Budget special: energy, tax, childcare, pension and Help to Save

The Martin Lewis Podcast is here – and it’s a Budget 2023 special. Founder of Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis reacts to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget. Free childcare of 30 hours a week for working parents in England is being expanded to cover one and two-year-olds, but will only be fully implemented by September 2025. Currently, working parents with three and four-year-olds are eligible for 30 hours of free childcare per week. The plans are part of a government drive to encourage more people back to work to boost economic growth.

The Chancellor is also scrapping the lifetime allowance on tax-free pension contributions, which is currently £1.07m, to stop people like doctors from retiring early.

Plus the government will extend support for energy bills at current levels for a further three months. Typical household energy bills in Britain had been due to rise to £3,000 a year from April, but instead will be kept at £2,500 until the end of June. But a £400 winter fuel payment will not be renewed, meaning households' costs will still rise in the short term. The government also promised to bring prepayment energy charges in line with those for direct debit customers. This should save households about £45 a year on their energy bills from July.

Elsewhere in the podcast, you Tell Us your top budgeting tips, how do you stick to a budget? Is it 'credit card in freezer' or spreadsheets? What's worked surprisingly well for you? Plus Nihal takes on Martin’s Money Mastermind, and this week is quizzed on Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Producer: Isabelle Tudor