The Budget in full can be accessed here
Summary:
Coronavirus support
- Total Covid support package this year and next is £352bn
- Furlough to be extended until the end of September with no change in terms for employees
- Government to continue paying 80% of employees’ wages for hours they cannot work
- Employers to be asked to contribute 10% in July and 20% in August and September
- Support for self-employed to continue until September; 600,000 more self-employed people will be eligible for help as access to grants is widened
- Investment in UK businesses through restart grants, government-backed UK-wide recovery load scheme and UK-wide future fund: breakthrough scheme
- £20 uplift in Universal Credit to be extended for another six months
- Minimum wage to increase to £8.91 an hour from April.
- Extra £1.6b to continue rollout of Covid vaccinations
State of the economy and public finances
- UK economy forecast to return to pre-Covid levels by middle of 2022
- Annual growth set to rebound by 4% this year, followed by 7.3% growth in 2022
- Unemployment expected to peak at 6.5% next year, lower than 11.9% previously predicted
- UK to borrow a peacetime record of £355bn this year.
- