Martin Lewis' Budget reaction as he raises serious question

Personal finance campaigner Martin Lewis has responded to Labour's Autumn budget. Posting on X (formerly Twitter) the Money Saving Expert founder tweeted in real-time to this afternoon's announcements.

Mr Lewis drew on the massive national insurance changes for employers, which will see larger businesses contribute 15 percent from April next year. The pressure will be placed on those "with the broadest shoulders", the Chancellor Rachel Reeves said. But Lewis questioned how the businesses will pay for a £615 per employee surge.

He said: "The change of threshold so employers now start paying National Insurance at £5,000 not £9,100 is big. For the employers who pay it, at the new 15% rate that alone's £615 increased cost per most employees per year. The question is where will that money come from, profits, increasing charges or reducing salaries/benefits?"

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He added: "The reason I say 'for employers who pay it' is because the Employers Allowance for NI has been increased from £5,000 to £10,500 a year (so this is amount off employers NI bill) so small businesses won't pay it."

At the announcement that Labour are going to continue the work capability plan of last government, Mr Lewis responded by posting that it was "likely to mean a crackdown on incapacity benefit claims".

He also responded to the news that people who claim Carers Allowance - a DWP weekly benefit that currently provides up to £81.90 to carers who provide 35 hours of care a week - will be able to earn more money before having their benefit cut.

Mr Lewis explained the changes, posting: "Carers allowance earnings threshold to rise from £151/week to £196 on April 6 2025, so this is how much you can earn before you lose the then £83.29 week (currently £81.90 a week). They are looking at the unfairness of the cliff-edge something I wrote to the Chancellor about (i.e. 1p over you lose it all) but no news on that yet."

The Money Saving Expert also highlighted what he saw as 'bad news' when it comes to claiming child benefit in the budget. He posted: "(Bad) NEWS: Withing [sic] govt docs it says it will NOT shift child benefit to household income from individual income as previous govt had announced (and I and others had campaigned for). This is a shame and leaves inequity rife, bad news for single parent and single earner families."

Adding: "From 2025 employees will be able to pay the higher income child benefit charge through your tax code, and self assessment forms will be pre-populated with child benefit data."

Reforms to child benefit had been one of the six changes Martin Lewis wanted to see from today's budget.

He said, previously: “The benefit is still based on individual rather than household income, which makes it incredibly unfair. A household where two parents each earn £59,999 — a combined £119,998 — would get the full benefit, but a household where one parent earns £80,000 would get nothing.

"Raising the threshold means that fewer people are affected by the means test, but the core unfairness remains and it needs to be addressed. There are real problems in changing the way this works because our tax system is based on individual not household earnings. Hunt promised to shift to a system based on household rather than individual income by April 2026, and I want a commitment from this chancellor to continue with that.”

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