The Treasury's definition of 'working people' are those earning £45k a year or less

“Congratulations, Britain. You officially stop being a ‘working person’ at £46,000.”

Apparently that is the Treasury’s new cut-off for real life. Because as we all know, once you cross the £46k mark, your energy bills vanish, your mortgage pays itself, childcare becomes free and the weekly shop magically shrinks.

It is extraordinary that in 2025, with inflation, tax drag and living costs through the roof, £45,000 is being sold as the definition of “working people.”

If £46k makes you “comfortable,” someone should tell the millions juggling rent, debt and frozen wages that they are secretly middle class.

The truth? The UK economy is not divided between working and non-working people. It is divided between those trying to stay afloat and those pretending these numbers still mean anything.

This whole segregation of determining what a 'working person' is needs to stop as it is so divisive and insulting. Those earning more than the magically determined £45k will be over the moon to be told that they aren't a 'worker' as the earnings are relative to risk, responsibility and experience. On the Government website it also doesn't count a 'worker' as someone working for their own business. The irony is that self-employed people often work harder and risk more as well as employing others. This Government needs to get a grip on business and how it works. The other bitter sweet irony is their spectacular own goal stating our own MP's, including the PM, a good number of the public sector civil servants, teachers, doctors etc are not 'workers' as a significant number earn vastly more than the £45k. The Labour Government are losing popularity quicker than bucket of water with a hole in it.

If the Treasury defines ‘working people’ as those earning £45,000 or less, then rather than ruling out tax rises, it could actually go the other way — as technically the Government could lower the higher-rate tax threshold without breaching its manifesto pledge.

But politically, that would be dynamite. Many teachers, train drivers, and tradespeople earn just above that — and they certainly see themselves as working people. Their respective unions would definitely agree.

This kind of line-drawing might make sense in a Treasury spreadsheet, but it won’t make sense in the real world.

Working people" and "the lower two-thirds of working people" are two very different definitions. If the government is building its policies around the latter, it should have been clear about this from the beginning, as most people would assume that avoiding taxes on "working people" means avoiding any taxes directly related to work, rather than it being salary-based.

It is apparent that the government intends for wealthier people to bear the brunt of tax policies in this Budget, but there is a very clear distinction between the genuinely wealthy, and people earning just over £46k. That translates to a take home pay of around £2,900, assuming auto-enrolment pension contributions. The average rent now stands at £1,385 a month - almost half of this salary, and that's before any other bills are factored in. An ordinary worker in this situation will feel far from wealthy, and it's insulting to suggest their incomes should not be protected.