How far more will YOU pay after at this time’s funds? The winners and losers, from low paid employees, to pensioners, savers and first time consumers

Brits are being clobbered with £40billion in tax rises during Rachel Reeves‘ bruising first Budget today. 

While the Chancellor vowed to exclude ‘working people’ from tax hikes, this political sophistry is fooling no one – with nearly all Brits set to be worse off in one form or another. 

From pension holders to drivers and drinkers, investors to entrepreneur, the list of losers from today’s Budget is long. 

But there are a small number of winners, including the low paid young who could enjoy a £2,500 pay rise thanks to a hike in the minimum wage. 

Below, MailOnline reveals how much more you will pay – 

LOSERS – 

Parents with kids at private schools: VAT exemption axed 

Cost for you – £3,300 to parents paying the annual average of £16,656 

Starting in the new year, fee-paying schools will no longer be exempt from the tax, and will get no business rate relief, as the government looks to fund 6,500 extra teachers for state schools. 

Critics of the plan have argued that the change is coming in too fast and could force some schools to close as parents pull their children out due to higher fees. 

There are also fears of the impact on special needs schools, military children, and the effect of extra pupils entering the state system in the middle of the academic year.

Currently, independent schools do not have to charge 20 per cent VAT on their fees because there is an exemption for the supply of education.

The French and German ambassadors to the UK have also called for international to be excluded from the plans. 

But supporters of the change say it is a long-overdue closure of a loophole that allows wealthy schools to avoid tax.

Jobseekers: NI increase for employers  

Cost for you – Companies will pay, but it could hit workers down the line  

Employers’ national insurance contributions will rise by 1.2 percentage points to 15% in April 2025, and the threshold for paying them will fall from £9,100 per year to £5,000, the Chancellor has announced.

The NI increase for employers has been dubbed a ‘tax on jobs’ and could have a detrimental impact on business confidence, at the same time the Government is trying to make the UK an attractive place to invest.

It will add further labour costs to businesses already struggling with an imminent rise in the national living wage, as well as other cost constraints.

Any changes made to employer contributions will almost certainly trickle down to employees. Employers might also look to alternatives to cut costs by either investing in technology to reduce labour, or offshoring some of the work to other countries.

Changes made to employer pension contributions could also have an impact on how non-pension benefits, like healthcare, could be treated.

Vapers and smokers

Cost for you – £1.40 more for a bottle of vape liquid 

Labour ramped up its war on vapers today after Chancellor Rachel Reeves in announced a new flat rate duty on all e-cigarette liquid in her Budget speech.

Despite pledges to ‘invest, invest, invest’ and to pump ‘more pounds in people’s pockets‘, Ms Reeves’ £40bn tax bomb has been dubbed by critics as ‘the biggest heist in modern political history’.

As part of her plans to try and overhaul public finances, the Chancellor – who is just 118 days into her term as Britain’s first female Chancellor – has targeted Britain’s e-cigarette industry. 

She will roll out a new flat rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026. 

And the Chancellor revealed a 10 per cent hike on hand-rolling tobacco would be implemented this year.  

The new vaping levy follows a previous pledge by the Conservative government to do so, with the latest increases coming into effect from April 2026. ahead of a planned ban of single-use disposable e-cigarettes next June. 

It will introduce a toll of £1-3 per 10ml vape liquid, increasing depending on nicotine levels. Experts warned it would see the average UK vaper spending almost £73 a year on the habit, with the cost of a £4 e-liquid bottle swelling to £5.40. 

Finally, the (few) WINNERS

Low paid workers

Benefit for you -£1,400 pay rise   

In a move that will boost the income of millions of the lowest paid, the Chancellor used the Budget to unveil a 6.7 per cent increase in the minimum wage. 

It will see the baseline payment rate rise to £12.20, a 6 per cent increase – three-times the rate of inflation.

The increase is worth £1,400-a-year for fulltime workers aged 21 and over. But pay for 18 to 20 year olds will go up by £1.40 an hour from £8.60 to £10.00, the highest the largest increase in the rate on record.  This will mean an extra £2,500 a year for younger fulltime employees.

While this will boost many workers’ pay packets, it could also deal a blow to firms’ bottom lines and raise fears they could delay or even cancel taking on new staff. 

Tina McKenzie, policy chairwoman at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), called for extra tax help for owners, saying: ‘Raising employer NICs at the same time as employers adjust to a higher National Living Wage is why the Government should step up and significantly increase the Employment Allowance.

‘Reducing tax employers pay on wages is how you get sustainable rises staff actually feel in their pockets.’

At the same time, the Resolution Foundation think tank pointed out that it amounted to the smallest increase in the minimum wage in three years. Last year it went up 10 per cent.

Nye Cominetti, its principal economist, said: ‘The smaller rise in the minimum wage next Spring – expected to be the first time in almost a decade when it has risen no faster than typical wage growth – is sensible in the context of an expected rise in employer National Insurance contributions at the same time. The Government may want to take a more ambitious approach in future years.’

Draught beer drinkers: Duty cut

Benefit for you – 1p off the price of a pint (as claimed by the government)  

Draught duty on alcoholic drinks will fall by 1.7%, meaning “a penny off a pint in the pub”, the Chancellor has announced.

Drivers: Fuel duty frozen

Benefit for you – No tax-related increase in the cost of a tank 

The freeze on fuel duty will continue into 2025 and the 5p-a-litre cut will stay for another year. 

The price of a full tank of petrol will remain the same following fears drivers would see a 7p-per-litre increase on average after today’s Autumn Budget. 

The Chancellor said the move was a ‘substantial commitment’ because it will cost the Treasury around £3billion. 

Fuel duty has been frozen at 57.95p-a-litre since 2011. However, a 5p discount was put in force in March 2022 to help motorists cope with the sky-high cost of living crisis. 

Jeremy Hunt, the previous Chancellor under the Conservative government, extended the cut in his spring budget until April 2025.

In a move that will come as welcome news to drivers today, Ms Reeves has kept fuel duty frozen for another year and maintained the 5p-a-litre discount.