Autumn Budget 2023

Nicholas Harris, Stonewater's Chief Executive, has responded to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement from earlier today.

Nicholas said: “At lunchtime today, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that National Insurance will be cut from 12% to 10% from January 6, 2024. While this makes good headlines, the reality for many of our customers means that this will have little to no positive impact on their income.

“Our customers will be told that the changes to National Insurance and the recent fall in the rate of inflation is good news, however the effective inflation rate for the poorest tenth of households is around 2% higher than it is for the richest tenth of UK households.

“Unfortunately, this means that once again, those that can least afford it are the most affected by the continued cost-of-living crisis. We need to ensure that customers, of all income levels, but particularly those that are in lower paid employment, are aware of the support available to them.”

It was also noted that the Government didn’t provide any further announcements specific to supporting the decarbonisation of social housing, an area of work Stonewater is passionate about.

Nicholas commented: “Stonewater continues to be committed to using renewable technology into our new and existing homes to support the reduction of carbon emissions as well as cutting our customers’ energy bills.

“Only around 56% of social housing are rated at EPC band C or higher, meaning that customers living in the lower rated homes are facing higher energy bills, adding further financial burden to their already stretched pockets.

“While our own efforts to promote and include energy efficiency measures and technologies across our homes will help, we need the government to back this cause too – through support and funding across the country – so that we can meet our goals and ensure customers everywhere have safe, warm and efficient homes to thrive in.”