Rishi Sunak's second budget of the year is being delivered just after midday on Wednesday.

From a raise in minimum wage from £8.91 to £9.50 to a rise in public sector pay, there are many things expected to come from the autumn budget.

But anything announced could be overshadowed by grim rises in inflation, leaving Brits underwhelmed.

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But what will the changes mean for the country and your wallet?

Fortunately we know a lot already - because the Treasury has pre-announced more than £30bn of spending before Budget day, enraging Speaker Lindsay Hoyle. Here are all the Budget confirmed policies, predictions and rumours so far.

Grim news on the economy and inflation

Mr Sunak will read out GDP growth and borrowing figures which could vary from earlier in the Covid pandemic.

But the most important figure will be inflation - which is predicted by Budget watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Only in March it predicted inflation would be 1.5% this year - it’s double that, and could rise even further. That will have a massive impact on families.

Inflation hikes the cost of your weekly shop and could turn into a spike in mortgage costs, if the Bank of England raises the base rate later this year.

They could also wipe out any increases in government spending or public sector wages.

There is also a row over claims the Chancellor will use out-of-date data to polish up his claims about the economy in time for a 2023/4 election.

Spending review squeeze

Alongside the normal Budget will be a three-year ‘spending review’, setting out departments’ budgets right up to Spring 2025.

While it won’t be a vehicle for the brutal austerity of George Osborne, there will likely be cuts hiding in plain sight.

It’s no longer as fashionable for Tories to shout about making cuts, but after Covid spending they need to come from somewhere.

That means we could see vague or unspecific lines about efficiency savings that have a huge impact on public services down the line.

In the March Budget, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank identified a £4bn black hole that would make the Spending Review “particularly tough” for unprotected areas of government.

While these don’t include the NHS they do include the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, and local government which funds social care.

Minimum wage rise

Low-paid Brits are set to receive a boost to the minimum wage to £9.50 an hour from April 2022.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will announce an increase to the National Living Wage for over-23s in Wednesday's Budget, from the current rate of £8.91 an hour.

Tory ministers have previously claimed they would raise the minimum wage to £10.50 an hour and expand the eligibility to over-21s by 2024.

The hourly rate for people aged 21-22 goes up to £9.18 an hour and Apprentice Rate increases to £4.81 an hour.

Public sector pay rise for 5.5million

In 2021/22 public sector pay rises for teachers, police, council workers, armed forces
In 2021/22 public sector pay rises for teachers, police, council workers, armed forces

In 2021/22 public sector pay rises for teachers, police, council workers, armed forces and the like were "paused", except in the NHS and for workers on less than £24,000 who got a small rise.

Now Rishi Sunak has confirmed he'll end the freeze for 5.5million workers from April 2022. But the problem is, even a 2% or 3% rise in public sector wages would likely become a real-terms cut due to inflation.

And that means having to spend a huge amount on any proper pay rise.

The Chancellor has not said what next year's pay rises will be because they'll depend on what pay review bodies tell the government. And those recommendations will be tied by "affordability" estimates from each cash-strapped department.

Cigarette, alcohol and fuel duty changes

Tobacco duties tend to rise in the Budget
Tobacco duties tend to rise in the Budget

Tobacco duties tend to rise in the Budget - and could do so at 6pm on the same day to avoid bulk buying.

The last rise in November 2020 put 22p on a pack of 20 cigarettes and 65p on a 30g pack of hand-rolling tobacco.

Tobacco duties rise using an "escalator", which last time was 2% above RPI inflation (or 4-6%for rolling tobacco).

With inflation soaring, a similar escalator could impose a massive rise this year.

But rises on beer, cider, wine and spirits were all frozen in the year from April 2021. Now the whole structure of them could be overhauled

Fuel duty has been frozen for 11 years in a row and there’s no reason to suggest Rishi Sunak won’t make it a 12th.

These days, each year’s freeze alone is projected to cost the Treasury around £1bn a year by 2025. That’s money that could be spent on green initiatives, public transport and cycling. But the political hit of raising fuel duty when petrol prices have just spiked would be enormous.

£500m for children and families - after years of cuts

The Chancellor has announced £500m for children and families, including £82m to set up family hubs in 75 new council areas.

These will be a 'one-stop-shop' to deliver parenting programmes (£50m), breastfeeding advice (£50m) and mental health support (£100m).

It confirms reports that Rishi Sunak wanted to focus on childcare in his Budget. The money also includes a £10m Start for Life offer, £10m on workforce pilots and £200m for expanding the Supporting Families programme.

But it comes after the Tories cut £20 a week from Universal Credit and imposed the two-child benefits limit. Nurseries also say they’re at breaking point, as the government doesn’t give them enough cash to run 30 hours’ a week free childcare properly.

Transport upgrades in eight regions of England

A new Merseyrail train
A new Merseyrail train

A £5.7billion list of transport upgrade projects for eight regions of England is set to be confirmed.

The Chancellor said projects will include improving the A61 between Wakefield and Leeds for buses, cyclists and pedestrians.

