Case studies: How will the 2013 autumn statement affect you?

 
Katharine Saunders, daughter-Elvie Welsh and Tom Welsh Picture: Nigel Howard
NIGEL HOWARD
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The Entrepreneur

Jamal Edwards, 23, of west London, founder of hit online music and entertainment channel SBTV and writer of e-book Self Belief: The Vision

Edwards started filming friends rapping and singing and uploading the videos to YouTube when he was 15. SBTV has since helped to launch the careers of stars including Ed Sheeran, making Edwards, right, worth an estimated £8 million. He is looking to expand into comedy and fashion and to launch in the US.

Staff: Four full-time, one part-time and four freelance.

Company’s biggest expenses: Salaries, rent and travel.

Are the benefits of recovery being fairly shared?

“No. Fuel prices are through the roof, fares on public transport are ridiculous and the lowest paid members of society, who it could be argued are doing some of the physically exerting jobs, are feeling the brunt the worst. I know young people trying to find their feet in an adult world — the majority feel it costs too much to go to work. This is developing into a complacent attitude to work which affects the economy even more because then everybody feels it’s easier to survive on benefits.

“I am optimistic about our economic future because I am a part of a new industry, ‘the digital influencer’. I believe if we can be empowered we can help the economy in our own little way. I am not personally feeling the benefits of the recovery but I am also aware it is a process and it may take years before we are stable again.

“The rising cost of energy is ridiculous. It’s been difficult to keep the business going.”

What’s holding you back and what more can the Government do to help?

“Unfortunately, what is holding me back is exploitation in the market. I am a part of a new industry and if it is nurtured instead of exploited, young people could be developing business right from their bedrooms like I did.

“Start-up loans would be great, I know they already exist but are not always easily accessible. I think what is really lacking is an incentive from the Government to get local businesses to invest in the communities they earn from, I believe a happy community breeds an even happier consumer. I am not an economist by any stretch of the imagination but I do believe businesses have been bred to just take and not give enough back.”

The Hard Working family

Katharine Saunders, 31, a freelance PR executive, earns £45,000. Partner Tom Welsh, 33, MD of a graphic design agency in east London, earns £70,000. They live in a two-bedroom flat in Hammersmith with daughter Elvie, two.

Monthly outgoings: £1,000 on mortgage, £880 on childminder, £400 running a car, £200 on Oyster card, £1,500 on other bills, including council tax, fuel, water, children’s clothing and food.

Are the benefits of recovery being fairly shared? “As a freelancer, I’ve found there’s been a noticeable change in the amount of PR work out there. The pay is definitely better and I’ve got more people calling me up for work.

“Tom does graphic design for music clients and the industry as a whole is suffering. Normally, the design work would be album covers and T-shirts, but he’s had to diversify and take jobs for healthcare and banking companies.”

What’s holding you back and what more can the Government do to help?

“Tom and I have been together for five years, we have a child together, own a flat, a car together so I’d want equal tax breaks for couples who are not married.

“It would be invaluable to us if the Government could bring forward the 15 hours-a-week free childcare to two-year-olds instead of three-year-olds as it is now, as we have no additional help or family around us.

“Also, I’d like the Chancellor to help freelancers get childcare vouchers so we could have some kind of equality with those with full-time contracts.

“I can totally accept not being entitled to some benefits like holiday pay but in terms of childcare, it would be great to have some help.”

The first-time buyer

Victoria Hiney, 31, adoption and fostering panel clerk for a local authority

Home: Rents two-bed flat in Crystal Palace with a friend but is trying to save for a deposit to buy a flat.

Annual income: Just over £27,000.

Monthly outgoings: £480 rent, £40-50 utility bills, £55 council tax, £80 student loan, £325 graduate loan, plus £30 a week for going out and £70 a week on food and travel.

Are the benefits of recovery being fairly shared?

“It’s fair in the sense that I would never want handouts. I chose to do a post-grad course and to live in London but I can’t help but feel a bit jealous of people who have inheritance or money from parents for a deposit. Also I chose to live in my twenties, I could’ve stayed in every night to save money. It’s people in the middle who suffer. I feel like I’ve changed the way I live to cope. If I go out for dinner I always have a voucher code, which means I always go to chains, I have a cinema monthly pass which acts as a night out so that’s paid for, we eat at each other’s houses much more and I do a weekly shop and take food into work for lunch. I haven’t had a pay rise for five years but it seems to be changing a bit. Working in the public sector, I think our recovery’s still to come.”

