State pensioners who are married set to be handed free £709

Low-income pensioner couples will gain an extra £709 under the Labour Party government following the Budget, it is hoped. Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her Budget on Wednesday, giving her landmark address in the Commons on October 30.

Under new changes to pensions and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits, pensioners have been handed a boost. A couple in their 70s currently have a combined income less than the £332.95 (£218.15 for a single person) a week, or £17,313 a year.

Next year the “triple lock” sees the minimum guarantee increase by 4.1% or £13.65 to £346.60 (£227.10 for a single person). This works out as an extra £709.80 a year for couples and £465.40 for singles, according to data crunched by experts after the Budget.

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The Chancellor has said she accepts employees will bear some of the burden of increasing employer’s national insurance rates. Put to her that the raise “discourages hiring and encourages avoidance, (and) depresses longer-term wages”, Rachel Reeves told the News Agents podcast: “By choosing to levy the tax on employers, it’s then up to employers to find ways to absorb (that) however they can.”

She added: “The way I have structured it is that businesses pay that tax. I accept that some of that burden will be felt on employees, but if I had increased employee national insurance, or income tax, all of the burden would have been felt by working people.”

Former chancellor Ken Clarke lambasted the Government for releasing Budget policies to the media in advance of Rachel Reeves’ statement to Parliament on Wednesday. Lord Clarke of Nottingham told the House of Lords: “I was outraged by the complete circus of trailing in advance and trying things out that has gone on for three months while this Budget was prepared. There were no surprises in today’s Budget.”