Earlier today Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his very first joint Budget and Spending Review in the House of Commons. His main mantra was ‘Growth Up, Jobs Up and Debt Down’. Below are the key points of what was announced at the Autumn Budget.

State of the Economy and Public Finances;

• Inflation in September was 3.1% and is likely to rise further – to average 4% over next year, according to estimates
• UK economy forecast to return to pre-Covid levels by 2022
• Annual growth set to rebound by 6.5% this year, followed by 6% in 2022
• Unemployment expected to peak at 5.2% next year, lower than 11.9% previously predicted
• Wages have grown in real terms by 3.4% since February 2020
• Borrowing as a percentage of GDP is forecast to fall from 7.9% this year to 3.3% next year
• Borrowing as a percentage of GDP will then fall in the following four years to 1.5%
• The government is scheduled to reinstate its commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on foreign aid by 2024-25

Business Rates

• From 2023 there will be more frequent valuations every three years
• Business rates improvements relief, from 2023 you will be able to make improvements and not have to pay extra business rates for 12 months
• For one year a new 50% business rate discount will apply to businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. Maximum discount to be claimed is up to £110,000
• Business rates reliefs that was due to end in 2022 will be extended to 2023

Air travel

• Flights between airports in the UK nations will be subject to a new lower rate of Air Passenger Duty from April 2023
• Financial support for English airports to be extended for a further six months
• A new ultra long haul band in Air Passenger Duty for flights of over 5,500 miles will be introduced from April 2023

Alcohol

• A planned rise in the duty on spirits, wine, cider and beer will be cancelled
• Simplification of alcohol duties in more than over 140 years will see the number of rates drop from 15% to 6%
• Stronger red wines, fortified wines, and high-strength ciders will see a small increase in their rates
• The rates on many lower alcohol drinks including rose wine, fruit ciders, liqueurs, lower strength beers and wines will fall
• All sparkling wines will now pay the same duty as still wines of equivalent strength
• A new, lower rate of duty on draught beer and cider will cut the rates by 5%

National Living Wage

• Increase for over 23 year old by 6.6%
• Increase to £9.50 p/h

Fuel Duty

• Duty will be frozen for 2022/2023
• Average car cost saving of £1,900 per year

R&D

• Spending on R&D will be £20bn a year by the end of this parliament, a 50 per cent increase from its start
• R&D spending will rise to 1.1 per cent of GDP, Sunak said. This compares with the OECD average of just 0.7 per cent.
• Expansion of the R&D tax credit system to include cloud computing and data costs plus a focus on domestic investments.

 

Tomorrow, we will have a full and in-depth summary of the Autumn Budget available. For advice, get in touch with our team of experts at hello@bkplus.co.uk