Autumn Statement – 22 November Highlights

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement this afternoon, promising 110 measures to promote growth.

The tax changes include:

• National Insurance – Employees
  • Class 1 main employee rate to be reduced by 2% to 10% from 6 January 2024
• National Insurance – Self-employed:
  • Class 2 National Insurance to be abolished. Entitlements, including to State Pension, will be maintained
  • Class 4 National Insurance to be reduced by 1% to 8%
• Capital Allowances: full expensing relief to be made permanent
• Minimum Wage: the National Living Wage will increase to £11.44 per hour, from April 2024. The main rate will apply to everyone 21 and over, rather than 23 and over.
• Alcohol Duty: frozen until 1 August 2024
• State Pension: increase by 8.5% from April 2024, implementing the triple lock in full
• R&D Tax Relief:
  • the existing R&D Expenditure Credit and SME Schemes to be combined
  • tax rate within merged R&D scheme for loss-making entities to be reduced from 25% to 19%, and the threshold for the additional support for R&D intensive loss-making SMEs to be reduced to 30%
• Tax relief for visual effects expenditure: to be introduced from April 2025
• Business Rates:
  • the 75% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure will be extended until 2025
  • small business multiplier to be frozen until 2025

Further details will follow in our full summary.  Please contact Katharine Arthur or Mark Pattenden if you have any queries.