Standard Visitor Visa help

Our situation has now changed. We realised that if he visits at Christmas then we can't afford to do his Spouse visa next year so we have decided to forget the visit and instead focus on the Spouse Visa.

Will it affect the visa decision if he hasn't ever been in the UK?
I saw a comment on another thread about the NHS fee increasing soon, do we have a date when this will be increasing?

Also I found this walkthrough guide https://migrate.org.uk/spouse-visa-uk-2018/#what-is-a-spouse-visa-for-the-uk I just wanted to check that the information was accurate.

Best to avoid these sorts of sites and just go with the official website for guidance, we'll help you too.
You only have to have met once, there is no requirement for him to have visited the UK.
We don't have a date yet for the increase, could be any time at all.