I will continue to support families with free childcare expansion and work with our schools to secure more resources and help Bexley improve SEND support.
This builds on the £2.5 million of extra investment secured for local school budgets to help teachers to continue to deliver the education outcomes in Bexley that our borough is rightly proud of. This is alongside the vital expansion of special educational needs and disabilities provision we have already secured in Bexley, which includes £9.5million for new school places and over £30 million to help Bexley expand its support for local children with SEND. That money is extremely vital and will go a long way to help local parents.
Bexley pensioners deserve security in their retirement and that is why I am proud to have supported pensioners with the triple lock which is worth £900 more this year and £3,700 more since 2010.
I welcome that the Government have cut tax for working families by reducing National Insurance from 12% to 8% which delivers over £900 a year boost for the typical worker. Further to this, I support the Triple Lock Plus commitment which would cut tax for pensioners too. From next April, the Conservatives will increase the personal allowance for pensioners in line with the Triple Lock by introducing a new age-related allowance. This means that pensioners would never pay income tax on their State Pension. Labour will hit pensioners with a Retirement Tax by dragging the State Pension into income tax for the first time, raiding pensioners just like the last Labour government.
