No joke on 1 April: It's national 'price hike' day

[davieG]

By Brian MilliganPersonal Finance reporter

• 1 April 2016
•  
• From the sectionBusiness

Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage captionAir Passenger Duty is amongst the taxes going up on 1 April

More than a million workers are celebrating a pay rise as a result of the National Living Wage, but 1 April sees a raft of price rises too.

Council tax bills in England are going up by an average of 3.1%, or £46 a year, while residents of Wales will pay an extra £41.

Water bills, prescription charges, and the cost of air travel are also rising.

"It seems to have become national price hike day," said Hannah Maundrell, the editor in chief of Money.co.uk.

"The majority of the price hikes seem pretty small, many as low as 1%. However, all these small hikes add up and lead to fewer pounds in your pocket."

The latest figures show that CPI inflation is currently 0.3%.

Mobile Contracts

Apart from Council tax, here are some of the other increases:

• Water Bills: Up by £2 a year in England and Wales

• Air Passenger Duty: Up by almost 3% on long-haul flights. APD on economy flights up from £71 to £73. The Scottish government plans to halve the tax by 2021.

• Prescription Charges: Up by 20p to £8.40 in England. NHS Prescriptions are free in Scotland and Wales.

• NHS dental charges: Cost of a check-up goes up by 5% to £19.70. Cost of a filling up by 5% to £53.90.

• Mobile phone contracts: Three, O2 and EE are all increasing prices for some customers on monthly contracts.
• Stamp Duty: Landlords and buyers of second homes will pay a 3% surchargeon Stamp Duty, or LBBT in Scotland.

Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage captionTown Halls are warning that services will suffer, despite the tax increases National Living Wage

After years of encouraging local authorities to freeze their Council Tax, the Treasury has now allowed a small increase, primarily to pay for the costs of social care.

However Council Tax will remain frozen in Scotland for another year.

Councils say that much of the increase will be spent on paying a higher level of wages, as a result of the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW).

From 1 April, 1.3m workers over the age of 25 will be entitled to a minimum wage of £7.20 an hour, instead of £6.70 previously.

"After years of striving to keep council tax as low as possible or frozen, town halls find themselves having no choice but to ask residents to pay more council tax over the next few years to offset some of the spiralling costs of social care in 2016/17," said a spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA).

Councils also warned that the quality and quantity of services on offer could drop, as a result of further funding reductions next year.

They said the National Living Wage would bring "a significant further cost pressure from April".

 

[Izzy]

Well, that's inflation for you I suppose.

[Carl the Llama]

Well, that's inflation for you I suppose.

Is it?  I'm very out of touch with this stuff so I don't know if it's been frozen for a long time or not but council tax taking an average increase of 1000% the inflation rate seems just a bit unfair on the face of it.  Like I say though I don't know the other factors surrounding it so I'm not going to jump straight into condemnation mode, I expect someone can put me straight one way or the other.

 

Edit: Just done a quick bit of maths and the minimum wage has gone up 2300% of the inflation rate so that on the other hand looks quite nice at face value.  Still gonna sit back and let the more informed posters get their teeth in though before I make any real conclusions.

[The Doctor]

Well, that's inflation for you I suppose.

 

Fairly certain inflation isn't that high, definitely not the 5% on the dental bills.

[Izzy]

Is it?  I'm very out of touch with this stuff so I don't know if it's been frozen for a long time or not but council tax taking an average increase of 1000% the inflation rate seems just a bit unfair on the face of it.  Like I say though I don't know the other factors surrounding it so I'm not going to jump straight into condemnation mode, I expect someone can put me straight one way or the other.

 

Edit: Just done a quick bit of maths and the minimum wage has gone up 2300% of the inflation rate so that on the other hand looks quite nice at face value.  Still gonna sit back and let the more informed posters get their teeth in though before I make any real conclusions.

Mate, I'm far from informed but all I know from experience over many years is that shit gets more expensive. I don't understand inflation but it is what it is and there's fook all I can do about it. Others can winge and moan all they like but it's just wasted energy IMO. My view might be old fashioned but if people feel hard done to they should go out and better themselves, take responsibility, fulfil their potential and make a difference in society. It's far to easy just to sit back and blame the government and outside influences. National 'price hike day' FFS. Just get on with it Britain.

[Webbo]

Is it?  I'm very out of touch with this stuff so I don't know if it's been frozen for a long time or not but council tax taking an average increase of 1000% the inflation rate seems just a bit unfair on the face of it.  Like I say though I don't know the other factors surrounding it so I'm not going to jump straight into condemnation mode, I expect someone can put me straight one way or the other.

 

Edit: Just done a quick bit of maths and the minimum wage has gone up 2300% of the inflation rate so that on the other hand looks quite nice at face value.  Still gonna sit back and let the more informed posters get their teeth in though before I make any real conclusions.

A bit dramatic? It's gone up 3% after being frozen for years. If people want all this increased public spending the money's got to come from somewhere.

[J.Lisemore]

All this inflation and higher cost of everything, where does it end? . Not in our lifetime but it'll get to a point where we'll have to press the reset button with money.

[AyewJoking]

"the quality and quantity of council services could drop"

 

that should be interesting

[Carl the Llama]

Mate, I'm far from informed but all I know from experience over many years is that shit gets more expensive. I don't understand inflation but it is what it is and there's fook all I can do about it. Others can winge and moan all they like but it's just wasted energy IMO. My view might be old fashioned but if people feel hard done to they should go out and better themselves, take responsibility, fulfil their potential and make a difference in society. It's far to easy just to sit back and blame the government and outside influences. National 'price hike day' FFS. Just get on with it Britain.

