Proposals on wages and house building to be announced in the Autumn Statement

The Autumn Statement will begin at about 12:30pm later today

Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to bring in new measures aimed at boosting worker’s incomes as well as increasing house building in Wednesday’s Autumn Statement.

This is the first economic statement since the Brexit result in June, forecasts are expected to show higher borrowing and slower growth.

Hammond has warned of “an unprecedented level of uncertainty” as the UK leaves the EU.

The Autumn Statement will take place at about 12:30pm GMT, after Prime Minister’s Questions.

Some measures which will be announced include, reducing the rate at which benefits are withdrawn from people when they start work and increasing the National Living Wage to £7.50 an hour from April 2017.

Other changes to be made which have already been spoken of is the aim to invest an extra £2bn a year in science by 2020 and a crackdown on compensation claims for whiplash injuries.

Hammond is also expected to announce an extra £100bn of public borrowing for the next five years due to the expectation of the economy’s growth slowing down.

The government has said Hammond’s proposals would “support ordinary working class families”.

Citizens Advice, chief executive Gillian Guy, told the BBC: “There is still room to go further in helping ‘just managing families’; like looking at the cost of energy bills.”

“And there are changes government could look at which don’t cost any money, such as asking councils to review their debt collection practices to make sure people who can’t pay their bills aren’t pushed further into debt.”