£100 Budget Handout Meets a Wolverhampton Reality Check

Chancellor John Healey's Budget hands up to 20 million households in England a one-off £100 council tax payment — but traders in Bilston, Wolverhampton say the numbers don't come close to their bills. Six sausages that cost £1.50 last year now run about £2.50, according to local butcher Kevin Evans.

"We need more help for small businesses instead of punishing them," Evans said, responding to the tax and spending plans set out on Wednesday. He told BBC Radio WM the measures would make things harder for his business, not easier.

"The electricity is a killer, it's a big one, it's mega money. It's just out of control now," he said. "It doesn't benefit you to be a businessman in this country anymore."

What's actually in the Budget?

The package includes several headline measures for households and workers:

• A one-off £100 payment for up to 20 million households in council tax bands A-D in England
• A 3.9% rise in the legal minimum wage from April
• A flat-rate state pension increase of £488 a year, equivalent to 3.9%, under the triple lock
• A £374.40 rise in the old basic state pension
• Removal of standing charges from gas bills across England, Scotland and Wales
• An extension of the VAT cut on electricity bills until July
• Scrapped import taxes on more than 100 food products, including gherkins and marmalade, plus kerosene and fertilisers

What does this change for small employers?

For Evans, the wage and National Insurance trajectory cancels out any hiring ambition. "I would love to take another person on but I can't afford to because National Insurance and the minimum wage keep going up. I might as well just do the hours myself," he said.

The trade-off is personal. "You have less time at home. I don't get a day off now. It's not feasible, it comes out of my pocket which is already being emptied," he added.

Plasterer Glen Gandy, a father-of-two, echoed the view. He said he can't afford to expand his workforce or absorb rising material costs.

"There is nothing in the new Budget that will help my business," Gandy said. "Minimum wage up by 3.9% is good for kids, but you're going to employ someone with more experience if you have to pay them extra anyway, so it will push people out of work."

His workaround has been wage restraint: he and his staff haven't put their own wages up for two and a half years. Fuel, though, offers no such flexibility. "I pay around £350 a week on fuel just going around Wolverhampton. It costs us a fortune," he said.

Energy bills that decide survival

Chip shop owner Lutfu Efe now pays nearly £800 a month for electricity and £600 a month for gas. Years ago, he said, the combined figure was closer to £300 a month — meaning his energy costs have roughly quadrupled.

"This is why we are struggling. Many years ago it was around £300, but it has sky-rocketed," Efe said. "It's not just me, everyone is in the same boat. Everything has gone up. We have two options: the government helps us or we have to close down. There is nothing in this Budget to help me."

Households: help, but not much

For mum-of-six Gwyneth Totney, the £100 payment has a precise shelf life. It "will help but not much, it will cover about two weeks of gas and electric," she said.

Her weekly grocery shop has climbed from about £100 to about £130 — a 30% jump that has forced behavioural change. "I've started going to the butcher's for my meat now as it's cheaper than the supermarket," she said.

Her family works more, has less time, and has swapped the cinema for home movie nights because taking all six children out is "way too expensive."

Her verdict on the Budget: "It feels like they are trying to bring the cost of living down, but they are not actually doing it."

The household measures land first — the £100 payments and the wage rise from April — but the Bilston traders' arithmetic suggests the real test for this Budget is whether any small firms are still standing when the next one arrives.