Spending Review
For more information on the Winter Fuel Payment announcement for 2025/26, click here, external.If you have received a suspicious message regarding your energy bills, report it by clicking here, external.To apply for the Warm Homes Plan, click here, external.To learn more about the how announcements made in the chancellor's Spending Review will effect you, click here.
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The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Findlay: Tories will save £650m – and use the cash to cut taxes for Scots
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay will promise voters his party can bring down taxes by stopping 'wasteful spending' and making £650 million of savings. He will insist there is a need to 'urgently streamline bloated government' at Holyrood. The party leader will outline plans for a Taxpayer Savings Act, promising this will save £650 million by 'cutting red tape, getting a grip on spending, and harnessing business expertise'. Mr Findlay will also tell the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Edinburgh about plans to establish a Scottish Agency of Value and Efficiency. This would be run by business leaders, he will tell the conference, who would then be 'tasked with wielding a claymore on waste'. The Scottish Tory leader has already accused First Minister John Swinney and his Government of wasting money 'on an industrial scale'. In his keynote speech to the conference – his first since becoming leader north of the border last year – he will say that 'putting a stop to wasteful spending is top of our agenda'. Mr Findlay will tell party supporters: 'We need to urgently streamline bloated government. 'Improving services means treating people's money with respect.' He will say £650 million that could be saved as a result of a Taxpayer Savings Act would be used 'to bring down people's taxes', adding: 'By doing that, we would start to restore trust.' Mr Findlay will also promise the Tories would 'shut down quangos that don't deliver value' and 'tackle the SNP's culture of cronyism through strict new rules on public appointments'. He will pledge a future Conservative government at Holyrood would seek to reduce both the number of ministers and special advisers. He is then expected to say: 'We would introduce a Scottish Agency of Value and Efficiency, run by business leaders. People in the real world who know how to get things done. 'They would be tasked with wielding a claymore on waste.' Another proposal will be for an Accountability and Transparency Index, with Mr Findlay saying this would 'shine a light on every organisation that receives public money, and would begin to dismantle the SNP's toxic era of secrecy'. Scottish public finance minister Ivan McKee said: 'The Scottish Government is making real progress in reforming the public sector: the number of Scottish public bodies under Government control has shrunk from 199 in 2007 to 131. 'However, we know there is more to do, which is why I will soon unveil our public service reform strategy. 'Unfortunately, this work has been made more difficult by the UK Government's decision to pursue Brexit, which in 2023 alone led to an estimated cut in public revenues of about £2.3 billion. 'Most Scottish taxpayers already pay less income tax than they would elsewhere in the UK.'
The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Three union leaders included in King's Birthday Honours
Three trade union leaders have been included in the King's Birthday Honours for services to areas including education and green jobs. Dave Ward, long-serving general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) is made a CBE for services to trade unions, and Dr Patrick Roach, who recently retired as general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union is made a CBE for services to education. Sue Ferns, deputy general secretary of the civil service union Prospect, is made an OBE for services to green jobs and workplace transition. Mr Ward has been general secretary of the CWU for a decade, leading the union through the privatisation of Royal Mail and recent sale of the postal giant to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. He started work as a messenger boy at Tooting delivery office in south London before becoming a union rep, holding several positions before succeeding Billy Hayes as general secretary in 2015. He is married with four children, supports Chelsea and is a keen blues guitarist. He told the PA news agency: 'The New Deal for Workers campaign was founded and led by the CWU. 'At a time when society has never been more unequal the trade union movement pushing Labour to turn this campaign into a new Employment Rights Bill could not have been more important. 'This honour is recognition of our union's work in this area and for the way we stand up for postal, telecom, financial services and tech workers across the UK. 'I joined the GPO as a telegram boy in 1976 and it is a privilege to now be the general secretary of a union that campaigns for our members in and out of the workplace. 