The Spring Budget will be held on March 15, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced today.
The major statement will include forecasts of the economy as it tips into what is widely expected to be a long recession.
It will also have details of possible further tax changes and spending cuts - as hundreds of thousands of public servants strike over real-terms pay cuts.
It comes after Mr Hunt last month unleashed a barrage of tax hikes on Brits and a wave of future cuts that critics will say herald a new era of austerity.
The Tory Chancellor announced tens of billions of pounds in cuts and stealth hikes - which will create misery for millions - in his Autumn Statement.
And he said the UK was in recession, based on the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts. The watchdog said GDP was to grow by 4.2% this year then falls 1.4% in 2023, before rising again by 1.3%, 2.6% and 2.7% in the following three years.
Household disposable income will plummet 7.1% in real terms over this year and next year put together, the OBR watchdog said - the biggest drop since records began in 1956. It will still be below pre-pandemic levels by 2028.
Average Council Tax bills will soar over £2,000 for a Band D home in April, as Mr Hunt allowed "flexibility" to raise bills by 5%.
And energy bills will rocket by £500 to an average £3,000 a year from April - nearly £2,000 higher than they were in 2021 - as the Energy Price Guarantee is made less generous.
Labour's Rachel Reeves blasted: “The Conservatives have picked the pockets of nurses and wallets of the entire country”.
In a bid to protect the vulnerable, Mr Hunt announced new cost-of-living payments worth £900 for benefit claimants - £250 more than this year. He also announced cost-of-living payments worth £300 for pensioners and £150 for the disabled next year.
But that’ll create a “cliff edge” where millions of working poor get nothing - and there will be no more universal £400 cost-of-living payments to fill the gap.
The minimum wage will rise 92p an hour to £10.42 (9.7%), and state pension and benefits will rise 10.1% with inflation from April.
But Mr Hunt planted a field of landmines to hit hard-working Brits and knackered public services from 2025 - after he might be out of office.
He extended a flurry of tax threshold freezes from 2026 to 2028 - meaning they’ll last six years and raid tens of billions of pounds from people’s pockets as wages rise.
Frozen to 2028 will be the £12,570 threshold for 20p Income Tax and 12p National Insurance, the £50,270 threshold for 40p Income Tax, and the inheritance tax threshold.
Firms will also be hit by a stealth raid on employer National Insurance contributions to 2028 as that threshold is frozen.
And the £150,000 threshold for paying 45p tax will be lowered to £125,140, costing £150k earners just over £1,200 extra per year.
The Chancellor also delayed a long-promised £86,000 lifetime cap on what people pay for social care, from October 2023 to October 2025.
The dividend allowance will be cut from £2,000 to £1,000 next year and then to £500 from April 2024.
And the annual exempt amount for capital gains tax will be cut from £12,300 to £6,000 next year and then to £3,000 from April 2024, the Chancellor said.
Today's announcement of a new date comes as alcohol duty will be frozen for another six months until August in a boost for the struggling hospitality trade.
The Treasury is expected to confirm today that it will delay a hike to booze levies which had been due to come into force in February.
Brits would pay around 7p extra for a pint of beer, 4p on a pint of cider, 38p on a bottle of wine and £1.35 on a bottle of spirits if alcohol duty rose by RPI inflation as planned.
Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng vowed to freeze booze levies in the disastrous mini-Budget in September.
But his successor Jeremy Hunt scrapped it when he took over in October - along with most of Liz Truss and Mr Kwarteng's chaotic economic plans.
Mr Hunt confirmed the Budget date to Parliament, writing: "Today I can inform the House that I have asked the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to prepare a forecast for 15 March 2023 to accompany a Spring Budget.
"This forecast, in addition to the forecast that took place in November 2022, will fulfil the obligation for the OBR to produce at least two forecasts in a financial year, as is required by legislation."
