Seventeen big money changes in 2024 & what they mean for YOU – including £1,800 pay rise for millions and free childcare

Cost of living payment - February 6

Households on certain benefits, including Universal Credit, will receive the £299 payment directly into their bank accounts between February 6 and February 22.

Those eligible for the tax-free payment won't have to do anything as it will be made automatically.

The full list of benefits that qualify people for the payment is:

• Universal Credit
• Income-based jobseekers allowance
• Income-related employment and support allowance
• Income support
• Working tax credit
• Child tax credit
• Pension credit

You need to have been entitled to a payment of any of the qualifying benefits above between November 13 and December 12 to be eligible for the free cash.

If you were later found to be entitled to any of the above benefits between the same dates you will also be eligible for the payment too.

Households on tax credits only will receive their payment from HMRC after the others are paid by the DWP.

The £299 payment is the final of three payments that form the £900 support.

The first instalment worth £301 was paid out to over eight million households in April and May.

The second payment of £300 started being paid on October 31.

Rail fare change - March 3

Rail fares are set to rise again in March.

Prices will rise, although not using the usual formula based on July’s Retail Prices Index (RPI), which was 9%.

Fares will instead be hiked by 4.9% next year, the Department for Transport has announced.

The rise will affect season tickets on most commuter journeys, some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys, and flexible tickets for travel around major cities.

The current cost of a weekly commute from Oxford to London is £6,096, which will rise to £6,394 from March next year - £298 more.

Meanwhile, a season ticket from Tunbridge Wells to London will rise by £372 to £5,829.

Deadline for backdating Pension Credit for CoL - March 5

The deadline for pensioners to backdate claims for Pension Credit in order to receive the third Cost of Living payment is March 5.

The benefit is available to people who have reached state pension age and are on a low income.

Pension credit claimants are among those eleigible for the government's cost of living payment being dished out in February 2024.

For other benefits, you'll need to have been eligible for the qualifying benefits between November 13 and December 12 to be eligible for the free cash.

But Pension Credit works slightly differently and can actually be backdated by three months.

That means that as long as you submit a claim by March 5, you'll still be able to get the £299 Cost of Living cash.

Pension Credit provides an average of £3,900 each year in extra financial support - but around 800,000 eligible households are missing out.

Spring budget - mid-March

The last spring budget took place on March 15, 2023.

The Budget is when the Government outlines its plans for tax hikes, cuts and things like changes to Universal Credit and the minimum wage.

It's different to the Spending Review, which sets out how much public cash will go towards funding certain departments, devolved governments and services, such as the NHS.

The Budget is read out in the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The last big financial announcement was in November’s Autumn Statement.

Fuel duty cut to end - March 23

Thanks to The Sun's Keep it Down crusade, Fuel Duty had been frozen at 57.95p since March 2011 and temporarily slashed by an extra 5p in 2022.

This 52.95p rate is due to expire in March next year - meaning a fresh battle against the hated tax is brewing ahead of the Budget in the spring.

Fuel duty is a tax on fuel including petrol, diesel, biodiesel and bioethanol.

VAT (Value Added Tax) is also charged on most fuel.

The Sun's Keep it Down campaign has forced ministers to freeze duties for 13 years in a row.

National Living Wage rise - April 1

Millions of workers will get a £1,800 pay rise next year.

As of April next year, the National Living Wage for those over 21 will rise from £10.42 to £11.44.

It's the biggest hike to the minimum wage for a decade and for the first time will apply to over-21s, rather than over-23s.

The change was confirmed in the Autumn Statement when the Chancellor said full-time workers on the National Living Wage will get a pay rise of over £1,800 a year.

Here are the new rates that will be implemented from April 1, 2024:

• Those aged 21 and over will get £11.44 rather than the current rate of £10.42
• For 18 to 20-year-olds, the rate will be £8.60, an increase of £1.11 on the previous wage of £7.49
• 16 to 17-year-olds will get £6.40, an increase of £1.12 on the previous rate of £5.28
• The apprentice wage will also increase to £6.40 from £5.28

Council tax rise - April 1

Council tax is once again expected to rise from the 1st of April.

