Martin Lewis – latest: Money saving expert reacts after ‘back to work’ Budget

Finance expert Martin Lewis is expected to give further advice and guidance on Jeremy Hunt’s back to work Budget when his show airs later this evening.

Martin Lewis has revealed “the one miss” in the government’s expansion of childcare funding, announced in yesterday’s Budget.

The maximum amount that parents on universal credit can claim for childcare will also increase from £646 to £951 for one child, and from £1,108 to £1,630 for two – an increase of just under 50 per cent.

However, in a video posted on Twitter, Mr Lewis warned that it would not cover all benefits.

Jeremy Hunt’s childcare reforms have been criticised for delays to its rollout.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government is “a bit late to the party” when it comes to childcare while the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said it is “highly uncertain” what impact Jeremy Hunt's extension of free childcare will have on the labour market.

Key Points

• Martin Lewis to continue reaction to Budget

• Jeremy Hunt childcare reforms face criticism

‘Very easy’ to devise bespoke pensions scheme for doctors, says Starmer

15:30 , Emily Atkinson

It would have been “very easy” for the Chancellor to have come up with a bespoke pensions scheme to help retain NHS doctors rather than produce a “£1 billion giveaway to the richest”, according to Sir Keir Starmer.

His comments come after Jeremy Hunt criticised shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who he said had called for the lifetime allowance on pensions to be scrapped to boost doctor retention but had shifted his view “overnight” after it was announced in the Budget.

Labour leader Sir Keir, asked by broadcasters about Mr Streeting’s view during a visit to The Roslin Institute laboratory near Edinburgh, said: “I recognise that we need to retain our doctors.

“What Wes Streeting and I are clear about is there could have been a tailor-made approach for doctors but in the end we’ve spent £1 billion on the richest 1 per cent while everybody else is struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

“I think most people would say, ‘How on earth can that be a priority for the government?”’

Asked whether it would have been overly bureaucratic to produce a bespoke pensions system for doctors, Sir Keir replied: “It is very easy to bring in a tailor-made approach just for doctors.

“It was done for judges just a few years ago and so the idea that a £1 billion giveaway to the richest 1 per cent was necessary just falls apart the moment it is examined.”

Lowest paid to ‘proportionately benefit the most’ from Budget, Tory MP insists

14:50 , Emily Atkinson

The work and pensions secretary said the lowest paid would “proportionately benefit the most” from the Budget, adding it was a “myth” that older people will not return to work.

Mel Stride pointed to the distribution analysis that accompanied the Budget, saying: “Those in the lowest income deciles proportionately benefit the most from the measures in this Budget. It is thoroughly progressive.”

He also told MPs: “Let me slay one myth, that older people will never return to work. In fact, we know that four in 10 50-to-65-year-olds who have left their jobs since the start of the pandemic would consider returning to work.

He added: “The chancellor introduced significant encouragement to the over 50s by the changes he made to the lifetime allowance for pensions yesterday.

“And we also know that many people overestimate how far their savings and pensions will go in retirement. And so to help more people who are in their 40s and 50s get a reality check about what decisions on retirement mean for their long-term wealth and wellbeing, we are digitising the midlife MOT.

“This will deliver a five-fold increase in the number of universal credit claimants who access the tool each year in job centres. We will also work with employers and pension providers to help nudge people to access it.”

Government ‘late to party’ on childcare reform

14:10 , Emily Atkinson

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government is "a bit late to the party" when it comes to childcare.

Speaking about the childcare plans announced in the Budget, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We back these plans. We wouldn't have got into this mess in the first place because we wouldn't have scrapped the infrastructure that the last Labour government created.

"And I think a lot of people who, like me, people who've got kids who are already in primary school will be saying, well, you know, it's great that the Government have got to this point, but they're a bit late to the party, frankly, because many mums and dads have struggled on their own for the last few years, the last decade, when support for working parents has been taken away.

"And now they're saying after the next election there's going to be more support for childcare.

"Well, absolutely, because we hope there's a Labour government after the next election, and we will make childcare and working parents a priority."

Institute for Fiscal Studies criticises government’s childcare reform plans

13:30 , Thomas Kingsley

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said it is "highly uncertain" what impact Jeremy Hunt's extension of free childcare will have on the labour market.

In his Budget analysis, IFS director Paul Johnson said such a significant move would bring "risks" for the childcare market if it was not properly funded.

He added: "The impact this will have on labour supply is highly uncertain, though the OBR score it as the biggest policy contribution to increasing numbers in work.

"The main effect will be to reduce the cost of childcare for those working parents who would have paid for childcare anyway."

Mr Johnson said scrapping the pensions lifetime allowance was also unlikely to play a "big part" in increasing the numbers of people in work while being very expensive.

"Even on OBR's, in my view optimistic, assumptions this will come in at £100,000 per job," he said.

"The lack of any coherent strategy here remains deeply disappointing."

Jeremy Hunt defends his childcare reforms

12:51 , Thomas Kingsley

Jeremy Hunt has defended the speed of the rollout of his Budget offer of free childcare for working parents with children under the age of five, a policy which will not be fully available until September 2025.

The Chancellor told Sky News: "This is the biggest transformation in childcare in my lifetime.

"It is a huge change and we are going to need thousands more nurseries, thousands more schools offering provision they don't currently offer, thousands more childminders.

"We are going as fast as we can to get the supply in the market to expand.

"But it is the right thing to do because we have one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world and we know it is something that is a huge worry, for women in particular, that they have this cliff-edge when maternity leave ends after nine months, no help until the child turns three and that can often be career ending.

"So I think it is the right thing to do for many women, to introduce these reforms and we are introducing them as quickly as we can because we want to remove those barriers to work."

Welcome

12:49 , Thomas Kingsley

Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of Martin Lewis’ Money Show airing later this evening where the money saving expert will give his reaction to Jeremy Hunt’s Budget.