Families facing cost-of-living pressures are being offered some help, or breathing space as Chancellor John Healey is calling it. The help comes as prices are rising faster than expected with annual energy bills in particular likely to increase by around £300 or more in January. If you are living in a home in council tax bands A to D in England, you will receive a one-off £100 Household Energy Payment from January, funded by extra tax on banks. It will be paid directly into your bank account. You can find your council tax band by looking on your annual bill, or by looking on the government's website, external - although that was struggling to cope with traffic after the announcement.

What is the triple lock and why are people talking about it? Speculation about the future of the triple lock arrangement for the state pension has resurfaced, with reports it could be scrapped to help fund a new plan for social care. The triple lock guarantees that the state pension goes up each year in line with either inflation, wage increases or 2.5% - whichever is the highest. Recent wage data indicates the new state pension will rise by £488 a year in April 2027 as a result of the arrangement. However, concern over how much the triple lock is costing has triggered a debate over whether it is affordable.

The state pension is likely to rise by £488 to next April to £13,036.40 a year, new official figures suggest. Under the triple lock pension guarantee, the increase is based on either average wage growth, inflation or 2.5% - whichever is highest. Average wage growth, including bonuses, between May and July slowed to 3.9%, according to the Office for National Statistics. The triple lock has come under scrutiny in recent months as the number of pensioners is expected to rise in the coming years, making the policy more expensive. Almost 13 million people receive the state pension in the UK.