What time is Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing the Budget

On Wednesday, October 30, Rachel Reeves will stand in the House of Commons and announce her first ever budget. Although what will be contained in her speech is not yet know, there have been many discussions ahead of the big day.

It's understood that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could be introducing a raft of fiscal adjustments, including cuts to the welfare bill, a raid on inheritance tax, and bumping up the tax on vaping products. Furthermore, there has been a lot of discussion around the budget potentially focusing on National Insurance employer contributions going up, changes to capital gains tax, changes to ISAs and much more.

For Wales, there can be some direct announcements made or some that have an impact because if there is spending announced for England, then Wales can be eligible for a consequential payment under the Barnett Formula. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.

Here's everything you need to know about the budget - what it's about, when will it take place and what it might include.

What is the budget?

Every year, the chancellor - who is in charge of the UK Government's finances, lays out their plans on raising or lowering taxes. They also present their plans on spending on health, schools, police and other public services.

The last budget announcement was in March this year, when the Conservative party were in power and Jeremy Hunt was the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This will be the first time a UK Labour government has announced budget plans in 14 years. It's understood that Labour will be conservative with its spending plans given the frequency with which it has been speaking about a £22bn "black hole" it claims was left by the Conservatives.

What time is the budget?

The chancellor will make her first budget speech on Wednesday, October 30. The speech usually starts at around 12.30pm, it will take place at the House of Commons and will last around an hour.

Once Reeves has announced the government's budget plans, leader of the opposition and Conservative party leader Rishi Sunak will respond to the budget's details. There are a number of ways you can watch the budget speech, including via Parliament TV, BBC iPlayer, with BBC and Sky News likely to be broadcasting Reeves' speech live.

What could be included in the budget?

The budget is expected to include substantial tax increases and spending cuts aimed at addressing a £40bn funding gap, This may include changes to welfare bill, inheritance tax, and National Insurance (NI).

It is understood that the chancellor is considering slashing £3bn from the welfare bill over the next four years by limiting access to sickness benefits. As it stands, there are 2.8 million people off work as a result of long-term sickness.

It is also understood that Reeves is planning an inheritance tax raid. There's normally no inheritance tax to pay if either the value of your estate is below the £325,000 threshold, or if you leave everything above the £325,000 threshold to your spouse, civil partner, a charity or a community amateur sports club.

As it stands, the standard inheritance tax rate is 40%, it raises about £7bn a year for the UK Government, and around four per cent of deaths result in an inheritance tax charge. Two of the most prominent inheritance tax reliefs allow for family businesses and agricultural land to be passed on tax free.

It is believed that inheritance tax could be subject to change. According to the BBC, the chancellor could be planning to increase the amount of money it raises in inheritance tax, but it is not yet clear how many people are likely to end up paying more or how much more they would pay.

Treasury officials are also reportedly looking at National Insurance (NI) on employer pension contributions. Currently, employers pay NI at a rate of 13.8% on all employees' earnings above £175 per week, but pension contributions made by employers are currently exempt from the levy.

There have also been suggestions that Ms Reeves could cap the total amount that people are able to have in an ISA, which are tax-free interest payments, currently, the tax-free limit for ISAs is £20,000 per tax year and people can build up savings of hundreds of thousands of pounds which generate income free of tax.

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