Hours after John Healey announced a £100 energy payment for people in England in council tax bands A to D, it appears people are still trying to find out what council band they reside in.

The government website tool used for checking this currently reads a message: "The service is currently experiencing high demand.

"It remains available, but you may experience slower response times than usual. Thank you for your patience."

The service was also struggling shortly after the announcement was made, our cost of living correspondent Kevin Peachey said earlier.

Image source, GOV.UK

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

So far, the mood ranges from positive to... well, acceptance.

Some would have liked a bolder approach to taxing the banks - not just a temporary doubling of the bank levy - but are understanding of the chancellor's position.

"Now is not the time to spook the markets," said an MP on the party's centre left.

A leadership loyalist expressed his relief that at this stage market reaction was calm.

Rather than an over-arching vision, there was "a whole range of nuggets" said another but added that this might be the right approach - for now.

Small measures here and there "weren't nothing - they will mean something to people".

Fiscal devolution - such as giving mayors access to tax and business rate revenue - is seen as a genuine radical measure but some feel that dry phrase needs to communicated in a different way - by tying it more explicitly to projects it could fund.

One MP though added an important caveat - "it is only as radical as the mayors are willing to be"

The left-wing group Momentum said the budget measures were "welcome" but the government needed to be more willing to "tax extreme wealth".

Jenny Kumah
BBC South West England Correspondent

Ahead of today’s budget, the National Farmers’ Union called for a reversal in inheritance tax for agricultural estates. Farming assets worth more than £2.5m face 20% inheritance tax.

The £2.5m allowance can be transferred between spouses and civil partners, meaning in some cases £5m of value is protected.

Richard Payne is an arable farmer in Taunton, Somerset and says inheritance tax is a big reason why he has sold his 700-acre farm and is due to move out next summer.

Payne, 63, says his heirs faced a £2m tax bill. This, coupled with the rising costs of fuel and fertiliser and a succession of record poor harvests, led to his decision to sell up.

"I can't see farming getting any better," he says, adding "with the level of investment that we had in the farm, the risk was just too high".

"If I went under and I had no money left, I wouldn't get a job at my age.”

He says the Budget - which did not reverse the policy - had left him with "an empty feeling" because nothing major had changed and there wasn’t much that was "positive for business".

Image source, Richard Payne

Malcolm Prior
Rural affairs producer

For many countryside organisations, today's Budget was a missed opportunity for the government to show it was listening to - and acting on - the concerns of rural communities.

Campaign groups the Rural Services Network and Action with Communities in Rural England said they were “very disappointed” with the support offered rural households reliant on heating oil.

Despite the tariffs on kerosene being temporarily suspended, families would still be facing rising prices and hundreds of pounds in additional costs to refill their tanks, the organisations warned.

"Future tariff and market reforms will not help households pay those bills today. Rural communities need immediate, practical support to keep their homes warm this winter," they said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, Gavin Lane, who is president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents around 26,000 rural landowners and businesses in England and Wales, said the “challenges rural areas face have been overlooked” by the Budget.

"At a time when nine out of ten CLA members are cancelling investment in their business, it is hard to see what in this budget will change their mind," he said.

That was a view shared by political campaign group the Countryside Alliance, which said that rises in employment costs meant it "remained to be seen" whether rural business owners would see "any real benefit" from the increase to the small business rates relief threshold.

Political opponents could say chancellor dodged the trickier decisionspublished at 18:04 GMT

18:04 GMT

Alex Forsyth
Political correspondent

Sometimes what’s not in a Budget can be as significant as what is.

The chancellor mentioned both defence and welfare spending, but detail about the government’s longer-term plans for both is yet to come.

John Healey did say the government planned to fully fund the defence investment plan that was drawn up when Keir Starmer was Prime Minister, but he said decisions on how to reach much bigger defence spending targets would be made at the spending review which isn’t until next year.

On welfare, he said the government would come up with plans to reform welfare only after it had the results of ongoing reviews into youth unemployment and health and disability benefits.

The government claims it’s laying the ground for big structural changes to come. The danger is it allows political opponents to say the chancellor’s dodged some of the big - and tricky - decisions he faces.

Felicity Hannah says people should think about their "own personal budget", seeing where they can cut back and being aware of where their money goes each month.

