Budget 2010 at a glance

Were you a winner or a loser?

Take a look at our guide and see how your finances may have been affected by Budget 2010.

Economy 
– Net government borrowing estimate this year will fall from the £178bn target by £11bn this year, to £167bn or 11.8 per cent of GDP.
– Borrowing will fall to £163bn next year, which is equal to 11.1 per cent of GDP. It will then fall to £131bn in 2011/12, or 8.5 per cent of GDP. Borrowing will then decline to £110bn, or 6.8 per cent of GDP, to £89bn in 2013/14, equal to 5.2 per cent of GDP and to £74bn in 2014/15 at 4 per cent of GDP.
– Growth forecast for 2011 revised down to between 3 per cent and 3.5 per cent. Predicted growth of 1.0-1.5 per cent in 2010 in line with forecasts.
– Net debt as a share of GDP will reach 54 per cent this year. It will then increase to 75 per cent by the end of the forecast period in 2014/15 and will then begin to fall.

Jobs and education 
– The number of civil servants in London is to be reduced by one third over the long term, with 15,000 posts relocated within the next five years to help to save £11bn. One thousand civil servants in the Ministry of Justice will be moved out of London, saving £41m.
– Consultation on reform of employers’ right to make people retire at 65, which examines options including scrapping the default retirement age, raising it or giving employees stronger rights.

– Guarantee to provide a job or training to 18 to 24-year-olds out of work for more than six months will run until March 2012, instead of ending in March 2011.
– Government to set up a £35m University Enterprise Capital Fund to support ‘innovation and spin-out companies’.
– £270m available in 2010/11 to fund an extra 20,000 university places in areas such as science, technology, engineering and maths as part of a University Modernisation Fund.
– The £2.5bn cost of training young people and extra university places will be partly funded from the tax on bankers’ bonuses.

Housing 
– A new stamp duty holiday introduced for properties of up to £250,000 to be funded through an increase in stamp duty from 4 per cent to 5 per cent on properties worth £1m or more from April next year.
– From October 2011, the most expensive properties across the country will be excluded from the Housing Benefit calculation in each area to save £250m a year.
Family finances and pensions
– Higher winter fuel payment will be guaranteed for another year, to be paid by closing tax loopholes.
– Inheritance tax threshold will be frozen for four years.
– Tax credit system extended for people aged over 60. People will have to
work fewer minimum hours to qualify for tax credits.
– Parents of one- and two-year-olds to receive £4-a-week increase in child tax credit from 2012.

Environment 
-Government to set up a new green investment bank, which will control £2bn of equity, to fund a low-carbon economy. Half the cost will come from asset sales, including the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, with the rest matched by private investment.
– Extra £60m provided to fund offshore wind farms.

Taxes 
– Confirmation of the 50 per cent rate of income tax from 6 April for people earning more than £150,000.
– Continued drive to prevent tax evasion and avoidance. Tax information agreements will be signed with Dominica, Grenada and Belize.
– Confirmation of a 0.5 per cent increase in National Insurance for people earning more than £20,000, which will come into effect from April next year.

Public finances 
– Public sector pay rises held at 1 per cent for two years from 2011.
– Budget plans will raise an extra £19bn to reduce borrowing.
– Government to provide £100m to repair roads and a further £285m to fix motorways.
– The government will go ahead with plans to sell the Tote as part of plans to pull in £16bn from asset sales.
-Government finalising options on the sale of the Dartford Crossing.
-An extra £4bn will be used to fund operations in Afghanistan.