A positive step forward for economic recovery!
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has just announced the Autumn Budget 2021. He opened his speech by saying that the budget will “deliver a stronger economy for the British people” and support them with the cost of living.
There weren’t massive surprises in the announcement. In fact, the budget focused on the projected UK growth in a post-pandemic world, as well as on upcoming government spending.
Daniel Fallows, Gorilla Accounting Director, has this to say about it: “There were no changes in this budget, which isn’t surprising considering the announced rise in National Insurance at the start of September and the announcement of increases to corporation tax in the Spring Budget. However, it’s great to see that recovery is proceeding a lot quicker than originally anticipated”.
Here’s a summary of the Budget and what you need to know:
- The economy is forecast to grow 6.5% (instead of the previous 4%) this year
- England’s city regions will receive £6.9 billion to improve public transport
- The NHS England will benefit from £5.9 billion to help with tests and scans
- The National Living Wage will rise from £8.91 per hour to £9.50 in April 2022
- The R&D investment will remain £22 billion
- Retail, leisure, and hospitality businesses will get a 50% business rate discount on taxes for one year
- £24 billion will be assigned to the housing market, with £11.5 billion set aside to help build up to 180,000 affordable houses.
- The expected rise in fuel duty is cancelled
- The draught beer and sparkling wine duties have been cut by 5%
- Sunak will cut the taper rate of Universal Credit from 63% to 55%
- According to the Chancellor, wages have grown by 3.4% since February 2020
- Domestic flights will have a lower rate of Air Passenger Duty from April 2023
You can get in touch with us to discuss what’s changing and how it will affect your business; we look forward to hearing from you and are always on hand to help!
