'I get £770 a month - what's in the Scottish Budget affects everything'
'The Budget seems good on paper - I hope it saves my job'
(1 day later)
LLion Wright-Evans is a student nurse - so Scottish budget decisions will affect his job, his pay and his future
Elise Prentice hopes the culture funding will find its way to their employer to guarantee their job after May
On Wednesday, the Scottish Budget will reveal the spending decisions which will affect how much tax Scots pay for the next financial year.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison has delivered her second Scottish Budget, with changes to council tax, income tax and a surprise announcement to end the two-child benefit cap.
Levels will be set for Scotland's unique income tax system and we will learn how much the Scottish government will choose to spend on services like the NHS, schools and transport.
Promises were made on increased spending in the NHS, more affordable homes and an increase in culture funding.
BBC News Scotland has been speaking to people with a range of incomes about what they want from the Budget and, in some cases, how they fear they could be impacted.
BBC News Scotland has been speaking to people with a range of incomes about what they wanted from the Budget and how it might affect their circumstances.
If there are issues you would like to see covered, you can get in touch via Your Voice, Your BBC News.
If there are issues you would like to see covered, you can get in touch via Your Voice, Your BBC News.
Llion Wright-Evans, 24 is a student nurse working in one of Glasgow's biggest hospitals.
Elise Prentice from Glasgow, who uses they and them as pronouns, works as a creative assistant in a sustainable textiles charity.
Leaving a full-time job working as a team leader in a care home was a big step for him - from £15 an hour to living on a £770 per month bursary. At the end of his training his starting salary in nursing will be £16.50 an hour.
Elise was keeping a close eye on the Scottish Budget for funding announcements in the arts sector.
He believes he has a vital role within the struggling NHS and hopes to see investment from the Scottish government.
Their income averages about £10,000 a year and their job security depends on if the charity gets enough funding in the new financial year.
"What they announce affects my career. It impacts my decisions on everything.
"Will I be able to have a break and treat myself, or be afford to eat next week? A big increase in funding would be good because the answer is more people.
"I am lucky as a student I can spend time with patients but the actual nurses are going through hardships. I see valuable staff leaving."
Llion lives with his partner and considers himself lucky.
"We split everything 50-50 and even then I am sometimes living month-to-month. I sometimes borrow money from my mum. Lots of my cohort live by themselves so it's worse for them."
Llion tops up his bursary with shifts at the care home. He can earn anything between £400 and £1,400 a month but has to fit this around his nursing placements. He has to complete 2,300 hours of training on the wards.
He would also like to see more progressive taxation.
"Those that earn more and have more income should be taxed more. There is more to be done even though Scotland is the most progressive in the UK."
'My income is £28,000 and I worry for others who won't get the winter fuel payment'
Reverend Derek Gunn from Falkirk tops up his pension with stints as a part-time minister.
His income sits not far above the threshold for pension credit, which means this year he will not receive the winter fuel allowance.
He is glad to see the Scottish government's plans to mitigate the loss of the allowance from next year - but fears it is still causing concern to older citizens.
He thinks himself lucky that he is "not seriously at risk" from the cut to his income, but worries for others.
"Through my work, I see a lot of others who are really worried about that loss of money.
"I see a lot of distress over this. People had that benefit for a number of years and relied on it."
"It's not a reliance for me, but it is a considerable help and gave us a bit more freedom with using the heating, especially at Christmas when family visits.
"I am now thinking about how much we will miss that money when I do give up my part-time work.
"It's not far away."
Derek is also concerned about food prices.
"Things are increasing in every area – if the price stays the same the size goes down.
"We prepare all our own food as it's cheaper than ready meals but it is becoming more and more expensive. A weekly shop is about £15 a week more than a year ago."
'Rates have doubled to £40,000 - there's only so much you can charge for a bowl of pasta'
Domenico Crolla is the third generation of Crollas to run Oro restaurant in Glasgow's Shawlands area.
He has worked there for 25 years and has never had to put his prices up as much as he has in the past five years.
"The more my costs go up, the more I have to pass this on to customers.
"Businesses who are scared to put their prices up will - and have - gone out of business."
He says he used to put prices up every one or two years, and then only charge more for a few items. Now it is twice a year.
And he knows there is a limit to the burden put onto the customer.
"You can only charge so much for a bowl of pasta. A carbonara was about £8-£9, then it went up to £12, now it's up to £17 for a carbonara.
"It's ridiculous - and we are making less profit now than when it was £8."
He feels that both governments are charging the industry with "stealth taxes" - money taken at every step of the operation.
"When I need to pay staff more, they take extra tax from them. When I pay staff more I have to charge the customer more, then more tax and VAT goes to the government - we are no better off than we were before."
He would like to see the Scottish government pass on the Barnett consequentials cash from small business rates relief in England, something ministers have not yet done.
"Anything they could do would help. Our business rates are going up and have literally doubled over the past five years to £30-£40,000 a year."
'I had more expendable income as a student'
Elise Prentice from Glasgow, who uses they and them as pronouns, works as a creative assistant in a sustainable textiles charity. They are also a freelance artist. Their income is dependant on hours and work they get each month but it averages about £10,000 a year.
They work between 4-12 hours a week at the charity but said their job security depends on if the charity gets enough funding in the new financial year.
Elise could be out of a job in May.
Elise could be out of a job in May.
Elise was in a better financial situation as a student, living independently compared with now, two degrees later.
"The £34m promised sounds good on paper – it’s an exciting number but I am anxious to see how it’s put into practice," Elise said.
Scottish students are eligible for loans while studying and Elise says this made them feel like they had more money.
"I liked hearing about money for the breakfast clubs.
Elise says: “I was getting about £900 for free as well as working part-time. I had so much expendable income and now I have none.”