New Metrolink tram vehicles will be ordered in Manchester while rail stations are revamped in Darlington, Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Runcorn.

Overall Greater Manchester will get £1.07bn, West Midlands £1.05bn, West Yorkshire £830m, Liverpool City Region £710m, South Yorkshire £570m, West of England £540m and Tees Valley £310m.

On top of the £5.7bn, Mr Sunak will pledge £1.2bn on buses by 2025 to "speed up journey times, simplify fares and increase the number of services" outside London, with details in the coming months.

But of the £6.9bn to be announced only £1.5bn is new money. The cash for city regions was already announced as £4.2bn and is being increased. The £1.2bn on buses comes from a £3bn pot Boris Johnson already announced in March.

£12bn National Insurance raid

We already know Brits who earn over £9,568 a year will see their National Insurance Contributions rise from 12% to 13.25% from April 2022.

The £12bn-a-year measure will cost £180 a year for a worker on £24,100; £255 for a worker on £30,000; and £715 for a worker on £67,100. Firms will have to contribute too.

From April 2023, this 1.25-point rise will be named the ’Health and Social Care Levy' and appear separately on Brits' payslips. From this point it will also apply to workers who are above pension age - which NICs do not.

From October 2023, the money will be partly used to fund a new £86,000 cap on the amount people must pay for care over their lifetimes - and a new-style £20,000 floor, which saves people from paying for their care once assets fall below a certain level.

But just £5.4bn of £36bn raised in the first three years (2022/23-2024/25) will go on social care.

Of the £5.4bn, half of it will go towards new costs caused by the cap and floor - leaving a measly £2.5bn or so for workforce, training, councils and better integration with the NHS.

Billions to cut waiting lists and help the NHS 'digitise'

Covid-19 jab being prepared
Covid-19 jab being prepared

The Chancellor is expected to announce another £5bn to go towards the NHS capital budget - which pays for buildings, equipment and infrastructure, not staffing.

The cash will be used to reduce the record backlog of people waiting for tests and scans, with 5.7 million people currently languishing on waiting lists.

The backlog is estimated it could grow as high as at least seven million - and Health Secretary Sajid Javid admitted it might not be cleared within the next three years.

It will include funds for a "digital overhaul" of the NHS, after Mr Javid complained 10% of trusts still operates on paper based systems.

Mr Sunak is also expected to confirm extra cash already announced for maintenance funds will continue over the next three years.

Another £5bn over three years will go towards "health-related research and development" to fund new, innovative projects.

£700m to revamp sports pitches

The Treasury says there will be £700million to "build or improve" up to 8,000 sports pitches across the UK.

Up to 300 youth facilities like scout huts, youth centres and activity centres, will also be built or refurbished in deprived areas.

A bid for the Rugby World Cup and Tour de France

The UK will bid to host the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup and the 2026 Tour de France Grand Depart, Mr Sunak will announce.

The Chancellor will allocate £30m to back the bids.

V&A, Tate and Natural History Museum get cash

The Chancellor has confirmed a £850m pot over three years for local culture, museums and galleries
The Chancellor has confirmed a £850m pot over three years for local culture, museums and galleries

The Chancellor has confirmed a £850m pot over three years for local culture, museums and galleries.

Big bucks go to the V&A in London, Tate Liverpool and the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, which share £300m between them.

Likewise the Natural History Museum will get £125m to help build a new scientific research centre in Oxfordshire, and the British Library site at Boston Spa will get £77m.

It's tougher competition for 110 other regional museums and libraries, who share £75m between them.

A fund for veterans' health

The government has confirmed a Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund worth £5m over an unspecified timeframe.

It will provide research grants into finding new surgeries for amputees and blast victims, and new mental health treatment.

There will also be "new technology to help injured veterans rebuild their lives and participate in work, education and sport".

A new adult maths coaching scheme

A new £560 million adult maths coaching programme will be announced, providing help for half a million across the UK.

Funding for children with special educational needs

A £2.6 billion pot of funding to help children with special educational needs and disabilities is due to form part of the Budget.

Rishi Sunak will promise the cash to fund more than 30,000 new places for pupils to support their learning in both mainstream and special educational needs schools.

It will also be used to adapt existing buildings and provide special and alternative provision free schools to help drive up standards in special education.

Grants for 'strategically important' companies

The £1.4 billion Global Britain Investment Fund will hand out grants to encourage 'internationally mobile' companies to invest in the UK's critical industries, including life sciences and automotive.

Companies with 'strategically important' investment proposals will get handouts of taxpayers' cash towards their schemes - but the Treasury said the selection process will involve "stringent due diligence...to ensure value for money."

£150m for 'Angel investors'

There will be a £150m pot for the British Business Bank to encourage "Dragon’s Den-style ‘angel investors’ to help make people’s dreams of starting a business a reality."

The Regional Angels Programme will work with financial backers who want to give entrepreneurs start-up cash to get their businesses off the ground.

Upgraded border force ships

Rishi Sunak will announce £74 million to upgrade the fleet of coastal patrol ships protecting the UK border.

They will be replaced with a new fleet of 11 cutting-edge more fuel-efficient vessels with newer engines that emit less carbon.

