How the budget affects you: who are the real winners and losers?

Pensioners are winners as the state pension rises, but could lose if the pension age also goes up sooner rather than later. Photograph: incamerastock/Alamy

The tax increases and spending cuts announced by Jeremy Hunt in last week’s autumn statement, have set the scene for what is expected to be the biggest drop in living standards on record.

Hunt insisted it was a “compassionate” attempt to balance the books, with an extension of the government’s energy bill support scheme and confirmation that, in April, both the state pension and means-tested benefits would go up in line with inflation.