Farmers are eligible to the same support as any other member of the public. The Government recognises the challenges facing households due to elevated costs of living, so has taken action so has taken action at Spring Budget 2023 to go further to protect struggling families.<\/p>
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The Government extended energy support by keeping the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 for three months from April, saving households an additional £160, bringing total Government support for energy bills to £1,500 for a typical household since October 2022.<\/p>
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Alongside this, further steps are being taken by the Government to support households with the rising cost of living by ending the premium paid by over 4 million households using prepayment meters across the UK, introducing 30 hours of free childcare per week for working parents with children aged 9 months up to 3 years in England alongside a substantial uplift to the hourly rate paid to providers and market reforms, cancelling the planned increase in fuel duty and keeping rates at current levels for the next 12 months, and increasing Draught Relief.<\/p>
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This is in addition to the benefits uprating and support for vulnerable households announced at the Autumn Statement, which included new Cost of Living Payments in 2023-24, helping more than 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits, 8 million pensioner households and 6 million people across the UK on eligible disability benefits. The Government also announced at the Autumn Statement additional support to help with the cost ofrtgar household essentials, through the Household Support Fund in England.<\/p>
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Taken together, support to households to help with higher bills is worth £94 billion, or £3,300 per household on average, across 2022-23 and 2023-24 \u2013 one of the largest in Europe. The Government\u2019s successful economic strategy will provide further help. The Bank of England forecast that inflation will fall to 5.1% by the end of 2023, before falling close to target by the end of 2024.<\/p>
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Hard-working people are the backbone of our economy. That is why last year the Government increased the national insurance starting threshold by £2,690, taking around 2.2 million working people out of paying national insurance. It is now possible to earn over £12,500 a year without paying any tax or national insurance.\u202f\u202fWhile the Government has prioritised Cost of Living support for those most in need ensuring we act in a fiscally responsible way, significant universal support has been made available, for example through the Energy Price Guarantee.<\/p>
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As we move away from the EU\u2019s bureaucratic Common Agricultural Policy towards a new system of rural payments, the Government recognises that the Agricultural Transition will create challenges for some farming businesses. To support these changes, and to give farmers the best chance of benefiting from our reforms, we are providing support to build resilience during the early years of the transition.<\/p>
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