of higher costs after a hike in National Insurance contributions paid by employers was confirmed. Ms Reeves plans to pour more public cash into schools, hospitals, transport and housing – although experts have warned that higher costs on businesses may end up being filtered down to workers through smaller pay rises and less generous pensions.

The Chancellor did announce a mega inflation-busting hike in minimum wage of 6.7% from next April, as part of plans to help low-income workers. Some of the other major headline-grabbing changes announced include pensions being subject to Inheritance Tax for the first time, hikes to cigarettes and alcohol and an update on stamp duty. But the document released after the Budget by the Treasury has revealed other changes that you may have missed.

Child Benefit changes scrapped

The Treasury has confirmed it won't move forward with plans to launch a consultation on whether to change Child Benefit eligibility to being based on household income, rather than on individual income. It comes after the thresholds for when you have to start paying back Child Benefit were increased last year.

Previously, you used to have to start paying back Child Benefit at a rate of 1% for every £100 you earn over £50,000 a year - this is known as the High Income Child Benefit Charge. You now only start paying back Child Benefit when you earn more than £60,000 a year, at a rate of 1% for every £200 you earn.

Help to Save being expanded

Help to Save is a savings account for people claiming Universal Credit or Tax Credits that is issued by the Government. You can save between £1 and £50 each month, and for every £1 you save, you get 50p back - so this is a 50% return on your money.

The account lasts four years, so for someone who deposits the maximum £50 each month, it means you will get £1,200 in bonuses, based on you having saved £2,400 by the time the four years is up. in the Budget, it was confirmd Help to Save will be extended by a further two years until April 2027.

The eligibility will be expanded to all working people on Universal Credit from April 6, 2025. At the moment, you're only eligible for Help to Save on Universal Credit if your take-home pay was £793.17 or more in your last monthly assessment period. This includes your partner, if you're in a couple.

Mortgage guarantee scheme update

The Government has announced plans to make the mortgage guarantee scheme permanent. The mortgage guarantee scheme is backed by the Government and allows first-time buyers to take out a mortgage with a 5% deposit. The main thing that is different to this compared to other mortgages, is that Government promises to cover some costs if your lender loses money.

The scheme is scheduled to run until June 2025 but Treasury documents have revealed plans to keep it running long-term. But the mortgage guarantee scheme has previously sparked criticism for having more expensive rates compared to if you have a higher deposit.

Train fares to rise

Regulated train fares in England will increase by up to 4.6% next year and the price of most railcards will rise by £5. This was not mentioned in the Budget speech, but in the documents that were published online afterwards. These changes will come into force on March 2, 2025

Regulated rail fares normally include season, anytime day, off-peak and super off-peak tickets. Unregulated fares - which include advance, anytime, off-peak day and first class fares - are set by train companies.

No change to ISA threshold

Rachel Reeves has kept the ISA limit to £20,000 each tax year. You can deposit this amount across multiple ISA accounts, however there are some ISAs where the limit is smaller than this. The different types of ISAs already available are: Cash ISAs, Stocks and Shares ISAs, Innovative Finance ISAs, Lifetime ISAs and Junior ISAs.

You can only save £4,000 each tax year in a Lifetime ISA, while the limit for a Junior ISA for your child is £9,000. The tax-free limit for how much you can earn in savings also remains at £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and £500 for higher rate taxpayers.

The Treasury also confirmed plans to scrap the British ISA, which had been originally announced by then-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt earlier this year in his Spring Budget this March. The accounts would have given savers a £5,000 top-up to their tax-free savings allowance, on top of the existing £20,000.