What’s holding you back and what more can the Government to do to help?

“Not having a chunk of money for a deposit. A pay rise would help or cheaper fuel bills. I looked at shared ownership but I want to own outright.

I would like to see a cap on rent or for the Government to subsidise it. I’ve had a look at Help To Buy and I’m not sure. Having two debts puts me off.”

The High-earner

Dessi Bell, 29,, founder of online activewear retailer Zaggora, earns £100,000 and lives in a two-bedroom flat in Westminster with her husband, Malcolm, and two-month-old son, Byron.

Monthly outgoings: £2,000 on mortgage, £2,000 on childcare, £500 food, more on household bills.

Are the benefits of recovery being fairly shared?

“In terms of economic figures, unemployment is down and retail sales are up.

“For us, whether people purchase or not is down to how wealthy they feel, and people are feeling really optimistic at the moment.

“If people have more money in their pockets they are more willing to look at their health and that benefits our business.”

What’s holding you back and what more can the Government do to help?

“I’d like to see more apprenticeships to help young people get on the employment ladder, especially young women. I would be worried if interest rates go up and people are hit with that double whammy of credit card and mortgage bills.

“Having low interest rates has had a fantastic impact on our personal income.

“Our mortgage bill is incredibly low, when we bought our flat just before the crash in 2007 our mortgage bill was three times what it is today.

“I would like to see the Chancellor give parents more help with childcare.”

The Jobseeker

Aaliyah Powell, 18, left college, where she was studying health and social care, two months ago because she felt it was not the right course and wanted to start working. She has applied for lots of jobs and apprenticeships and been for two interviews, but has not yet been successful. Aaliyah, right, is getting help from training provider Opportunity Access.

Home: Lives with her mother in Lee Green.

Income: £45 a week from a one-day-a-week bar job. Could be eligible for £56.80 a week Jobseeker’s Allowance but does not claim.

Outgoings: Travel and driving lessons, mother helps out with other expenses including mobile phone.

Are the benefits of recovery being fairly shared?

“I am optimistic but I know in the real world you have to have lots of experience. I’ve gone for quite a few apprenticeships because I thought they train you, but they assess you and expect you to already know it all. Honestly, I don’t think school prepared me well enough.”

What’s holding you back and what more can the Government to do to help?

“Lack of experience is holding me back. I need to make a start but I don’t think a lot of chances are being given. They should run more programmes like Opportunity Access and they should be advertised, they’re very hidden. Transport is very expensive.”

The Small Business

Joseph Sopher, 55, runs Joe & Seph’s Gourmet Popcorn with his wife Jackie, 51, and son Adam, 27. They founded the business, which has a kitchen in Park Royal and office in Staples Corner, during the recession in 2010.

Turnover: Just over £1million this year (anticipated annual turnover for 2014 is about £2.5million).

Staff: Six full-time, about 20 part-time.

Company’s biggest expenses: Staff costs and raw materials.

Are the benefits of recovery being fairly shared?

“If someone had said to me I would start a gourmet popcorn business in the height of the recession I would have thought they were a lunatic, but I did it and it worked.

“I spent the weekend looking around the shops and I certainly found a lot of people out there shopping, not window shopping but spending money.

“There is a recovery going on — if you look at the amount of building going on around London you can see it.”

What’s holding you back and what more can the Government do to help?

“In our early days the banks were of little or no use whatsoever and I think they still are, it’s just fortunate that we’ve got to the point that we’re generating our own cash flow.

“I don’t see how recovery can gather pace unless there is more access to funds, it’s one of the biggest challenges starting a new business.

“For smaller companies the National Insurance burden as the company grows becomes onerous. I would like to see more assistance on export.

“Obviously fuel is a big cost. We cook everything ourselves and fuel makes it more expensive. We would like a way of stabilising it, and energy costs.

“Although we are fairly profitable, paying corporation tax is a burden. If there was a way of cutting it in the early years that would be a huge help.”

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