Autumn Statement targets wages, homes and letting fees

A triple boost for working class families will be pledged by Philip Hammond as he unveils his first Autumn Statement as Chancellor and the first since the UK voted to leave the EU.

Mr Hammond will announce a £1.4bn cash injection for housing, changes to Universal Credit to help those on low incomes keep more of their pay packet and an increase in the National Living Wage to £7.50 an hour.

The Government claims the extra money for housing will help build 40,000 new homes and, in a move to help tenants renting from private landlords, they will no longer have to pay upfront letting fees.

The changes to Universal Credit will mean the low paid will be able to keep an extra 2p of every extra £1 they earn, a move also aimed at improving incentives to work for three million families.

And the increase in the National Living Wage, a 4% rise for over-25s from April 2017, will be backed up by new rules of enforcement to prevent rogue employers failing to pay the legal minimum.

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The Treasury says Mr Hammond's package is designed to "improve the living standards of ordinary working class people and their families", in line with goals set out by Theresa May in her Tory conference speech last month.

The Prime Minister has spoken of wanting to help people "just about managing", who have become known as "JAMS" in Whitehall jargon and are identified as those working hard on relatively low incomes to provide for their families. 

With the Government now making housing a priority, it is estimated that the ban on letting agency fees, which was Labour policy under Ed Miliband, will benefit 4.3 million households and save them an average of £337.

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Other measures to be announced by the Chancellor will include:

:: A crackdown on whiplash claims, designed to allow insurers to reduce premiums by £40 a year.

:: Relaxation of restrictions on schemes like affordable rent, shared ownership and rent-to-buy, to help people in different housing circumstances, including renters struggling to save for a deposit.

Mr Hammond will also confirm investments of £1.3bn on roads and £1bn on broadband, as well as committing billions more to research and development projects designed to support high-skill jobs.

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But Labour has already attacked the Chancellor's proposals as inadequate. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Mr Hammond had failed to provide support for people on low and middle incomes.

On Universal Credit, he said: "If as reported, all the Chancellor is offering is a 2% change in the taper rate, then it will be too little, too late for those working families who have had to bear the brunt of six wasted years of failed Tory economic policies."

"Despite all their rhetoric last month, and before the ink is even dry on the Autumn Statement, it looks like it will be jam tomorrow for working people under Theresa May and Philip Hammond."

And on the housing proposals, Labour spokesman John Healey said: "Six years of Conservative housing policy have led to the lowest level of new affordable housebuilding in 24 years. Today's announcement is too little and too late. 
 
"Too little to make good the huge cuts in housing investment from 2010, with investment still only half the level left by Labour. 

"The reality is Ministers' deep cuts have left a funding shortfall of over £17bn compared to the plans I left as Labour's last Housing Minister. Today's announcement doesn't even make up a tenth of that."

But welcoming the scrapping of letting fees, he said: "Labour has long backed ending sky-high letting fees for renters, while Conservative MPs including the Prime Minister have repeatedly voted against it, so any change of heart is welcome.

"However, the reality is this is too little, too late for hard-pressed renters when government housing policies are making the problems of high costs and poor conditions for renters much worse. 
 
"Since 2010, Ministers have opposed Labour's plans for longer term tenancies and brake on rent rises, voted against Labour's proposals to make all rented homes 'fit for human habitation', banned Labour councils from cracking down on rogue landlords, and slashed investment in genuinely affordable rented homes."