Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has unveiled the contents of his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons.
Here is a summary of the key points made:
Taxation and wages
Main rate of National Insurance cut from 12% to 10% from 6 January, affecting 27 million people
Class 2 National Insurance - paid by self-employed people earning more than £12,570 - abolished from April
Class 4 National Insurance for self employed - paid on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 - cut from 9% to 8% from April
Legal minimum wage - known officially as the National Living Wage - to increase from £10.42 to £11.44 an hour from April
New rate to apply to 21 and 22-year-old workers for the first time, rather than just those 23 and over
Benefits and Pensions
Universal Credit and other working-age benefits in England and Wales to increase by 6.7% from April, in line with September's inflation rate
Local Housing Allowance rates - which determine the level of housing benefit and Universal Credit people receive to pay rent in Great Britain - to be unfrozen and increased to 30% of local rents
Work Capability Assessment to be reformed to reflect availability of home working after Covid pandemic
Funding of £1.3bn over the next five years to help people with health conditions find jobs
Further £1.3bn to help people who have been unemployed for over a year
Claimants in England and Wales deemed able to work but who refuse to seek employment to lose access to their benefits and extras like free prescriptions
State pension payments to increase by 8.5% from April, in line with average earnings
Consultation on whether savers get the right to pick the pension scheme their employer pays into - possibly allowing them to have one pension pot for life
Economy and Public Finances
Chancellor's package includes 110 measures aimed at boosting economic growth
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects the economy to grow by 0.6% this year and 0.7% next year, rising to 1.4% in 2025; then 1.9% in 2026; 2% in 2027 and 1.7% in 2028
It forecasts that headline inflation - the rate prices are rising - will fall to 2.8% by the end of 2024 and to the Bank of England's 2% target rate in 2025
Underlying debt forecast to be 91.6% of GDP next year; 92.7% in 2024-25; 93.2% in 2026-27; before declining to 92.8% in 2028-29
Borrowing forecast to fall from 4.5% of GDP in 2023-24; to 3% in 2024-25; 2.7% in 2025-26; 2.3% in 2026-27; 1.6% in 2027-28 and 1.1% in 2028-29
Business
"Full expensing" tax break - allowing companies to deduct spending on new machinery and equipment from profits - made permanent
The 75% business rates discount for retail, hospitality and leisure firms in England extended for another year
Households living close to new pylons and transmission infrastructure to get up to £1,000 a year off energy bills for a decade
Funding of £4.5bn to attract investment to strategic manufacturing sectors, including green energy, aerospace, life sciences and zero-emission vehicles
Some £500m over the next two years to fund artificial intelligence innovation centres
Financial incentives for investment zones and tax reliefs for freeports extended from five years to 10 years, with new investment zones announced for the West Midlands, East Midlands and Greater Manchester, as well as Wrexham and Flintshire
A further £80m for new Levelling Up Partnerships to fund regeneration projects in Scotland
Other
All alcohol duty frozen until 1 August next year
Duty rate on tobacco products increases by 2% above RPI inflation; hand-rolling tobacco rise 12% above RPI
Fuel duty wasn't mentioned so remains 52.95p per litre for petrol and diesel, after the chancellor announced a 5p per litre cut for 12 months in March
Up to £7m over next three years for organisations like the Holocaust Educational Trust to tackle antisemitism in schools and universities
Funding of £5m for Imperial College and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to set up Fleming Centre to work on health innovations
Some £3m for Tackling Paramilitarism Programme in Northern Ireland
Source: BBC
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