The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, unveiled his Autumn Statement for growth on 22 November 2023. Below, we look at the Class 1 National Insurance Contribution (NIC) changes that were announced as part of Mr Hunt’s 110 measures. The NIC cuts are part of the Government’s long-term strategy for developing the economy and putting more people to work, ensuring the UK has the labour market it requires for the future. The policy will cost £8.7 billion in 2024-25, and the Treasury expects employment to rise as a result.

HMRC’s Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits Statistics: September 2023, for the financial year 2021/22, were released on 28 September 2023, presenting detailed information on the provisional estimated amount of R&D tax relief claimed for, across all sectors and regions, during the tax year.

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement this week, promising 110 measures to promote growth to the UK economy. In particular, the property sector faces some welcome changes to boost investment and stimulate growth, including a focus on speeding up planning and the delivery of new infrastructure, and additional support for the residential renting market, small businesses and the high street.

The Government has announced that they intend to raise £5 billion over the next five years, through a package of measures designed to tackle the tax gap – the difference of what should theoretically be paid in tax versus what HMRC actually collects.

On 21 November 2023, the Government announced the increase to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates that will be effective from 1 April 2024.

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, delays were experienced with HMRC issuing continuing certificates of coverage for social security purposes. These certificates related to employees and self-employed individuals who worked temporarily outside of the UK and wanted to remain liable to pay National Insurance (NI) contributions during this time.

We hosted a brilliant seminar at our office this week about a subject on the mind of every business and entrepreneur we speak to: Artificial Intelligence (AI). It was especially timely in light of the AI Safety Summit, which the UK Government hosted a couple of weeks ago.

It was the first in our new series of seminars, ‘Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet and Profit.’

The latest edition of our Charities and Not for Profit eNews is now available to download.