How the Queen's Speech Will Help You and Your Family.
The Queen’s Speech is the next big step in our long-term economic plan. Its aim is to secure the recovery for our country, and give you and your family security and peace of mind for the future.
Helping families:
Finding affordable childcare is one of the biggest challenges for parents and guardians. So we’re going to help working families with their childcare costs - with tax-free support of up to £2,000 a year for each child.
We’re also increasing the personal tax allowance to £10,500, cutting income tax for over 25 million people (find out how much you’ll save here) and fuel duty is being frozen for the rest of this Parliament.
Giving you more security in retirement:
If you’ve worked hard and saved for your pension pot, you should be free to decide what to do with your money. So we’re giving people with defined contribution pensions complete control over how they access their pension:
Those who want an annuity will still be able to purchase one
Those who want greater control of their finances in the short term can take a greater amount as a lump sum
Those who don’t want either an annuity or to withdraw everything in one go will be able to keep their pension invested and access it over time
We’re also making important changes to workplace pensions to give employees more certainty about their income in retirement.
Protecting workers:
We’re banning “zero hours” contracts where they prevent workers taking jobs elsewhere - and raising the maximum fine to £2,000 per employee for employees who pay less than the minimum wage.
Backing small business and enterprise to create more jobs:
Because we have taken difficult, long-term decisions, we are able to put extra investment into our roads and railways to improve our infrastructure and help businesses grow and create jobs.
This includes the biggest investment in roads since the 1970s - and in rail since Victorian times.
We’re also making it easier for small businesses to start, grow and employ people.
These measures build on what our long-term economic plan has delivered so far: the deficit down by over a third; income tax cut for 25 million people by an average £705; 1.5 million more jobs; a welfare system that ensures work pays; 1.7 million more apprentices and better schools for young people.
There is still a long way to go - but only by sticking to our plan will we secure a better and brighter future for Britain.
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Ahead of the Queen’s Speech, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister said:
This Queen’s Speech marks the next big step in our long-term plan for Britain. Its aim: to secure the recovery for our country. We want a Britain that earns its keep and makes its way in the world, with a strong economy, a fair society and peace of mind for all that live here.
Its guiding principle: to back everyone who wants to get on in life. We may be 2 parties, with 2 different philosophies, but we understand 1 thing: countries rise when their people rise. So this Queen’s Speech is unashamedly pro-work, pro-business and pro-aspiration.
Its centrepiece: ground-breaking pensions reform. The reforms we plan will be the biggest transformation in our pensions system since its inception, and will give people both freedom and security in retirement. By no longer forcing people to buy an annuity, we are giving them total control over the money they have put aside over their lifetime and greater financial security in their old age. It’s all part of our wider mission to put power back in the hands of the people who have worked hard – trusting them to run their own lives. At the same time we’re completing sweeping reforms to workplace pensions to give employees more certainty about their income in retirement. Taken together, this is a revolution that matches our previous reforms to education and welfare in giving people opportunities they were previously denied.
All of this builds on what we have achieved as a coalition. It is easy to forget when we first came together in the national interest just how sceptical people were about how long the Coalition could last and how much change we could effect. 4 years on, our parties are still governing together and still taking bold steps. 4 years on, no-one can deny the progress we have made. The deficit down by a third; our economy one of the fastest-growing in the developed world; more than 1.5 million more people in work – and more people in work than ever before; a welfare system that ensures work pays; more than 1 million new apprentices; taxes cut; inequality declining and fewer children attending failing schools.
Of course, there is still a long way to go. But this Queen’s Speech marks a significant step. It builds on the foundations we have laid in the past 4 years, will help us make progress and continue to take Britain forward to a brighter future.