LAST month saw the start of a new tax year and with it have come a series of important tax reforms which will affect every Advertiser reader in some way or another.

Even as a Treasury Minister, it can be quite hard to remember the exact effective date of each change announced, so I thought I'd provide a handy summary.

The National Living Wage of £7.20 an hour came into effect on April 1, for everyone over 25. Your new tax free allowance this tax year will be £11,000 and next year will be £11,500. This gives the lowest paid people in Tenbury the chance to have a ten per cent tax-free uplift in take-home pay this year.

The State Pension for existing pensioners is rising again by an inflation-busting 2.5 per cent to £119.30 thanks to the triple lock. This can get further topped up by pension credit.

From April onwards, new retirees in Tenbury will receive the new simplified State Pension, with the full rate set at £155.65 per week, or over £8,000 a year. The new State Pension particularly benefits women reaching pension age over the next decade. In the past, few built up much of the previous earnings-related additional State Pension – from now on, everyone will build up the new State Pension in the same way. Over 75 per cent of women and over 70 per cent of men will gain in the first 15 years of the new State Pension, and it will end means-testing which gave a disincentive for low earners to save.

The start of the new tax year also saw a range of other reforms begin, including the further extension of the doubling of small business rates relief into next year – which will benefit lots of Tenbury businesses and companies will also benefit from a cut in Capital Gains Tax – with the higher rate falling from 28 per cent to 20 per cent and the basic rate from 18 per cent to 10 per cent. And finally it’s worth mentioning the continued freezing of fuel duty – a measure which will keep your costs down, increase your disposable income and help consumer spending. Whoever you are, and whatever you do, I hope that you start the new financial year with a positive frame of mind.