Seven ways the Spending Review will affect you

All the talk of departmental budgets and fiscal rules may feel somewhat distant from the cost of food shopping and your finances.

The Spending Review is not a Budget in which taxes are changed or a host of new policies announced. But, don’t be fooled, it will have an impact on you and your money.

Here are seven ways you could see a change.

1. Your job may be affected

If you work in the public sector your job or your pay could be directly affected.

The defence sector and the NHS are getting a significant amount of government funding. Science and tech will see investment; other areas much less so.

Over the next three years, Home Office funding is down 1.7% a year, the Foreign Office loses 6.9% a year, mainly in aid spending, the Department for Transport loses 5% a year, Environment and Rural Affairs loses 2.7%, and Business and Trade loses 1.8%.

Some of these cuts are tied to specific savings, but it could also mean a squeeze on jobs and wages in those sectors.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also announced some long-term projects, which will create new jobs in time. For example, giving the go-ahead to the new Sizewell C nuclear plant will create 10,000 direct jobs and thousands more in connected businesses, ministers say.

2. More free school meals

Any child in England whose parents receive universal credit will be able to claim free school meals from September 2026.

Universal credit is a benefit paid to those on low incomes, many of whom are in work. Currently, a household must earn less than £7,400 a year to qualify for free school meals in England.

All primary school children in London and Wales can currently access free meals. In Scotland, all children in the first five years of primary school are eligible, as well as all children from families receiving the Scottish Child Payment benefit.

Parents in Northern Ireland can apply if they receive certain benefits and are below an income threshold which is approximately double the current England level, at £15,000.

3. Better libraries and pools, but higher council tax

The chancellor promised money for “renewal” projects in 350 communities, such as improvements to parks, youth facilities, swimming pools and libraries.

However, the documents strongly suggest there will be rises in council tax in the future, to improve local authorities’ spending power.

As well as this, local government funding is likely to rise slightly and this affects a number of things such as social care for older people, various local services or the cost of a parking permit. Or, in time, it could be as simple as the cost of a garden waste bin.

In the nations of the UK, several areas of policy are devolved, and that can lead to a complicated funding structure that will need to be analysed.

Reeves said, through the funding formula, the government in Scotland would receive £52bn from 2026 to 2029, there will be £23bn for Wales, and £20bn for Northern Ireland.

4. £3 bus fare cap will continue

In October, the £2 cap on bus fares, covering most bus journeys in England, was raised to £3.

This was due to run until the end of 2025, but now the government says it will last until “at least” March 2027. There are separate bus caps in London and Manchester.

The chancellor also promised plans to develop Northern Powerhouse Rail from Liverpool to Manchester.

The government will also put money towards building and improving tram networks in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and the Midlands.

The Newcastle to Sunderland metro line will also receive an extension, while nearly £1bn will go towards improving train services in the south west of England.

5. More help for pensioners in winter

Last winter, the winter fuel payment – which helps cover energy costs during the coldest months – only went to low-income pensioners in receipt of pension credit.

This winter, it will go to all pensioners in England and Wales who have an annual taxable income of £35,000 or less. Separate policies in Scotland and Northern Ireland may now be reconsidered.

Details of the change of policy came on Monday, although how this is paid for will not be clear until the autumn Budget.

The Treasury said it would cost £1.25bn to restore the payment, of either £200 or £300, to millions of pensioner households.

6. Changes to your energy bill

It is quite difficult to get your head around the numbers involved in the mammoth project to build a new nuclear power plant.

A total of £17.8bn of taxpayers’ money has been pledged for the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk to date.

The Treasury will borrow that money, but the interest on that debt is paid for through household energy bills. The government estimates that will be about £1 a month on a bill.

However, ministers stress that longer-term – perhaps in about 10 years’ time – this domestically generated power will reduce household bills significantly, compared with bills had the plant not been built.

The chancellor also confirmed its manifesto plan to improve insulation in homes in order to reduce energy use and therefore bills.

7. More affordable homes

A total of £39bn is going to be invested in affordable and social housing in England. The aim of this is to improve the availability of homes for those on lower incomes.

The government says this investment will help ministers hit their target of building 1.5 million new homes by 2030.

The money will come over the next 10 years.

But, like so many of these policies, there are questions over where the money is going to come from, whether it will need to be topped up in time, and whether it will ultimately lead to tax rises.

Changes to the government’s self-imposed rules mean there will be a further £10bn for Homes England to boost housebuilding.