A summary of the major changes by our Finance expert Rizwan Sabir.

OK, 'Steady as she goes' is a phrase not a word, but when steering the ship of state, Gordon Brown has clearly decided not to stage a pre-election give awayfor which he is probably to be congratulated, even if we did only hear about 'Prudence' once.

As has become common in recent years, rumours of a potentially devastating blow, in this case the application of Capital Gains Tax to primary residences, failed to materialise thus taking attention away from other, less palatable, changes.

One of the major changes that did not take place was a significant increase in the level at which Inheritance Tax starts to bite. In announcing that this will increase to £300,000 by 2007/8, the Chancellor failed to mention that this years increase is a miserly 4.5% - more than inflation, but less than the rate of increase in house prices, over the past twelve months, which the Halifax's latest figures (February 2005) show as being 12.1%. As a result, it is still likely that the average UK house price will outpace increases in the IHT threshold within just a few years.

One good piece of news, which will help the housing market, is that Stamp Duty Land Tax (what we used to call Stamp Duty) will no longer start until transactions of £120,000double the current limit. This will help first time buyers and thus unblock a perceived 'log-jam' at the bottom end of the property market. It is also likely to help the economy, as consumer confidence is bolstered by a more positive housing market. This could, however, in turn, lead to a medium-term rise in interest rates, if the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee considers the economy might otherwise overheat.

Another apparently positive point is that the Chancellor announced the permanent abolition of hospital charges within the NHS. At first glance, this could be taken as an indication that the need for Long Term Care will be reduced. However, since most LTC is provided within the private sector, it is unlikely that there will be any significant impact, which means that those with above a minimal level of assets including their own homewho need full time nursing care, will still have to find substantial sums of money to cover the cost.

Set against this, pensioners can expect not just the £200 winter fuel allowance (£300 for the over 80s) this autumn, but a £200 refund against their Council Tax charge, as well.

Most worrying of all, is that the household savings ratio is now just 5.6% and while this is higher than the US and Canada, it is substantially below the 9.9% figure, when this government came to office in 1997.

Extending the current Individual Savings Account limits for a further five tax years is most welcome; but nothing has been done to redress the massive shortfall in retirement planning. Reinstating the Tax reclaim on both pensions and ISAs might well have been a helpful gesture to redress this.