Wait what?  Inflation isn't like the rising and setting of the sun; it's not a natural phenomena we have no control over and therefore need not concern ourselves with the econopolitics of it (ok fine if you don't understand it then yes fair enough leave it to the people who do, those are the people I was trying to solicit a response from).  Besides I wasn't talking about inflation, I was talking about the policymaking decision to increase council tax at a rate 10x higher than the given inflation rate, you may also have noticed I looked at the decision to raise the minimum wage by 23x the inflation rate so it's not like I was making a political attack, loosen up a bit.

 

I was quite clear that I'm not informed and asked people who have been paying more attention to the finer details to let me know if it was indeed related to a freeze or other factors as I suspected may be the case.  Don't have a go at me for being willing to analyse and question things that the government does, that's what being a functioning member of a democracy - something you're clearly proud of being - is all about.

 

Just so you're clear:  The reason I sought to question it was because if it was a direct result of inflation then the increases would have been around the 0.3% mark across the board.  Obviously that rarely happens with these things because of policies and fiscal controls that enforce certain rates and prices on the economy - sometimes to affect the inflation rate itself, sometimes to protect certain sections of society, sometimes for other reasons entirely.  Btw if you're ignorant of things like this maybe, just maybe it makes sense to do like I did and ask people to inform you?

 

A bit dramatic? It's gone up 3% after being frozen for years. If people want all this increased public spending the money's got to come from somewhere.

You clearly understood my question since you then answered it so why try making a petty drama over it?  But thank you for confirming one of my suspicions.

 

 

 

Can't believe I just got jumped on for asking an admittedly not so simple question.  I'll make sure to do all my politics research outside of FT and not ask for the cooperation of other FTers in disseminating certain information I don't have to hand in future. 

[Webbo]

Wages have risen by 3.5% this year so that's risen by more than 1000% Times inflation. Everything's great.

[Izzy]

Wait what? Inflation isn't like the rising and setting of the sun; it's not a natural phenomena we have no control over and therefore need not concern ourselves with the econopolitics of it (ok fine if you don't understand it then yes fair enough leave it to the people who do, those are the people I was trying to solicit a response from). Besides I wasn't talking about inflation, I was talking about the policymaking decision to increase council tax at a rate 10x higher than the given inflation rate, you may also have noticed I looked at the decision to raise the minimum wage by 23x the inflation rate so it's not like I was making a political attack, loosen up a bit.

I was quite clear that I'm not informed and asked people who have been paying more attention to the finer details to let me know if it was indeed related to a freeze or other factors as I suspected may be the case. Don't have a go at me for being willing to analyse and question things that the government does, that's what being a functioning member of a democracy - something you're clearly proud of being - is all about.

Just so you're clear: The reason I sought to question it was because if it was a direct result of inflation then the increases would have been around the 0.3% mark across the board. Obviously that rarely happens with these things because of policies and fiscal controls that enforce certain rates and prices on the economy - sometimes to affect the inflation rate itself, sometimes to protect certain sections of society, sometimes for other reasons entirely. Btw if you're ignorant of things like this maybe, just maybe it makes sense to do like I did and ask people to inform you?

You clearly understood my question since you then answered it so why try making a petty drama over it? But thank you for confirming one of my suspicions.

Can't believe I just got jumped on for asking an admittedly not so simple question. I'll make sure to do all my politics research outside of FT and not ask for the cooperation of other FTers in disseminating certain information I don't have to hand in future.

Mate I'm sorry, I wasn't having a pop at you, but people in general. You're obviously far brighter than me so I won't enter into a debate but it was more a frustration on recent threads on here. Schools crisis, Doctors crisis, Imigration crisis, and now Inflation to name but a few. My point was that people spend a lot of time, effort and energy just moaning about stuff rather than just playing the hand they're dealt and getting on with it. I've learnt this week that I'm better off not contributing to any political related thread on FT because I'm just not qualified to comment. I'll just continue to operate within the rules and policies whatever government sets, and then make the best of it for me and my family. No hard feelings...

[Rincewind]

Mate I'm sorry, I wasn't having a pop at you, but people in general. You're obviously far brighter than me so I won't enter into a debate but it was more a frustration on recent threads on here. Schools crisis, Doctors crisis, Imigration crisis, and now Inflation to name but a few. My point was that people spend a lot of time, effort and energy just moaning about stuff rather than just playing the hand they're dealt and getting on with it. I've learnt this week that I'm better off not contributing to any political related thread on FT because I'm just not qualified to comment. I'll just continue to operate within the rules and policies whatever government sets, and then make the best of it for me and my family. No hard feelings...

I wish I could just lurk. 

[Carl the Llama]

Mate I'm sorry, I wasn't having a pop at you, but people in general. You're obviously far brighter than me so I won't enter into a debate but it was more a frustration on recent threads on here. Schools crisis, Doctors crisis, Imigration crisis, and now Inflation to name but a few. My point was that people spend a lot of time, effort and energy just moaning about stuff rather than just playing the hand they're dealt and getting on with it. I've learnt this week that I'm better off not contributing to any political related thread on FT because I'm just not qualified to comment. I'll just continue to operate within the rules and policies whatever government sets, and then make the best of it for me and my family. No hard feelings...

S'aight, I'm a few days into a self-imposed smoking ban so I'm a bit testy and desperate for anything to occupy my overwired brain with, what better than mundane econo-politics on a football forum?