Special Edition

July 2015

Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Easy News Budget 2015

George Osborne is the UKs Chancellor.

The Chancellor is in charge of how the
Government spends its money.

He gave a speech in Parliament about the way

the Government wants to spend less money in
future years. His speech is called the Budget
speech.

He said that the economy is growing.

The economy is how much money our
country and Government has.

He said that the deficit is going down and

that there will be no deficit by 201920.
A deficit is like a debt. It is when you
spend more money than you have.

Easy News Budget 2015

George Osborne talked about work. He said
that there will be a new National Living
Wage. This means that from April 2016,
employers will have to pay all their workers
who are over 25 years old at least 7.20 an
hour.
This will go up to 9 an hour by 2020.

He said that the amount of money that

people can earn before they pay tax will
get higher.
From April 2016, people can earn up to
11,000 before they have to pay any tax.

The Chancellor also said in future some

people who get the Employment Support
Allowance benefit will get less money.
This will not include people who are
already getting the Employment Support
Allowance benefit.

George Osborne said that the Government

will cut 12 billion that is spent on benefits
by 2020.

12 billion

Easy News Budget 2015

He said the Government would save some of
this money by lowering the amount of money
families can get in benefits. This is called a
benefit cap. Families living in London will have a
cap of 23,000 a year. Families living in the rest
of Britain will have a cap of 20,000. Not all
benefits will be included in this cap.

He also said that some benefits would not

go up for the next 4 years. These include tax
credits and local housing allowance.
Pension, disability and benefits paid to
women having a baby can still go up over
these years.

The amount of money that someone can earn

and still receive tax credits will go down from
6,420 to 3,850.

People will also only be able to claim Child

Tax and Universal Credits for their first two
children, after April 2017.

Easy News Budget 2015

In future, people aged 18-21 who receive

Universal Credit will only receive Housing Benefit
if they are in training or on a work placement.
Universal Credit is new. It brings together most
of the other benefits into one new benefit.
Many people living in social housing will pay
less in rent. Social housing means that the
Government gives people with certain needs, or
who dont earn a lot of money, a place to live.
Their rent will go down 1% each year for the
next 4 years.
People who earn more money will be asked to pay
more rent. People will be asked to pay more if they
earn more than 30,000 across the country or
40,000 if they live in London.

People who own a house which costs up to

1 million will be able to give it to their children
or grandchildren when they die without paying
tax. This will begin in April 2017.

1,000,000

In the past, people from Britain who live in other

countries, known as non-doms, have paid less
tax. From April 2017, they will have to pay the
same level of tax as other UK citizens. This will
include anyone who has lived in the UK for 15
or more of the past 20 years.

Easy News Budget 2015

George Osborne also said that an extra 8 billion

will be spent on the NHS by 2020. This is on top
of the 2 billion the Government has already
agreed to spend.

University students from poorer families will

not get grants to help pay for the cost of their
studies any more.
A grant is money that the Government gives to
some students to help them pay for their studies.

21,000

Instead, students will get a loan which they will

have to pay back when they earn more than
21,000 a year.

The cost of petrol will stay the same for the

next year. A new tax will be introduced in
April 2017 for people who buy brand new
cars. People whose cars are environmentally
friendly will pay less.

The Chancellor promised that the Government

will spend 2% of the money that it gets through
taxes on defence. Defence means how the
Government protects all the people in the UK
with the help of the armed forces.

Easy News Budget 2015

The Government is giving councils in Manchester
more powers to make decisions about fire services,
planning and childrens services.
This is because Manchester will have a directly
elected Mayor. People living in Manchester will
vote for the Mayor in 2017.
The Government also wants to give more powers
in the future to councils in Sheffield, Liverpool and
West Yorkshire.

By Flickr user Steve Punter (The Harman set on Flickr) [CC

BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via
Wikimedia Commons

Harriet Harman is the acting leader of the

Labour Party. She said that families will suffer
because of the cuts that the Chancellor has
made in his Budget.

She said that even though the Government

is bringing in the National Living Wage, many
families will have less money than they did
before because of the cuts to tax credits.

Easy News Budget 2015

If you are happy or worried about

something in the Budget, you
could tell your local Member of
Parliament (MP).

You can find out who your MP

is and how to contact them at
www.writetothem.com

You can find out more about

what MPs do at
www.everyvotecounts.org.uk

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Translated into Easy Read

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Front cover: Chancellor George Osborne poses with traditional red briefcase at Downing Street on July 8, 2015 before unveiling the summer budget. Ian Davidson / New Zulu / PA Images

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