Budget 2023 news latest: Jeremy Hunt to unveil pension changes in tomorrow’s statement

Vacancies across the UK have fallen for the eighth month in a row as firms hold back on hiring amid woes in the wider economy, official figures have shown as Jeremy Hunt prepares to unveil his “back-to-work” Budget.

The Office for National Statistics revealed a 51,000 drop in the number of job vacancies to 1.12 million in the three months to February, while the redundancy rate edged higher, which it said “reflects uncertainty across industries, as survey respondents continue to cite economic pressures as a factor in holding back on recruitment”.

Britain’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 per cent in the three months to January, but the drop in vacancies signalled cracks in the jobs market as economic uncertainty weighs on companies.

The figures also showed there were 220,000 days lost to strike action in January, down from 822,000 in December, with schools the hardest hit.

Jeremy Hunt has been urged to invest in public sector pay in the Budget, as new research by the Trades Congress Union (TUC) suggested nearly two in five workers are actively considering leave their profession – with a third citing low pay as a reason.

One in six public sector workers said they were skipping meals and one in 14 is using a food bank, according to the TUC – which warned that public services are facing a “mass exodus” of workers unless the current wave of pay disputes is resolved.

Unison union assistant general secretary Jon Richards said: “Decent public services are the bedrock of any society but they can’t exist without people to run them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to fathom that pay is key to keeping and attracting a motivated workforce.

“The government must invest in pay in the Budget so schools, hospitals, town halls and care homes can better compete with wages in the private sector. That would help boost staffing levels for everyone’s benefit.”

The universal credit sanctions scheme is to be tightened in a new push by Jeremy Hunt to get hundreds of thousands of people into work, prompting concern among campaigners.

The requirement for benefits claimants who are lead carers of children to search for work are also to be strengthened, as part of a raft of measures the chancellor will announce on Wednesday in what he has branded his “back-to-work Budget”.

In an overhaul the government claimed was “the biggest reform to the welfare system in a decade”, the Work Capability Assessment – described as flawed by campaigners – is also to be axed.

But it comes as new Office for National Statistics figures showed the number of people off work in the UK due to long-term sickness is the highest since records began in 1993.

Pressure is mounting on Jeremy Hunt to provide targeted support for charities in his upcoming Budget, as new data revealed the extent to which falling donations are failing to keep up with soaring demand.

The chancellor was warned just days ago that half of charities fear they will not survive as the inflation crisis sees the cost of energy, rent and supplies skyrocket.

A group of more than 30 organisations wrote to Mr Hunt last week urging him to issue targeted funding for charities to support with energy costs and to increase payment for governmnet contracts in line with inflation.

London’s top banking stocks like Standard Chartered, Barclays and HSBC had returned to growth on Tuesday after sinking into the red at the start of the week.

The FTSE 100 closed 88.48 points higher, or 1.17%, at 7,637.11.

Other European stocks managed to rebound after seeing even greater declines than the UK, with the German Dax moving 1.83% higher and the French Cac up 1.86%.

US investors started the day’s trading on a positive note, with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Dow Jones up 0.65% when European markets closed.

Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG, said: “Market sentiment appears to have a turn for the better today, with equities throughout Europe and the US moving higher despite ongoing concerns over the health of the banking sector.

“The demise of Silicon Valley Bank brought concerns of further contagion throughout regional banks, leading to widespread calls over who could be the next to fall.

“However, while there are likely to be others which will have to write down bond market investments, parallels to the global financial crisis should be limited.

“With US banking stocks seeing widespread gains, there is distinct feeling of confidence that we will not see widespread issues arise throughout the financial sector.”

The pound slipped on Tuesday and was down by around 0.3% to 1.215 against the US dollar and down 0.1% to 1.1341 euros by the time markets closed.

The UK’s top stocks have clawed back some of the losses suffered on Monday after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank prompted a global sell-off of banking stocks.

The FTSE 100 jumped by more than 1% on Tuesday afternoon, marking a rollercoaster session for the stock exchange which started the day firmly in the red.

But London’s top index did not manage to fully offset the 2.6% decline on Monday, which saw more than £50 billion wiped off its total value.

The failure of the tech-focused lender in the US sparked fears that the national’s financial system was beginning to buckle under the weight of a relentless series of interest rate rises.

It led some analysts to predict the Federal Reserve could leave the base rate unchanged at the next monetary policy meeting in efforts to stabilise the global economy.

But President Joe Biden sought to reassure Americans that the banking system was sound and people’s deposits were safe.

Nevertheless, he promised to look at new banking regulations to make it less likely that such a large bank failure can happen again.

This month many in the UK will still be looking anxiously at their energy bills and thinking twice about switching the heating on.

Ofgem has announced that its cap on the amount suppliers can charge for energy for average dual fuel, direct debit customers will fall by 23 per cent for the three months from 1 April to £3,280, from £4,279 for the January to March quarter. But campaigners warn that imminent changes to the government support measures, introduced last year to tackle soaring domestic energy costs, mean many could actually end up paying more.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced that the energy price guarantee – introduced by Liz Truss last September to ensure households paid no more than £2,500 for their electricity and gas, with the government subsidising the remainder permitted by the cap – would be increased to £3,000 from next month.

Young adults could be entitled to a free sum of £1,900 if they access money amassed in unclaimed child trust funds (CFTs).

The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that people are losing track of long-term tax free savings accounts set up under a Labour government for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011, with more than a quarter of CFTs remaining untouched for a year or more after their owners turned 18.

Parents of the 6.3 million children born during the period were sent a £250 voucher shortly after their child was born, to open a fund. If they failed to do this before the child’s first birthday, HMRC opened an account on the child’s behalf.

Drinkers are braced for a sobering Budget expected to include a double-whammy tax raid on alcohol that could see the cost of a bottle of wine increase by about 45p.

Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, is primed to hike alcohol duty in line with inflation – currently running at an eye-watering 10.1 per cent.

And a separate tax targetting higher strength drinks is due to come into force despite the biggest cost of living squeeze for a generation.

Some drink-makers have already increased the price of their products due to inflationary pressures and any further tax hikes would likely be passed on to consumers.