Key announcements affecting personal finances – Budget 2013
3rd April 2013
Key announcements affecting personal finances – Budget 2013
- A new ‘Help to Buy’ scheme which will invest £3.5 billion in shared equity homes, helping those wanting to own a new-build home. A deposit of five per cent will attract 20 per cent of the value of new build homes from the Government – providing the property is worth less than £600,000. It will run for three years from January 2014. A Mortgage Guarantee scheme will also make £12 billion of Government money available to boost mortgage lending, subject to final design.
- A new tax-free childcare scheme will provide 20 per cent towards the first £6,000 of childcare costs for each child, to be phased in from Autumn 2015.
- The introduction of the single-tier state pension worth £144 is to be brought forward a year to 2016.
- The £72,000 cap on social care costs will also be brought forward a year to 2016. The Chancellor also announced an extension to the means-tested residential care threshold in the same year, although this is not yet confirmed.