#office-for-budget-responsibility

#office-for-budget-responsibility

There are reasons to be worried and think about the future. But we are able to do something about this. We should be thinking about, well, how do we tip the balance in favour of AI being used in that positive way to help people do their jobs better [rather than replacing them].

Hundreds of thousands of young people in this country don't know they have a CTF, let alone how to access it. Some will have a couple of thousand pounds sat there that would really help them as they begin adult life.

Choosing the right accountant is less about finding someone good with numbers and more about finding someone who understands your specific circumstances. A good specialist will answer confidently and with specificity.

Public debt stands at more than $39 trillion, with the interest expense on that borrowing now exceeding $1 trillion a year, highlighting the urgent need for a sustainable fiscal path.

The UK unemployment rate fell from 5.2% to 4.9%, driven more by increased economic inactivity, particularly as fewer students sought work.

Public sector net borrowing fell by £19.8 billion, or 13.1pc, to £132 billion over the 12 months to the end of March, the lowest level since 2022-23.

Britain's tax wedge, which estimates total taxes on labour paid by employees and employers, minus cash benefits received by working households, increased by 2.45 percentage points last year, the most in the OECD.

The idea has reportedly gained support from Defence Secretary John Healey and has been discussed in private ministerial meetings in recent weeks, as ministers search for ways to bridge a widening fiscal gap without breaking Labour's tax and borrowing pledges.

A surge in capital gains tax, employers' National Insurance contributions and a boost in income tax receipts helped buoy the government's finances last month. An uptick in tax receipts, which far outstripped spending, created a 30.4bn surplus in January. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it was the highest surplus in any month since records began in 1993, without adjusting for inflation, and nearly double last January's 15.4bn figure.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

In principle, all the departments are supportive of the Shared Services Strategy. However, HM Treasury and the Department for Education (DfE), who currently have modern ERPs and are both in the Matrix cluster, have indicated they would welcome more information through the business case about likely costs for them before they assess that onboarding is feasible and value for money.

Rachel Reeves told MPs that living standards are expected to improve over the course of this parliament. Her central claim was that households would be around £1,000 a year better off by the time voters next go to the polls. The projection is based on forecasts for real household disposable income - a measure that tracks the amount people have left after tax and inflation.

Meg Hillier, the chair of the all-party House of Commons Treasury committee, said the chancellor should make clear her long-term plans for the 6bn-a-year Send bill as uncertainty grows over how it will be accounted for at the end of the decade. Reeves, who is due to appear before the committee next month, said in a letterto MPs that she plans to delay a decision until next year.

The economy continued to grow slowly in the last three months of the year, with the growth rate unchanged from the previous quarter. The often-dominant services sector showed no growth, with the main driver instead coming from manufacturing. Construction, meanwhile, registered its worst performance in more than four years. The rate of growth across 2025 as a whole was up slightly on the previous year, with growth seen in all main sectors.