It might feel like only yesterday that we had the last budget, but today (Thursday, 17 November), Jeremy Hunt has announced his first set of economic policies since becoming the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s money man. Hunt is the third Chancellor to be in charge of the economy since Sunak himself resigned from the role in July this year, catalysing the downfall of Boris Johnson, the election of Liz Truss and the subsequent election of Sunak.
It’s been a long year.
Not least for the rest of us trying to keep up as the economy goes from bad to worse. So, is it Jeremy Hunt to the rescue today? GLAMOUR spoke to experts and charities about what today’s budget means for the issues we care about most.
Will the budget help with the cost of living?
For lots of us, next week is the last payday before Christmas, and co-founder of Financielle, an online community of women taking back control of their money, Laura Pomfret, tells Glamour many women are under “overwhelming pressure” when it comes to their finances. She says that women “tend to manage the household budget and manage the decisions” from “whether to go to Asda or Lidl” to “when to move house for more space”, so the announcements made today by the Chancellor really matter to them.
She says it will be a “huge relief” for many women, especially single mothers, to hear that benefits are increasing in line with inflation. The analysis found that failing to do so would push 100,000 lone parents and 200,000 children into poverty this winter. Increasing the National Living Wage will also benefit more women because “unfortunately more women are lower earners”, Pomfret adds. But she says the increase to the energy price cap in April, from £2500 to £3000, will worry many women: “Looking ahead to April and thinking their energy is already up 100% on last year and it’s going to go up again.”
Combined with “interest rates squeezing food prices”, lots of women will still be in a difficult position this winter.
I was told by my schoolteacher at 14 that I wouldn't amount to much. Imagine how my life would have mapped out if that senseless statement had defined me.
What was announced for schools and hospitals?
Setting the scene for the week ahead, Hunt said everyone would be paying more tax, and public services like schools and hospitals would need to find cuts. He certainly kept his promise, setting out £55 billion of spending cuts and tax rises, combining higher taxes for higher earners with below-inflation budget increases for public services.
Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson from the UK Women’s Budget Group, a feminist economics thinktank, sounded the alarm about the impact of these public service cuts on women explaining that “Anything other than increases for public services in with inflation” is “unimaginable for the services we all rely on” like schools, childcare and healthcare. She says, “It's women in the largely female workforce whose jobs are under threat as councils, academics, and NHS Trusts do impossible sums to try and meet necessary pay demands.”
Hunt’s announcement today that he won’t change plans to cap public sector pay increases by 2% will therefore be hard to hear for the 77% of NHS workers and 75% of teachers who are women.
To teaching staff especially, he said, “Thank you for your brilliant work; we need it to continue”, but with inflation at 10% and a maximum pay rise of 2%, those very same teachers are effectively receiving an 8% pay cut next year. So much for thank you.
Is he fixing the childcare sector?
Anyone with children will tell you that the childcare system in the UK is in crisis. High costs and understaffing mean some parents simply cannot find care for their kids. Laura Pomfret from Financielle tells GLAMOUR that the knock-on effect of this is that “There is so much blocking aspiring women from wanting to earn more and close the gaps in gender finances.” Many of the Financielle community have told her, “I want to be able to work and bring money in, but no investment in childcare means I can’t.”
Jeremy Hunt recognised this, saying he wanted to decrease the number of “economically inactive” people, who are more likely to be women and fix problems “holding back workforce participation.”
Despite this, the Chancellor was “just silent” on the issue today, and there was a “massive omission of investment in childcare”, according to Pomfret. Pregnant Then Screwed, an organisation campaigning for better childcare, said children under five had been “completely ignored” in the Chancellor’s announcements. They added that increasing the living wage without increasing funding for childcare could actually make the crisis worse.
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Will Hunt help me get on the housing ladder or start a business?
Hunt confirmed he will freeze stamp duty, the tax paid when you buy a house, until March 2025. Laura Pomfret says this is good news for women “with property ambitions” but not a total “slam dunk and actually sets a ticking time bomb” for them to buy. She says stamp duty is only “part of the picture” for those trying to buy, and because they are judged on money management “, when prices go up, you’re screwed!”
She also pointed out that freezing stamp duty could increase demand for housing, therefore increasing prices and “without a commitment to build houses as well”, the gender housing gap will continue.
Finally, Hunt also said he wanted to make the UK “the world’s next silicon valley”, setting out a series of measures to support entrepreneurship. But in 2022, a report found that only 17% of active companies are led by women, and they only attracted less than 12% of investment made in UK businesses in 2022. Without action to tackle these inequalities, women will only reap small benefits of investment in entrepreneurship.
It's so often what politicians don’t say than what they do that can tell us all we need to know about their economic priorities.
With no announcements on childcare or funding to end violence against women and girls today, it’s clear the new Chancellor hasn’t picked up any new tricks about women’s economic priorities.
In a statement, Ruth Davison, Refuge CEO, said:
“We are pleased to hear that the Chancellor has decided to raise Universal Credit and other 'legacy' benefits in line with inflation in today’s autumn statement. This comes after consistent pressure from Refuge and numerous other organisations across the charity sector to ensure this cost of living crisis does not cost the lives of the most vulnerable in our society.
“I would implore the Chancellor to implement the benefit uplift immediately, and not wait until next April to make this vital change. Survivors and their children are struggling now, and they need urgent action to weather the storm of price increases this winter. No one should be left choosing between ongoing abuse and violence or poverty and hunger.
“The reality is that nothing has changed for women and children experiencing domestic abuse today. 77% of frontline workers Refuge surveyed said many women could not afford to leave their abusers. Refuge echoes calls across the VAWG sector for the government to establish an Emergency Domestic Abuse Fund, so no woman has to choose between financial stability and her physical safety.”
There was some short-term good news for some. Still, with history telling us that recessions and public service cuts often fall hardest on the shoulders of women, especially Black, Asian and ethnic minority women and disabled women, many won’t feel reassured by the Chancellor’s statement today.
The cost of living in London is sky-high.