Cash for crime prevention - including street safety

The Budget will include £435 million to go towards crime prevention, protecting communities and helping victims.

Funding towards helping victims, including those of domestic and sexual abuse, will rise to £185m an 85% increase from 2019-20.

The Safer Streets Fund, which works with police in local crime protection, will get £50 million to go towards CCTV, improved street lighting and intruder alarms.

And a separate £80 million in additional funding is also expected to be announced for the Crown Prosecution Service, part of which will help improve the response to rape and sexual assault cases.

Housing on brownfield sites

The Treasury said a £1.8 billion package of investment would help regenerate land as part of plans to "level up" the country.

Rishi Sunak will allocate £65 million to ramp up England's planning system, including digitisation that will make local plans easier to access and £9 million to help local authorities create 100 new urban "pocket parks" across UK.

Shipping tax changes

There will be tax changes to tempt more of the world's largest shipping companies to UK shores.

The Treasury said before Brexit, ships registered to the UK could not be treated differently for tax purposes compared to those from other EU countries.

Under tax changes, ships that fly the UK Red Ensign - a red flag with the Union Jack in the upper left hoist – "will be more likely to be able to participate in the UK’s Tonnage Tax regime."

Things that are tipped to be in the Budget

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A massive shake-up in alcohol duties

Treasury officials are said to see the current system of alcohol duties as outdated and complicated and want to smooth it out.

The Chancellor's plans could see the cost of sparkling wine falling and some taxes on beer cut as well.

But the spirits industry fears it could also mean 5% hikes for whisky, gin and other spirits which they say will hamper their recovery after Covid and Brexit.

And craft and independent brewers fear changes to Small Breweries’ Relief (SBR). They say the government could more than halve the threshold for a 50% beer duty rate, piling £44,000 extra in beer duty costs a yer on 150 small breweries.

Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) chief James Calder said: "The uncertainty over what will happen to SBR is causing a great deal of anxiety."

A tax break for banks - at the same time as benefits are cut

The Financial Times reported the Chancellor will slash a tax surcharge on bank profits from 8% to 3%.

The move is supposedly designed to keep the City happy and prosperous as corporation tax rises from 19% back up to 25%.

But it could provoke fury as the Chancellor as refused to provide the £5bn needed to keep a £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift.

Universal Credit changes

DWP ministers have been lobbying Mr Sunak to raise Universal Credit for the 2.3million claimants who work - weeks after cutting it by £20.

They want the “taper rate” - the amount of Universal Credit withdrawn for every pound someone earns - to be cut from 63p to 60p to let working families keep more of their money.

The £1bn a year move would be the first taper change in five years, and would partially cushion the blow of the £20-a-week cut.

But sources were downbeat about whether Mr Sunak would accept the move. And even if a 3p change in the taper was approved, it would not come close to making up for the £20-a-week cut for most families.

A 25-year-old single mum working 40 hours a week on minimum wage could be £9.39 a week better off. But because UC is being cut by £20 across the board, she would still be £10.61 worse off than she is now.

Those still covered by work allowances, or too sick to work, would not benefit at all from changes to the taper.

A rise in Air Passenger Duty

Plane tickets to Australia, South Africa and Japan will become more expensive
Plane tickets to Australia, South Africa and Japan will become more expensive

Plane tickets to Australia, South Africa and Japan will become more expensive if an Air Passenger Duty rise goes ahead.

The Guardian reports the Chancellor will confirm previously-mooted plans to reform the tax, levying a higher rate on longer journeys.

Currently APD is charged in two bands - journeys under and over 2,000 miles. A new third band could cover distances over 6,000 miles.

End of the line for HS2 to Leeds

Fears are mounting that the Tories will abandon a key rail link to the Red Wall - despite promises it would go ahead.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps refused to guarantee the eastern leg of HS2 - the high speed line to Leeds - would still be built.

The Spending Review could be a crucial time to confirm - or strangle off - funding to this project for the future.

Slashing VAT on household bills

Rishi Sunak could slash VAT on household energy bills to help struggling families through the winter cost of living crisis.

The Chancellor is reportedly considering cutting the 5% rate even though he has resisted pressure to splash taxpayers' cash elsewhere.

But Treasury officials played down the likelihood of Mr Sunak announcing a cut amid concerns he might set a precedent - and send the wrong message ahead of a green summit.

No big business rates reform

The Treasury promised a ‘fundamental’ review of how business rates work back in March 2020.

But it’s thought we will not see any large-scale reform until next year after hopes to include it in this Budget fell apart.

That is despite the fact a major overhaul of business rates is getting more and more urgent. High Street shops say they’re being left at a disadvantage compared to online warehouse giants like Amazon.

No solid plan for ‘levelling up’

No doubt Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak will take all the above announcements as evidence of their plan to ‘level up’ the Midlands and north of England.

But will there be a cohesive, coherent plan that spells out exactly what levelling up means?

Don’t bank on that - we’ve not seen it properly so far, and one source suggested a levelling up White Paper will only arrive the week after the Budget.

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