This week Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, Dominic Grieve, writes to Bucks Free Press readers…

In a couple of weeks the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be presenting the Budget, but we already know that there are measures in place to help lower earners, which were announced in the Summer Budget in 2015.

At the beginning of April, the National Living Wage is going to be increased for all workers in the UK aged over 25. It will rise by 50p to £7.20 per hour. Over a million workers will benefit directly from this increase, which means an extra £900 a year for many people who are working full-time.

This represents the largest annual increase in a minimum wage rate across the G7 countries (the 7 largest economies in the world) since 2009. This figure is measured both in cash terms and adjusted for inflation.

Employers have been alerted to the forthcoming pay rise. They have been asked to make sure they know who is eligible, make the appropriate changes to the payroll and to let their staff know about the new pay rate.

As the new rate does not apply to under-25s, businesses have been asked to check that employees from this age group are receiving the correct rate of National Minimum Wage for younger workers.

I understand that some companies took the decision to implement the National Living Wage ahead of the legal requirement to do so, which is good news.

For those businesses which fail to comply, HMRC will be taking action to enforce the obligation to pay the living wage.

The personal tax allowance is also going to rise in April 2016, to £11,000 for the tax year 2016/17. It is estimated that this is going to reduce the income tax liability for 29.2 million individuals in the UK.

The changes to personal allowances will also affect higher rate tax payers, with the threshold rising to £43,000 p.a.

Whatever people’s incomes, across the board, the aim is for hard working people to take home more money.