"I went to what were considered deprived schools in Glasgow's east end, and I work with young people in deprived places - and so does my mum, so we are always listening out for things like that."
“It’s good that the Scottish government has help for students when they’re at university, but when you leave, you’re left to the big bad world and there’s not that many opportunities.”
Elise is positive about a lot of the announcements but is "sceptical" about how they might be put into practice.
They had to move home after finishing their master’s degree in dress and textile histories.
"When you listen at first it sounds great but sometimes there’s a gulf between what's announced and what it ends up as," they say.
Elise says that as a working-class creative, cuts in the industry mean there are fewer opportunities to succeed.
Elise is now hopeful the funding will eventually trickle down to their employer but says it will not happen fast.
From Wednesday’s budget announcement, they are looking for the creative funding cuts to stop and more to be done to help working class creatives.
But they are trying to be optimistic.
“Trying to close the gap between the working class and people who have more of an upper hand would be a big help to me and other people in the same boat.”
"I see a glimmer of hope but I am sceptical – I will take it with a pinch of salt until I see it happen.
'Even on a good income, I worry about bills'
'I'm underwhelmed - I expected more'
Farah is a retired academic (due to a hearing disability). She works three days a week as a charity administrator to supplement her work pension.
"It's just more of the same, isn't it?" says Llion Wright-Evans, 24, a student nurse in Glasgow.
In the rest of the time she is a writer, working from home, which pushes her fuel bill up.
He earns £770 per month from his bursary, having to top up his earnings with team leader shifts in a care home.
"Even with a good income, fuel is a major worry," she says. "On paper we are very comfortably off. In practice we've been a little worse off every year for around a decade.
He wanted to see a boost in funding for the NHS to improve conditions for patients and staff.
"Some of this is because there has been a steady shift under the Conservatives of pushing costs on to individuals. Cuts to council services means things like paying for rubbish removal that once would have been something the council did. All small things but they add up."
But Shona Robison's promise that by March 2026 no one will wait longer than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment, inpatient treatment or day case treatment, did not impress.
After downsizing, her fuel and travel costs soared. She worries about younger people who have been priced out of living in cities and have to commute.
Llion says: "I heard that and thought - is it that much now?
"Often the money saved on rent or mortgage by living in a cheaper area is undermined by commuting costs.
"I would have liked it to be six months or less - there are conditions affecting people day-to-day, they should be able to live comfortably and without pain."
"I want to see a determined redistribution of wealth from the wealthy - and comfortably off, like us - to the worse off and the poor.
The lifting of the council tax cap worries him - he is exempt as a student now but won't be after he qualifies.
"I don't mind paying 40% over the £42k level, but someone earning in the six figures should be paying more.
"I am not looking forward to that increase," he says.
She wants her tax money invested in local services, from roads to schools to hospitals.
He was pleased to hear that free bus travel would be reinstated for asylum seekers.
But he doesn't think the Budget will change much.
"Overall I was a bit underwhelmed," he says. "I expected more."
'My income is £28,000, the Budget's unlikely to change that'
Retired reverend Derek Gunn from Falkirk fears this budget is going to significantly hit those who are just above the benefits threshold.
He earns £28,000 from various pensions and tops it up with part-time work as a minister.
"There were no real surprises," he says.
"It feels like the benefit will all come later. There is no immediate hope for those on the margin."
"Lifting the council tax cap was well-flagged to happen. But a hike in council tax will cause some dismay."
Many of Derek's parishioners had expressed concern over losing the winter fuel payment and with the mitigating payments not coming until next year, he believes this will be a double hit.
"The cost of living is still going up. Everything is rising. Incomes are static – this will affect those just above the line for receiving benefits. Those people will be hardest hit."
Derek sees no silver linings other than the easing of fuel payments this time next year.
"I don’t want to be too critical. I appreciate that the Scottish government is in a corner too - it's all conditional on the block grant from Westminster."
'If my costs go down, I can cut my prices'
Domenico Crolla is the third generation of Crollas to run Oro restaurant in Glasgow's Shawlands area.
He was hoping to see the rates relief granted to businesses in England and Wales extended to businesses here by the Scottish government after seeing his rates double in recent years to almost £40,000.
"I would have been surprised to hear anything that was amazing," he tells BBC Scotland News.
"But what could they have done?
"I wasn’t expecting any good news but there's nothing too bad."
The finance secretary did announce that business rates relief would be extended to "most of the hospitality sector".
But the Scottish Licensed Trade Association said the vast majority of its members - which include pubs, hoteliers, restaurants and clubs - would be over the threshold.
The detail is yet to be seen, but Domenico says, "The rates are scandalous – I am in the southside where every second shop is closed. People can't afford to pay the rates.
"If I had a wish it would be to drop VAT or tax.
"If I got that I would reflect that in my prices. If my menu prices go up they can equally come down."
'It takes longer to fix something than it does to break it'
Farah, a retired academic (due to a hearing disability), works three days a week as a charity administrator to supplement her work pension.
She considers herself "comfortably off" but sees a lot to be done to improve the lives of those around her.
She sees some hope in the Scottish Budget.
"This all needs to be a long term plan. There will be no easy fixes to the amount of damage that has been wreaked in the last 14 years."
She is glad to see investment in the NHS but feels this will take a long time to seep through.
“I worry people will be impatient," she says. "The key thing to remember is that it takes longer to fix something than it did to break it.
“We also need to look at how to train more doctors, nurses, dentists and allied professions. This will mean revising visa rules, bringing back proper funding for student nurses, and this is all going to be expensive.”
Farah says she cheered at the announcement to end the two-child benefits cap in Scotland.
“The two child benefits cap was a dystopian abomination brought in by a government with a perverted sense of Scrooge-like morality. Scrapping it will, all on its own, lift many children out of poverty.”