She says things could "stay tough" despite the measures put in place by the government.

This year's announcement was a "small steps Budget", says Nick Eardley.

He says the government still needs to make big decisions on subjects such as defence despite there being plenty of MPs who will be happy with the "friendly measures on the cost of living".

The Your Questions Answered programme has now ended, but we will continue to bring you the latest reaction and insights to the Budget on this page.

Financial journalist Felicity Hannah says the measure will kick in from April next year when the state pension goes up, and if your only income is the state pension or less than you won't pay tax on that.

But after that the allowance is going to taper off. She says for every £3 you earn above the state pension amount, you will lose £1 of the extra allowance.

Essentially that means if you earn more than £13,319 in the tax year then you won't get any extra allowance and at that point you will just pay tax like any other taxpayer, she says.

Nick Eardley, political correspondent, says it's a fair question, and many MPs are asking similar questions about what wasn't in the Budget.

He says he thinks what Burnham would say in response is that they are working on a "long term plan" to reform the service England.

He adds that most watching the Budget today would not have taken away anything "significant" on social care, saying that the review is on going and we're "going to have to wait a bit longer".

BBC political correspondent Nick Eardly says Andy Burnham has often spoken rhetorically about encouraging more people into apprenticeship schemes.

In terms of getting younger people into jobs, he says that while the minimum wage was raised today, it did not go up as much as it has in previous years which could mean the government hopes pressure on businesses "isn't as significant".

Economic correspondent Andy Verity says the scheme will not be "means tested" beyond the council tax bands.

He adds that the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the payment "isn't very well targeted", but the government wants to get the money "out the door quick".

Verity says the payment is separate to the winter fuel payment, with financial journalist Felicity Hannah saying: "This should be an automatic payment going into your account in January."

She adds it should be paid into the account that pays the council tax bill and is not something you need to apply for - warning scammers may try and ask for people's bank details.

We will shortly be answering questions on today's Budget in a special programme of Your Questions Answered with our panel of experts.

Stay with us for all the latest updates and you can also watch live on the stream at the top of this page.

Consumer expert Martin Lewis says he had a list of "seven or eight" things that he took to Chancellor John Healey when they met two months ago, "five of which have been done".

But the number one thing on his list, addressing the upcoming freeze to the plan 2 student loan repayment threshold, wasn't mentioned - which Lewis calls an "abomination".

Last year, then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves froze the plan 2 repayment threshold at £29,385 between 2027 and 2030, instead of allowing it to rise with inflation.

The change will result in students starting to repay their loans sooner than they would otherwise have done, and their rising salaries leading to greater repayments.

"For me that is a breach of natural justice," Lewis tells the BBC.

Lewis says while the £100 "household energy payment" is meant to create breathing space, it will actually just mitigate the impact of the expected 27% energy price cap rise in January. For a typical household, bills will rise by around £100-120, he tells the BBC.

He welcomes the scrapping of standing charges on gas bills, calling them a "moral hazard", as well as the removal of a fine for those who withdraw their Lifetime Isa for homes above £450,000.

The Domestic Abuse Commissioner has said there is a "lack of any meaningful action" on domestic abuse, which she says is one of the leading causes of homelessness, in this year's Budget.

Nicole Jacobs says there is limited funding in the statement to address misogyny, which she says shows "just how low down on the priority list halving violence against women and girls is for this government".

In a post on x, she welcomes announcements by the chancellor to tackle rough sleeping and ease cost-of-living pressures, but says she hears weekly about domestic abuse services being reduced due to "chronic underfunding" and rising demand due to the early release scheme.

Jacobs urges the government to show it remains committed to its pledge to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, saying: “We cannot meaningfully tackle homelessness and support victims if specialist services cannot keep the lights on."

Image source, PA Media

Today's Budget "missed the mark" on matching the government's ambition for growth in every postcode, the national chair of the Federation of Small Business has said.

Tina McKenzie says small businesses have gotten nothing to ease "sky-high energy bills" or make hiring people more affordable. She also says the business rates relief "excludes too many", but welcomes the increase in trading allowance from £1,000 to £3,000.

