The Treasury watchdog was forced on Wednesday to defend its reputation after it again downgraded its forecasts for the British economy and the public finances.

Annual rises for teachers will be scrapped and heads given almost complete freedom to dictate salary increases in the shake-up outlined in the Autumn Statement.

The changes will come into force in 2014/15 and are expected to bring thousands more well-off savers into tax on their pension contributions, generating an extra £1 billion in tax by 2016/17.

We round up the main announcements in the Chancellor's speech and explore the devil in the detail to see how tax and spending changes affect you.

Adele Collinson, pictured, owns an arts and crafts busines and worries the new cap on tax-free pension contributions will hit her retirement plans.

Osborne claims the UK is open for business but beyond the hyperbole his budget statement has closed the door on chances to stimulate growth, says one entrepreneur.

George Osborne targeted workers at the top, middle and bottom of the financial heap in his Autumn statement yesterday with a raft of money-saving measures.

The 'mummy tax' accusations came after it emerged the Chancellor will impose a real terms cut on statutory maternity pay.

Pensions minister Steve Webb (pictured) warned the state of the public finances meant 'difficult decisions' had to be taken, and challenged Labour to back them.

The 'mummy tax' accusations came after it emerged the Chancellor will impose a real terms cut on statutory maternity pay.

The Shadow Chancellor - who dressed as Santa for the Westminster Kids Club Christmas party - was jeered in the Commons after declaring that the deficit was coming down before changing his mind.

Bassetlaw MP John Mann said the Shadow Chancellor’s response to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement had damaged Mr Balls’s leadership prospects – and made Mr Miliband’s position secure.

Where was the BBC’s Daily Politics presenter, Andrew Neil, on Budget Day? Apparently the Budget is viewed as a state occasion by the BBC. And thus the exclusive preserve of Edwards.

Knowing exactly what has unlocked Britain’s recovery is hard to determine. But the elements have been in place for some time.

Treasury sources said the Chancellor will have to ‘make a decision’ on what to do about business rate relief as it is due to expire next year.

To reclaim the high ground, Mail City Editor Alex Brummer suggests the speech Osborne needs to make from his dispatch box.

The Chancellor told the Cabinet they must reduce spending every year for the next three years, as he prepared to set out a highly-political statement to the Commons.

Anyone currently in their 40s or younger would be affected by the move, which will see the state pension age rise as the average person lives longer.

As George Osborne speaks and throughout the day This is Money will be live blogging analysis, reaction, charts and data and what people are saying on social media.

Osborne has given the first cheerful update in his time as Chancellor, as he raised growth forecasts and cut borrowing predictions today. We round up City reaction.

The rate paid by ETF providers is currently 0.5 per cent but this will be ditched in April 2014, Chancellor George Osborne revealed in his Autumn Statement today.

Hard-pressed motorists have been told that a planned 2p a litre fuel duty rise will not happen next September in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement today.

In today’s Autumn Statement, the Government said it would conduct a review to be completed by the end of 2014 to ensure that Britain can help develop and test driverless cars.

Experts had claimed that the lifetime limit could be capped at £100,000 – a figure that seasoned savers may have already reached - but that has not transpired.

NS&I has been given a higher financing target for the financial year Chancellor George Osborne revealed in the Autumn Statement today.

George Osborne did not address problems such as low levels of investment, lack of access to finance, and high energy costs.

George Osborne described the crackdown as the 'largest package of measures to tackle tax avoidance, tax evasion, fraud and error so far this parliament'.

The Chancellor unveiled a raft of upbeat data pointing to the recovery gaining momentum, with record numbers in work, borrowing falling and house prices forecast to soar by 5.2 per cent next year.

'Hello. I think Lucinda is making an Autumn Statement.'

George Osborne revealed that the 0.5 per cent stamp duty savers have to pay for buying shares in UK-based exchange-traded funds will be abolished from next April.

Many employers are hiring staff on contracts where they are classed as self employed, even if they are full-time employees.

In a blow for the Chancellor who used the Autumn Statement to unveil a raft of populist giveaways, 60 per cent thought it was good for ‘rich people’.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced that pensioners will get the chance to boost their incomes in a six month window between October 2015 and April 2016.

With this year's statement imminent, pension experts are pleading for a grace period for an industry that has undergone wide-ranging regulatory changes in recent years.

The age at which people can claim their state pension will rise to 68 in the mid-2030s, 69 in the late-2040s and future rises will be linked to life expectancy.

Call for a freelancer limited company structure to be set up within the tax system and for training for a new career to be tax deductable.

Oil price decline provides a key backcloth to the budget. It will keep downward pressure on inflation, and offers the prospect that the decline in real earnings could start to be reversed.

The Chancellor insists there will be no political tax breaks because Britain must ‘stay the course to prosperity’.

Households up and down the country are hoping Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will come up with a couple of ‘surprise’ announcements.

The purchasing managers’ index of activity in the UK construction sector dipped from 61.4 in October to 59.4 in November, which is still well above the 50 mark that divides growth and decline.

The annual deficit has fallen from the record £153bn racked up by Labour in 2009-10 to £97.5bn last year, but progress has now all but stalled as tax receipts disappoint.

George Osborne's comments while delivering the 2013 Budget revived his fortunes. But it was only a confidence trick. Now, with an election just around the corner, the Chancellor is in a bind.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has very little room for manouevre in today's Autumn Statement.

Annuities which come with death benefits can be passed to loved ones tax-free if you die aged under 75, the Chancellor announced in the Autumn statement.

Income tax free personal allowance to rise to £10,600 rather than the planned £10,500 next year. Higher rate income tax threshold to rise to £42,385 next year.

Live analysis, reaction, charts and data and what the experts and you the readers are saying in reader comments and on social media .

The Chancellor abolished air passenger duty on all flights for children under the age of 12. It will also reduce the cost of a holiday to Spain for a family of four by £26.

The Deputy Prime Minister spurned the chance to hear the Chancellor's statement in person and instead headed to Cornwall to announce funding for coastal defences.

Autumn Statement day is always a big one in the Commons year but yesterday the fervour was particularly felt as next May’s electoral reckoning looms, writes QUENTIN LETTS.

The stinging criticism from former Home Office minister Jeremy Browne came after the deputy leader shunned Wednesday’s Autumn Statement.