The payment is an annual fee you pay to your local council.

The cost is set by your council and goes towards funding local services.

The exact amount payments will rise by is set to be announced in February next year.

This year saw the majority of local authorities hike rates by 5% – though in some cases bills went up by 15%.

TV licence price increase - April 1

Households will be paying more for their TV licence fee from next year.

For the past two years, the licence fee has been frozen at the price of £159 but that is set to change.

It was expected that an increase was on the horizon as it was previously agreed the fee would rise in line with inflation after April 2024.

This has now been confirmed and the BBC licence fee will rise from £159 to £169.50, as of April 1, 2024, an increase of £10.50.

TV watchers could have been paying £15 more as bosses had hoped to hike it by a bit more than just over a tenner.

But ministers pushed for them to settle in line with September's 6.7% inflation rate.

Everyone who watches TV in the UK needs to pay their annual licence fee, which counts for any live TV or anything on BBC iPlayer on any device.

If you don't have one it's a criminal offence and you could be landed with a fine of £1,000.

Flexible working changes - April 6

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act is set to come fully into force on April 6.

It is set to improve current flexible working rights, allowing employees to make two formal flexible working requests in a 12-month period.

The right to make a flexible working application also becomes a day one right on April 6, 2024.

Until then employees will need 26 weeks’ continuous employment to make a request.

Employers will need to consult with employees before rejecting any such applications and will have only two months to consider and decide the outcome.

Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s needs, for example having flexible start and finish times, or working from home.

All employees have the legal right to request flexible working - not just parents and carers.

Benefits rise - April 8

Universal Credit and many other benefits will rise in line by 6.7% next April.

How much you get does vary depending on which benefit you're on, so payments will be different for each person.

The average family on Universal Credit will see an increase of around £470 a year from April 2024.

This is the equivalent of an increase of around £39 per month.

Child Benefit payments will go up for their eldest or only child from £24 a week to £25.60.

For every additional child, payments would be hiked from £15.90 to roughly £17.

Income support will go up to £71.70 a week - a £4.50 a week pay rise, from April 2024.

Attendance allowance payments will increase from £68.10 to £72.66 a week - a rise of £4.56.

The higher rate is worth £101.75 weekly, which will rise to £108.56.

If you get the maximum amount of PIP, you can expect your payments to rise from £172.75 a week to £184.32 a week from April 2024 - up by £11.57 a week.

For the full list of benefits increasing in April and how much they're going up see our handy explainer.

State pension increase - April 8

Those on State Pension will see a rise of up to £901 in payments from next year.

It comes as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the move in the Autumn Statement that the pension triple lock will remain intact.

The amount pensioners get from the state rises every year in order to keep up with the cost of things like food and household bills.

Payments will increase by 8.5%, in line with last July's wages figure.

That's because the triple lock system sees the state pension rise in line with whatever is highest out of: wages for May to July, 2.5% or September's inflation figures.

It means pensioners on the new state pension will be looking at as much as £901 a year.

This is up from just over £10,600 to £11,501 a year.

And a weekly rise from £203.85 to £221.20 - a £17.35 increase.

It's important to note though that this is for those entitled to a "full" new state pension.

How much individuals get is based on the number of qualifying years they've accrued.

Older pensioners who retired before April 2016 will get a weekly rise from £156.20 to £169.48, and an annual rise from £8,122.40 to £8,812.96.

Alcohol duty - August 1

The government has said it will freeze alcohol duties until August 1, 2024.

It was a major win for The Sun's Save Our Sups campaign.

The freeze will come to an end at the beginning of August though.

The annual uprating decision will be announced in the Spring Budget.

Alcohol duty is a tax charged at the point of production or importation of drinks of alcoholic strength exceeding 1.2% alcohol by volume.

Duty rates differ for beers, ciders and perries, wines, spirits, and other fermented products.

The last time prices were increased was on August 1, 2023.

The price of some drinks crept up by as much as £1.29 while the cost of a bottle of wine climbed by 44p.