Yahoo Finance The key money events for 2024, from NI changes to energy prices
2023 hasn’t been a golden year for a lot of people – with rising prices, mortgage rates and tax – and falling growth, house prices and morale.
On paper, 2024 is looking a bit more positive, with inflation, tax rates and childcare bills all set to drop, but it’s worth knowing the good and bad news lying in store for you.
Here's our timeline for what's happening in terms of personal finances in 2024:
Good financial news for 2024
6 January – National insurance cut: This was the good news in November's autumn statement, which will see class 1 national insurance contributions fall from 12% to 10% at the start of the year. This will save basic rate taxpayers an average of £304, and higher rate taxpayers an average of £647. It effectively cancels out the impact of frozen income tax thresholds so far for the average earner – of course, with another four years of freezes there’s plenty more damage to be done.
April – 15 hours of free childcare for two-year-olds: Working parents will get 15 free hours of childcare a week for two-year olds from April – in addition to the free care for three- and four-year-olds. It’s the first step along the road to 30 hours of free childcare for all children from nine months to the start of school, phased in between now and September 2025. In September this year, those 15 hours of free childcare will be extended to children aged nine months to two years old.
1 April – National living wage and minimum wage rise: the national living wage will rise to £11.44 an hour – up almost 10% from £10.42, and the age threshold will fall from 23 to 21. Those aged between 18 and 20 years old will also get a pay rise to £8.60 per hour – up £1.11.
Read more: Why you could pay more tax in 2024 – and five ways to avoid it
6 April – ISA changes: From this point, you’ll be able to pay into multiple ISAs of the same type in a tax year. Plus, you will be able to transfer slices of individual savings account (ISA) money you paid in during the current tax year too. It doesn’t sound like much but will protect people from expensive mistakes.
6 April – National insurance for self-employed people cut: Class 2 national insurance contributions will be axed altogether (saving an average of £186 a year). The main rate of national insurance contributions for self-employed people will also be cut by one percentage point, from 9% to 8%.
8 April – State pensions rise: The state pension will rise 8.5% in line with the triple lock. For someone on the full new state pension this will see their pension grow from £203.85 to £221.20 a week. Pension credit will rise by the same amount – faster than working age benefits.
8 April – Benefits rise with inflation: Those receiving working age benefits will have them increased in line with September’s inflation rate, which this year was 6.7%.
Bad news for finances in 2024
1 January – New energy price cap: The energy price cap will rise £94 (5%) from £1,834 to £1,928, after conflict in the Middle East sent oil and gas prices higher.
March – Rail fares rise: Normally the government uses July's retail prices index (RPI) to set the increase in regulated fares. The government has announced that next year rail fares won’t rise by 9%, but we haven’t had confirmation of exactly how fast they will increase.
23 March – Temporary cut to fuel duty ends: The 5p fuel duty cut was announced in March 2022, then extended for another 12 months in early 2023. Unless we hear otherwise before this date, this is when it ends. However, we’re likely to get a spring budget before this point, and a big rise in fuel duty would be horribly unwelcome, so there’s hope we’ll get news of another extension before this point.
1 April – Regulated prices rise: The TV licence fee will rise by £10.50 to £169.50, water bills are expected to increase, and if prescription charges rise, this is when it’s likely to happen.
Read more: How to avoid Christmas debt
1 April – Tax rises kick in: There are a host of unwelcome tax rises set to kick in at the start of what has become known as ‘Awful April’. This includes car tax, which rises with RPI; council tax, which is expected to rise by up to 5%; air passenger duty, which increases with RPI; and fuel duty – unless the government freezes it in the spring budget.
6 April – Dividend and capital gains tax changes: The threshold for dividend tax will be halved to £500 and the capital gains tax threshold cut in half, to £3,000.
6 April – Tax thresholds remain frozen: This stealth tax will have an enormous impact on our finances this year. It’s not just that we’ll all have to pay more tax, 4 million more people will be dragged into paying tax, 3 million more into paying higher rate tax and 400,000 more into paying additional rate tax.
Watch: Top 5 takeaways from Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement
