Budget 2024: All the key changes and how they affect you - from tax to pensions and stamp duty

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced sweeping changes to NHS funding, cash for transport projects, and £40billion of tax rise. Here The Mirror looks at the all the key points from Labour's first Budget.

Rachel Reeves has delivered the first Labour Budget in nearly 15 years.

The Chancellor promised "more pounds in people's pockets", to fix the crisis-hit NHS and grow the sluggish economy. She said the Tories had failed Britain through reckless spending and cover ups - forcing her to bring in £40billion of tax increases.

Ms Reeves told the Commons: "In 1945, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt our country out of the rubble of the Second World War. In 1964, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt Britain with the white heat of technology. And in 1997, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt our schools and hospitals. Today, it falls to this Labour Party, this Labour government, to rebuild Britain once again.”

Here we look at some of the key things that were announced in the Budget.

Follow The Mirror's live coverage of the Budget here

The NHS and social care

Extra £22.6billion: Ms Reeves announced a £22.6 billion increase in the day-to-day health budget. She said a 10 year plan for the NHS will be published in the spring. She said the cash boost would enable the NHS to deliver 2% productivity growth next year.

Scanners and radiotherapy machines: Ms Reeves announced that £1.5 billion will be spent on new surgical hubs and scanners, while £70million will be allocated for new radiotherapy machines

Carer's allowance: The Government announced the weekly earnings allowance will rise - meaning a carer can now earn more than £10,000 while receiving the allowance. This means they can increase their hours while keeping hold of more of their earnings following widespread calls for reform.

NHS buildings cash: Ms Reeves said £1 billion will be allocated to upgrading NHS buildings which are in "disrepair".

Money for hospital beds: The Chancellor announced £1.5 billion will go towards new hospital beds in this year's Budget. She said: "To increase capacity for tens of thousands more procedures next year, we will provide a further £1.5 billion, for new beds in hospitals across the country, new capacity for over a million additional diagnostic tests, and new surgical hubs and diagnostic centres, so that those people waiting for their treatment can get it as quickly as possible.

Tax

VAT on private schools - The Chancellor confirmed that a loophole excluding private school fees from a 20% VAT charge. Labour said in its manifesto it plans to use this cash to help recruit 6,500 teachers in state schools

End to non-dom tax status - Ms Reeves announced that this status - which means claimants can avoid paying tax in the UK on overseas earnings - will be abolished. The Government plans to use this cash to help provide 40,000 extra NHS appointments every week

Capital gains tax: The lower rate of capital gains tax has been increased from 10% to 18%, while the higher rate will go up from 20% to 24%

Employers' national insurance: The Chancellor announced a £25billion raid on employers' national insurance contributions, with a 1.2 percentage point increase from 13.8% to 15%

Inheritance tax: The freeze on inheritance tax brought in by the previous Government will be extended for a further two years, to 2030. Ms Reeves said: "That means the first £325,000 of any estate can be inherited tax-free, rising to £500,000 if the estate includes a residence passed to direct descendants, and £1 million when a tax-free allowance is passed to a surviving spouse or civil partner."

Income tax thresholds: The Government will not extend the freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds beyond 2027/28, Ms Reeves announced - saying it would "hurt working people" to keep thresholds frozen.

Second home stamp duty: Second-home buyers face a stamp duty land tax surcharge rise of two percentage points - to 5% - starting from Thursday. The Chancellor said: "This will support over 130,000 additional transactions from people buying their first home, or moving home, over the next five years."

Transport

Bus fare cap hike: As previously announced, the fare cap for bus services across England will go up from £2 to £3. There had been rumours that the cap, brought in by the Tories, would be axed altogether when funding ended in December

Investment in bus services: , An additional £925million was pledged to improve bus services across England during the 2025/26 financial year. Local authorities will be able to use the extra money to bring in new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial services for local communities.

Fuel duty: Fuel duty will be frozen next year at a cost to the Treasury of more than £3 billion, the Chancellor announced - saying raising it would be "the wrong choice for working people".

Electric vehicles: The Government will maintain incentives for electric vehicles in company car tax from 2028 and increase the differential between fully electric and other vehicles in the first year rates of vehicle excise duty from April 2025. Ms Reeves said this will raise around £400million.

