Martin Lewis reveals
four things '
no one spotted'
in Labour's
Budget: From
LISAwithdrawal penalties
to winter fuel payments
Martin Lewis reveals four things 'no one spotted' in Labour's Budget: From
LISA withdrawal penalties to winter fuel payments
By Tom Cotterill
Published: 16:25 GMT, 31 October 2024 | Updated: 16:26 GMT, 31 October 2024
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Martin Lewis 's money-saving gurus have highlighted four things that slipped
through the net• Страхование » Нетто in Labour 's Budget bombshell which could hit countless Brits.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a fiscal hammer blow during her £40billion
tax raid on hard-up Brits yesterday, which saw her putting an eye-watering
stamp on the nation's strained finances.
Among the headlines included shock changes to capital gains tax, hikes in
national insurance• Страхование payments by employers, and alterations to the inheritance
tax which have left farmers in uproar .
And while Ms Reeves covered many of the big-hitters, like funding for the NHS
, armed forces and public services - there were several key topics which were
seemingly were overlooked, according to Money Saving Expert.
Top of the list according to Mr Lewis's team included a critical change to the
Lifetime ISA (LISA) scheme for first-time buyers.
Martin Lewis (pictured) and his money-saving gurus have highlighted four
things that slipped through the net• Страхование » Нетто in Labour's Budget bombshell which could
hit countless Brits
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Mr Lewis had urged the government to scrap 'unjust' withdrawal penalties for
those on the scheme, which is intended to help struggling young Brits aged 18
to 39 to save for their first home.
Under the scheme, people can save up to £4,000 a year towards their first
home, with the government topping up by 25 per cent.
Read More
How Labour's inheritance tax hike for farmers could spell the end of
family farming
However, those who purchase properties above the £450,000 maximum covered by
the programme, or who pull the cash out for anything other than a home,
retirement, or to cover a terminal illness, will face a 25 per cent penalty.
In a plea ahead of the Budget, money-saving expert Mr Lewis called on the
government to reduce the cancellation penalty from 25 to 20 per cent - but the
plea has seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
Speaking on his podcast before Wednesday's announcement, Mr Lewis said: 'Many
people, especially in London and the southeast, and other urban metropolitan
areas, have been priced out by house prices going up.
'So they saved – as the Government told them to – for their first-time
property, but their property is now above £450,000. To take the money out,
even to buy a first-time property, which is what this product is for, they are
facing a penalty, a substantial penalty.
'There is a justice issue here. Many of our young people who've done what the
state asked them to by saving for a first-time property in a Lifetime ISA are
being fined by the state for accessing the money to do what the state wanted
them to do. That seems to me to be unjust.'
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her maiden Budget in Parliament on
Wednesday
Mr Lewis's team claimed a plea to change the withdrawal penalties from the
Lifetime ISA scheme for first-time buyers was not included in the budget (file
picture of first-time buyer)
An estimated £1.8 million in fines for taking money out of their LISAs were
paid in the 2023/24 tax year, Money Saving Expert said .
Martin Lewis's team of financial experts also claimed their appeal to make the
the widely-slammed new Winter Fuel payment criteria 'less restrictive' was
also snubbed.
Labour sparked outrage after axing the winter support for some 10million
pensioners, following changes in who was eligible to claim for the aid.
Previously, everyone over 65 was able to receive up to £300 of support. But
under the new rules, those only eligible over 65 and receiving benefits and
pension credit.
But Mr Lewis hit back and has urged the Government to expand the group of
people who can claim the winter energy support, claiming the current cohort
was 'too narrow'.
'The targeting of Winter Fuel Payments is too narrow with the winter we have
coming. Pensioners were already due to get less as this will be the first time
since winter 2022 they haven’t got the up to £300 extra winter fuel cost of
living top-up,' he wrote on Money Saving Expert .
Martin Lewis's team of financial experts also claimed their plea to make the
the widely-slammed new Winter Fuel payment criteria 'less restrictive' were
also snubbed (file picture)
Mr Lewis had also urged the Chancellor to address the hardship faced by
so-called 'mortgage prisoners' - a plea which money-saving gurus from his firm
claimed was overlooked in the Budget.
Mortgage prisoners are those who took out loans before the 2008 financial
crash, when lending rules weren't as tight.
However, after several lenders collapsed, these mortgage deals were sold off
to firms that were not lenders and could not offer them cheaper products.
It has led to some borrowers have been trapped in crippling, uncompetitive
rates ever since, with some people paying eye-watering interests rates as high
as 10 per cent.
Up to 200,000 Brits could be mortgage prisoners, Money Saving Expert
estimates.
Finally, the last thing Mr Lewis's team claim was missed out in the Budget was
their plea to rename the government's 'tax-free• Торговля » Tax free childcare' scheme.
The savings scheme offers households up to £2,000 per child per year - or
£4,000 if your child is disabled - to be used towards childcare costs.
But Money Saving Expert said that although more than 1.3million families were
eligible for the aid, up to 800,000 weren't currently claiming because the
scheme's name was too 'confusing'.
Budget