The British Retail Consortium's chief executive Helen Dickinson says John Healey has "failed to provide the breathing space" he promised, saying the government has failed to address the "rising tide of costs" holding high streets back.

Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, praises the Budget as "sending the right signals to business" but "lacking big calls" to shift the economic dial.

Alpa Patel
BBC London presenter

Lee became homeless earlier this year after returning to the UK from the US while struggling with his mental health.

Expecting support, he instead found himself on the streets before being referred to StreetLink and helped by St Mungo's. He says homelessness left him feeling "invisible", causing him to lose hope and his sense of identity.

Now living in supported accommodation and volunteering with others, Lee welcomes the government's extra funding, saying it shows a commitment to helping society's most vulnerable.

But he believes support must go beyond a roof over someone's head and help people rebuild their lives and find purpose.

Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo's, says the funding will make a "massive difference" for people facing homelessness.

She said London's rough sleeping numbers, which had been steadily rising, are beginning to stabilise and "tail off", thanks to investment and a greater focus on tackling the issue.

But she stressed that lasting progress depends on more than emergency support, with long-term solutions needed to prevent people becoming homeless in the first place and ensure they can build sustainable lives beyond the streets.

Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor

There is also disappointing news for another key part of Labour's growth strategy - housebuilding.

Even though first-time buyers are set to get more help, their first home may be more elusive.

Between regulation and higher costs, in part related to the Iran war, the OBR estimates that 190,000 fewer homes will be built by 2032 compared to what it thought in March.

It is a significant setback.

Huge variation across England over who will get £100 energy paymentpublished at 17:13 GMT

17:13 GMT

By Lewis McBlane

The government has said up to 20 million households in England will receive a £100 one-off payment towards their energy bills in January.

About five million households will not receive this help, data from the government shows, as their home falls outside the lower council tax valuation bands A to D.

The proportion of households who will receive the £100 also varies significantly across England.

In some areas of London and the South East, fewer than half of households will be eligible. In Kensington and Chelsea just 32% of households are in bands A to D, with 41% in Elmbridge in Surrey and 49% in St Albans.

But in other areas, almost all households could receive it, for example 96% of households in Liverpool are eligible, 97% of Sandwell in the West Midlands and 99% of Hull.

Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive additional funding based on the cost of the scheme, but can decide how to spend the money themselves.

John Campbell
BBC News NI economics and business editor

The £100 cost-of-living grant will not be paid in Northern Ireland unless the Stormont government agrees its own budget, the Secretary of State Chris Bryant has warned.

Stormont is in the highly unusual position of being seven months into the financial year without a formal budget in place.

Local ministers say the UK’s devolution funding formula no longer delivers enough for them to produce a balanced budget. They want Westminster to provide a big financial top up.

Meanwhile public services have been operating under emergency procedures which keeps money flowing to frontline services.

But Bryant says those procedures will not permit the spending of the additional money which the chancellor has provided today.

Ultimately he could impose a budget on Stormont by legislating at Westminster. That would be unprecedented.

Finance Secretary Jenny Gilruth says the Scottish government will "seek to replicate" the £100 energy payment announced in the UK Budget. As we just reported, the Welsh government said it would match the payment.

Chancellor John Healey said the cash would be received by households in England which are in council tax bands A to D, and money will be given to the devolved governments, with Healey urging them to use it to do the same.

Gilruth says she'll consider how best to deliver an equivalent scheme in Scotland.

She adds any measures to bring down costs were welcome, but that the chancellor’s plans "fall far short" of the action needed.

Gilruth also said the Budget would mean a £650m real terms cut in Scotland’s budget next year.

"Cutting Scotland’s budget shows that, yet again, we are being treated as an afterthought," she says.

David Deans
BBC Wales political reporter

The Welsh government has confirmed that it will also make a £100 payment to households in A-D council tax bands for energy bills.

Chancellor John Healey had urged devolved nations to match the plans he announced for England, with the share of funding they will receive as a result of the scheme.

Wales' Finance Minister Elin Jones says the UK government had "responded positively to the Welsh government’s calls to provide funding to make this possible".

"We know that cost-of-living pressures are causing anxiety for far too many people," she says.

"I am pleased to confirm that we will be making a £100 cost-of-living payment to all households in council tax bands A to D."