Pothole repairs: £500million will be commited to road maintence budgets next year, with an aim of repairing one million potholes every year

Air passenger duty: This will rise, adding up to £2 to the cost of an economy ticket for a short-haul flight. Private jet users will be hit by a 50% hike in APD, she added.

HS2: The Government is "committing the funding required" to begin tunnelling work to bring HS2 to London Euston station, Ms Reeves has announced.

Transpenine Rail: The Transpennine railway route upgrade between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester is secured

East-West Rail: Ms Reeves promised to deliver East-West rail between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge, with the first services running between Oxford, Bletchley and Milton Keynes next year and trains between Oxford and Bedford running by 2030.

Smoking, vaping and alcohol

Smoking: The Government will renew the tobacco duty escalator for the remainder of the Parliament at RPI (Retail Prices Index) plus 2%, increase duty by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco

Vaping: There will be a flat rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026, the Chancellor announced

Alcohol: Ms Reeves said she will cut draught duty by 1.7%, which means "a penny off a pint in the pub".

Jobs, pensions and workers' rights

Minimum wage goes up: The national minimum wage will rise by 6.7% from April 2025. It will mean that the national minimum wage for over 21s will increase from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour - a boost of £1,400 a year for a full-time worker.

Back-to-work support: Ms Reeves announced £240million will be spent on local services to get people back to work. It comes as the UK is the only nation in the G7 where economic activity is higher than it was before Covid.

Boost for retail, hospitality and leisure: The retail, hospitality and leisure industry will receive 40% relief on business rates from 2025/26. There will be a cap of £110,000 per business, Ms Reeves said.

Pensions: Ms Reeves reiterated the Government's commitment to the pension triple lock, telling the Commons the basic and new state pension will rise by 4.1% in 2025-26.

Education

Fixing crumblng schools: The Government has announced £1.4billion to rebuild crimbling schools and provide free breakfast clubs. This is intended to rebuild or refurbish around 500 schools over the next 10 years

Free breakfast clubs: The Government is set to triple the investment in free breakfast clubs to £30million in 2025-26.

Capital investment for Department of Education: The Chancellor said she would provide £6.7 billion of capital investment to the Department for Education next year - a 19% real-terms increase

School maintenance: The Government will provide £2.1 billion more to improve school maintenance, £300 million more than this year. This will help deal with buildings affected by RAAC

Defence

More money for MoD: Ms Reeves said defence spending would go up by £2.9billion next year.

Support for Ukraine: The Chancellor confirmed that there would be "guaranteed military support to Ukraine of £3billion per year, for as long as it takes".

VE and VJ day commemorations: The Chancellor also said there would be funding to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ day next year.

Holocaust education: The Budget includes a further £2million for Holocaust education next year.

Housing

More cash for housebuilding: The Government will invest more than £5billion in housebuilding, Ms Reeves announced.

Removing dangerous cladding: The Budget also includes £1billion of funding to remove dangerous cladding next year.

Compensation for scandals

Infected blood scandal - Ms Reeves announced that there would be £11.8billion for compensation for scandal victims. She accused the Tories of failing to budget for this.

Horizon scandal compensation - The Chancellor also added that £1.8billion has been set aside for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Government funding

Department cuts: Ms Reeves said she is setting a "2% productivity, efficiency and savings target" for all Government departments next year.

Essential services funding: Ms Reeves promised a "significant real-terms funding increase" for local government next year - including £1.3 billion of additional grant funding to deliver "essential services".

Social care and rough sleeping: The Chancellor said there would be at least £600 million in grant funding for social care and £230 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

Manchester and West Midlands boost: Ms Reeves also said: "We are today confirming that Greater Manchester and the West Midlands will be the first mayoral authorities to receive integrated settlements from next year, giving mayors meaningful control of the funding for their local areas."

Tax avoidance and fraud

Unpaid taxes: The Government hopes to raise £6.5 billion by giving HMRC new technology and hiring extra staff to crack down on £6.5 billion in unpaid taxes.

Benefit fraud: Ms Reeves said she will reduce fraud in the welfare system by hiring new members of the Department for Work and Pensions counter-fraud teams. It will save £4.3 billion a year by 2029.