'We now need employers and the Government to go even further in rebalancing workplaces and society. We will continue to lead this.' Dr Roach stepped down as NASUWT general secretary in April after five years. The son of Jamaican immigrant parents, he grew up in Walsall, West Midlands, in the 1970s, and has described how he faced racism at school on a daily basis. He is married with two children. He was a teacher of politics and sociology in further education and was a researcher and lecturer in education, social policy and equalities in higher education. He later joined NASUWT and headed the union's education and equalities work before becoming assistant general secretary and then deputy general secretary. He has served in a number of voluntary roles as a school governor and in supporting the provision of supplementary education for African Caribbean children. Dr Roach became head of the union in 2020 at the start of the first national lockdown, leading union members in uncharted territory as schools and colleges, teachers and headteachers adapted to one of the most challenging post-war periods in education. As head of the TUC's anti-racism taskforce, Dr Roach was instrumental in leading Britain's trade union movement in challenging racism and injustice at work. He told the PA news agency: 'I am humbled and incredibly proud to be granted this honour. 'It has been my privilege to have been afforded the opportunity to devote my career to education and in the service of NASUWT members, teachers and headteachers, whose commitment, work and dedication every day continues to inspire, shape lives and make a world of difference.' Sue Ferns, who has also been a member of the TUC General Council since 2005, grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and was the first member of her family to go to university, studying industrial relations at Salford University. After graduating in 1982, she started working for the TUC's economics department. She joined Prospect in 1993, becoming head of research in 2002, director of communications and research in 2013, and senior deputy general secretary in 2018. She has campaigned on issues including the gender pensions gap, workers' rights in the science, engineering and energy sectors, and clean energy. She has taken part in several government taskforces and working groups, particularly on clean energy jobs and workforce skills. She told the PA news agency: 'I am privileged to have spent my career in the trade union movement, determined to make a positive difference to the lives of working people. 'I'd like to thank the countless colleagues, trade union representatives and members within our movement, whose commitment to improving the lives of others has been an inspiration throughout my career.'
Times
44 minutes ago
- Times
HMRC can't be bothered to send letters (unless you owe it money)
HM Revenue & Customs will stop sending physical letters to taxpayers in the latest move to 'modernise' and save £50 million a year. The tax office confirmed it would 'eliminate' outbound post unless it is revenue generating, cutting the number of letters it sends by 75 per cent by the 2028-29 tax year. The government promised an extra £500 million in funding over the next four years in Wednesday's spending review, with the aim of pushing at least 90 per cent of customer interactions online and making HMRC a 'digital-first organisation'. Lindsay Scott from the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), a trade body, said withdrawing physical letters prematurely 'risks further damaging customer service'. 'Plans to phase out post must be handled with care, with robust safeguards to protect those who are digitally excluded or lack digital confidence,' Scott said. This year, 70 per cent of the tax office's interactions with taxpayers were 'digital self-serve', but HMRC estimates that about a fifth of its customers, or seven million people, still need assistance to use its digital services. Last year, more than 300,000 filed their tax returns on paper. The department's previous attempts to digitise have also been widely criticised. Its Making Tax Digital initiative has cost at least £1 billion more in real terms than its initial £226 million budget when it was proposed in 2016, according to the National Audit Office, which scrutinises government spending. In 2023, it said the rollout for self-assessment tax returns was at least eight years behind schedule. The tax office has also come under fire for its track record with customer communications. Its webchat service, launched in 2015, connected less than half of the time, according to a report by the CIOT and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a trade body, published in December. The report also showed taxpayers were satisfied with webchats 28 per cent of the time and the phonelines 56 per cent of the time, although HMRC's own satisfaction estimates are much higher. On the phone lines, callers spent an average of 23 minutes on hold in the last tax year and 34 per cent of callers gave up before they were connected in 2023 — more than double the target of 15 per cent or less. The investment announced on Wednesday comes as part of a wider push to revitalise the tax office, with an additional £1.6 billion in spending over the next four years also confirmed for reforming its technology and data infrastructure. The full spending package aims to raise £7.5 billion additional tax revenue a year by 2029-30, by digitising services and hiring an extra 7,900 staff to work on compliance and debt management. The government said it will use the extra revenue to 'fund vital public services'. HMRC said: 'Reducing the number of letters we send and communicating in different ways instead will provide a better service for our customers in line with modern-day expectations, as well as deliver savings of £50 million by 2028-29.'
