After a tense day in parliament yesterday, the Budget for 2015 has finally been announced and a few major changes have been declared. George Osborne has tried his best to keep everything sweet ahead of the general elections in May, and made a statement yesterday saying: ‘Things are slowly getting better for everyone.’ I’ve decided to write you all a little recap to help explain what this budget will mean for us.

Some of the biggest changes will include government top ups for first-time buyers, a maximum of £3,000 on £12,000 of savings. £1,000 tax free savings for those with savings accounts, and the lifetime allowance on pensions will be cut again.

Aside from that, for the third year in a row, the chancellor knocked a penny off beer duty. There’s a 2% cut in whisky and cider duty, and taxes on cigarettes are set to rise by 2 percent above inflation as previously planned. So the price of a packet of twenty cigarettes will increase by 16p. If you were thinking of quitting now might be a good time!

For me personally, as a married woman with three school aged children, the budget will mean that tax allowances are going to be increased, however the National Insurance contribution will also rise slightly. Smaller issues such as fuel, beer and cigarette prices won’t affect me personally. It’s the long term effects which are a larger concern, such as the amount of money available for us to spend.

For a single mother, however, the net income will rise slightly, along with her universal credit and child benefit. Although things are looking good for first- time buyers, with more help at hand available to get them onto the property ladder, social housing costs are increasing so not everybody will benefit.

Many of us will be happy to see that personal tax-free allowance will be increased to £10,800 in April 2016, and to £11,000 in April 2017. Even better news is that the fuel duty increase which was scheduled for September has now been cancelled!

Charities for British servicemen and women to receive £75m, funded by Libor fines. Funding for wifi in public libraries and new national plan for ultra-fast broadband to nearly all homes in the country. £1m to buy defibrillators for public places, including schools.  Sale of £13bn of mortgage assets held by the Government after the bailout of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley to be launched. This will be used to pay down the national debt.

For self-employed people on Class 2 National Insurance, their tax will be completely abolished. Class 4 National Insurance will also be reformed.

I hope this recap article has been useful to lots of you. Please let me know what you think about The Budget over on Facebook.

Click Here to read my article on first time buyers Government Council Scheme.