2p national insurance cut
· Hunt announced 2p cut, costing about £10bn a year.
· This is following last year’s 2p cut, which Hunt claims put 94,000 people in work.
· This works out to £450 for the average employee.
· National insurance rate will be hit with a 2% reduction to 8%.
Non-dom regime abolished.
· A non-dom is an individual whose permanent home is outside of the UK.
· New arrivals will now have 100% UK tax relief on foreign income for the first 4 years.
· The government claims this will make the UK more internationally competitive.
NHS productivity plan
· 1% increase in public sector spending
· £3.4bn invested to “modernize NHS IT systems so they are as good as the best in the world.”
o Expanding AI usage
o Improved NHS app for patients
o New app for NHS staff
· £2.5bn invested in supporting reduced waiting times -Projected to lead to £35bn in savings
Child benefit cap raised.
· Before the changes, 1% of child benefit was taxed for each £100 earned between £50,000 to £60,000.
· Any income earned over £60,000 was taxed 100%, therefore earners over this threshold receive 0 child benefit.
· Now the cap has been raised to £80,000.
· Hunt also raised the rates of child benefit.
o Before - £24 for eldest and £15.90 for each additional child per week
o After - £25.60 for eldest and £16.95 for each additional child per week
· Hunt claims that 500,000 families will be better off by £1200 in 2024-5. - £105m invested to fund 15 new schools to support children with special educational needs
Launch of the British Isa
An ISA is an individual savings account which is tax free on interest, dividends, and capital gains.
· Recognized stock exchanges are:
o Aquis Stock Exchange
o CBOE Europe Limited
o London Stock Exchange
Additionally, Hunt plans to launch a new British savings bond.
Other News
· Tax on vaping products and increased tobacco duty.
o Further increase of £2 per 100 cigarettes
o This is to ensure vaping remains cheaper.
· Alcohol duty frozen until Feb 2025
· Fuel duty frozen until March 2025
· £120m invested in green energy.
· Small businesses are getting support.
o VAT threshold for small businesses increased from £85,000 to £90,000.
o Covid era government loan scheme for small Businesses extended until March 2026
· Forecasts for 0.8% growth this year and 1.9% growth next year
o Good news considering 2023 only saw growth of 0.1%.
o This was following growth of 4.3% in 2022.