How will the Budget Affect Stoke and Staffs?
Plus NHS app helps secure appointments quicker, free festive activities for low income families plus free festive parking for all on 13/12 and 20/12 across the city…
Good News 🎉
💷 What the Budget Means for Stoke. As many families continue to struggle with the cost of living, news that the two-child benefit cap will be scrapped next April was welcomed by the local community, including MP for Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, David Williams, who stated that the move will see 12,000 children lifted out of poverty across the city. To be classed as being in poverty, a household’s income must be below 60% of the UK’s median household income, about £19,380 per year in the most recent figures from UNICEF. MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, Allison Gardner, recently told Parliament that child poverty is as high as 76 per cent in Normacot, which is within her Stoke South constituency. So, what didn’t go up? Income tax, fuel, and prescription charges were all frozen, but tax on savings interest outside ISAs and the personal savings allowance will increase by 2%, as will income tax rates on property. Electric vehicle drivers, meanwhile, will be charged per mile from 2028.
☺️ THE KNOT’S PERSON OF THE WEEK – Nathan Walton ☺️
CEO of Insurance Connections and fundraiser Nathan Walton, who has raised more than £1.5 million as part of a fundraising team for good causes including Dougie Mac and the Samaritans, recently scooped the Charity Champion award at the Your Heroes Awards ceremony organised by the University of Staffordshire. Three children were named joint winners of the Child of Courage accolade: Kieran Hankin, who fundraises for charity despite having life-limiting conditions; Paige Collins, who helps others despite awaiting an operation for a hole in her heart; and nine-year-old Skye Hemmings, a carer for her mum and older sister. The NHS Hero prize went to nurse Joanne Blackburn, who is awaiting a kidney and pancreas transplant, while Andy Edwards, who created the statue of Lemmy in Burslem, was also recognised at the ceremony.
🎄Free Festive Activities For Low-Income Families. More than 6,400 activities are available via the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme from 20/12-04/01 for those in receipt of free school meals. Stoke-on-Trent City Council has partnered with The Hubb Foundation to deliver everything from arts and crafts and sporty activities to theatre trips, bowling and laser quest, along with free healthy meals. Sessions can be booked here.
💪 Justice for Our Miners. Rachel Reeves has announced that more than £2.3 billion from the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme pension fund will be released, which will benefit around 800 pensioners in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme who worked at sites like Silverdale Colliery and Chatterley Whitfield. The government has approved a new bonus pension equal to 41% of members’ guaranteed pension. Pensioners are expected to receive their enhanced payments and a backdated lump sum by this Christmas.
👩⚕️ NHS App Helps Secure Appointments Quicker. We’ve all been stuck in the 8am scramble in the queue, trying to get an appointment for the doctors. But if you download the NHS app, you can submit a non-urgent enquiry between 8am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, and your GP practice will respond the same day. More than 500,000 people across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent have already downloaded the NHS App. In addition to booking appointments, you can submit online consultation forms, message GP practices, and access health records through the app. Search ‘NHS App’ in the Apple App Store or Google Play.
🚘 Free Parking for Christmas! In a bid to encourage residents to hit the high street for a spot of festive shopping, Stoke-on-Trent City Council is offering free parking at council-run car parks on Saturday 13 December and Saturday 20 December, with shoppers to Hanley, Longton, Burslem, Fenton, Tunstall, Stoke and Meir benefiting from free parking from midnight to midnight on those days. Check out all the participating car parks here before grabbing your bags for life…
🥨 A word from Helen, editor/writer at The Knot
While not everyone was impressed by the budget due to higher taxes on savings, property and dividend income, many have applauded measures like lifting the two-child benefit cap and increasing the minimum wage from £12.21 to £12.71 an hour. What’s your take on it? Tell us in the comments below!
Over the coming weeks, expect even more from us on social media, including festive gift guides from Yellow by Keep It Local and Longton Exchange, plus an interview with Deb McAndrew from Claybody Theatre, who is directing A Christmas Carol (running 05/12–20/12).
In other news, you’ll see a new posting structure from The Knot from this week: three posts per week for free subscribers, plus an additional post every other week for paid subscribers. Coming up, we have an interview with Green Party councillor Jonathan Kempster, who sits on Staffs Moorlands Council alongside fellow Greens ouncillor Connor Brady, who defected from Labour last month. We will also have interviews with Steve Barras, development officer of the Potters Bank, a credit union designed to provide safe, affordable financial services to Stoke, and reviewing H I D D E N, Cris Cohen’s new dining experience inside Spode Works. Don’t miss, too, our upcoming listicle, 20 Don’t-Miss Things to Do This Christmas in Stoke and Staffs, which will drop in your inbox this Wednesday to help you plan your festive season.
In the coming weeks, there will be more from us on socials, too, including festive gift guides from Yellow by Keep it Local and Longton Exchange, and an interview with Deb McAndrew from the Claybody Theatre, who is directing A Christmas Carol this December: catch it from 05/12-20/12.
Who, and what, would you like to see us feature in future interviews, articles, listicles and Instagram Reels? As ever, let us know in the comments below!
Really Good News 🎉 Your favourite news from the last week
👨👩👧👦 Making Stoke’s Streets More Family-Friendly: Knotters were especially interested to find out about Longton’s £1.9m Improvement Scheme…
🏠 100 Years of Social Housing: Many of you clicked to watch the film on YouTube
👢 Kinky Boots Delivers Uplifting Message of Inclusion: Here’s our theatre review
Weekly Weather (Stoke-on-Trent)
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Sat 🌧️ 10° (6°) Sun 🌧️ 10° (7°).
Sunrise 01/12 ☀️07:59 Sunset 01/12 🌅 15:56