We look at how people and businesses in Sussex are going to be affected by the Chancellor's changes.

Matt Coward, director of tax at the Brighton and Hove office of chartered accountants BDO Stoy Hayward, examines the Chancellor's budget proposals.

Pensioners: A little more for luxuries Thomas and Esther Summers retired from their newsagents business in 1989.

Mr Summers, 81, said: "While working, we could never go out on the spur of the moment but now we go for walks and days out. We have to keep a check on our spending but we can afford some luxuries."

Mr and Mrs Summers, 75, enjoy a bottle of wine a week. They own their own home in Saltdean and drive a 1200cc car. They have private pensions topped up by the State pension.

They will get an extra £4.80 a week due to the pension increase. Their private pension is linked to inflation, which is currently one per cent.

Mr Summers said council tax and petrol increases had made a big hole in what the Chancellor gave them in increased pensions last year.

Mr Coward said: "The combined £4.80 per week increase in the pension and increases to tax allowances for pensioners should please Mr and Mrs Summers.

Improved winter fuel payments of £200 each year will also help them."

Their income should increase by more than £500 a year.

Single Mum: Managing the ups and downs Single mother Linda Lewyckyj is a learning support assistant at St John the Baptist Primary School, Brighton.

Making ends meet has always been difficult and she recently moved into a smaller home to manage her mortgage payments.

She has a daughter, Soraya, 10, a pupil at the same school in Brighton.

Miss Lewyckyj, from Brighton, said she was lucky to have no childminding fees to find because she only worked during school terms and felt better off than many other single-parent families.

She said: "Last year's Budget was not really for me but the increase on cigarettes made me give up. I don't drive and when I go into the city centre, I often walk or catch a bus."

From her weekly takehome pay, in the £150 to £200 bracket, and one-parent child benefit of £15.50, she has to find £65 per week for the family shopping and a further £16 for council tax.

Gas, water, electricity and phone cost £40 per week.

Mr Coward said: "Linda will be pleased the Budget focused on families by increasing the children's tax credit.

From next year, the working tax credit will further increase her weekly income but this will be eroded by the one per cent rise in NI contributions."

The ups will give Linda £1,400 in child benefits and downs are likely to remove £800 from her pay.

Single: Bonus goes up in smoke Sales executive Mel Peters expected to be hit hard by the Budget.

The 27-year-old from Burgess Hill smokes 15 cigarettes a day and spends about £50 a week on nights out.

She also drives more than 200 miles a week in her 1100cc Fiesta.

Mel fits in the £16,000-20,000 band but her salary can vary depending on bonuses for meeting sales targets.

She pays £470 a month for rent and household bills plus £40 a month for Sky television and a TV licence.

She said: "Like most people I don't like paying tax. I feel far too much of my money is gone before I see it.

"I know public services have to be paid for - I just wish I didn't have to pay so much."

Mr Coward said: "Mel should benefit from a £30 discount in road tax and no hike in tax paid on petrol.

"She will be pleased with the freezing of duties on alcohol but less happy with an extra 6p on a packet of 20 cigarettes."

Cigarettes, alcohol and increased NI contributions are going to cost Mel about £7 a week.

Family: Happy for the time being Nigel and Esther Gill, aged 38 and 32, are a married couple with two young children, Oliver and Isabella.

Nigel is managing director of E-Velocity, an internet solution provider based in Brighton, and Esther runs a business intelligence company based in Lewes.

Their joint household income falls into the £30,000 to £50,000 band, which includes child benefit.

Nigel pays £37.50 per month life assurance and Esther contributes £52.38 per month to a private pension with life insurance. They have a family car with an 1800cc engine which runs on unleaded fuel.

Nigel uses the car for work while Esther uses her legs to get around.

They spend about £20 a week on petrol.

Nigel smokes and they drink up to four bottles of wine a week.

Occasionally, Nigel treats himself to a four-pack of beer. They eat out twice a month.

Their weekly shop sets them back about £120 and their bills for gas, electricity, water and phone cost them £30 a week. Council tax comes to £950 a year.

Mr Coward said: "The extension of the children's tax credit to families with joint income up to £58,000 will please the Gills but from 2003/04 the freezing of personal allowances and the removal of the upper limit for employees'

National Insurance contributions will offset this."

The family should be better off this year by £14 a month, even more if Nigel renounces tobacco.

Medium business: A tax game of two halves for Albion To many people, Brighton and Hove Albion is a way of life rather than a business.

But the football club has to be run as a commercial company.

It is classified as a small business even though there is nothing small about its ambitions or fan base.

Despite a heritage stretching back more than 100 years, the Albion has had mixed fortunes recently. In the mid-Nineties the club lost its Goldstone ground and was forced to share a stadium in Kent until moving to its temporary home at Withdean in Brighton.

The best news the club could receive this year would be planning permission for a new 25,000-seater stadium at Falmer.

But there are some underlying concerns about the funding of sport in general, which at the moment is heavily influenced by Premiership media rights.

Mr Coward said: "Although the Chancellor has not tackled the issue of sports funding, the tax breaks offered to help amateur clubs cut their tax bills may indirectly promote involvement in sport.

"It is, however, disappointing that the irksome and environmentally-unfriendly VAT anomaly troubling the club has not been dealt with."

Bob Pinnock, the club's finance director, said: "We try to encourage environmentally-friendly transport by selling a £2 travel voucher along with each £15 ticket. Tickets are liable for VAT, travel is not - but since this is a single supply, our fans pay VAT on the full amount.

"It doesn't seem right they should have to pay extra for something that helps the environment so it would be nice to see the VAT system simplified in this respect."

Despite this, the club welcomed any measures which encouraged young people to the sport and helped it recruit and train the players of the future.

Small business: Concerned about the broader picture John Haslem owns what must be one of the best known small retail outlets in Britain - the Rock Shop at the end of the Palace Pier, Brighton.

Including two other stores in the area, his business - selling seaside confectionery and mementos - is heavily dependent on seasonal tourism.

He said he was not particularly worried about the fine detail of the Chancellor's announcement but was concerned Gordon Brown's fiscal policies could harm the economy overall.

"My business is dependent on discretionary spending so what is good for the economy is good for me," he said.

Mr Coward said: "Although not as severe as expected, the announced tax rises will affect the disposable income of many families.

"If the Chancellor is right and the announced system of tax credits is effective, it will leave 50 per cent of families better off.

"The leisure and tourism market may then be largely unaffected."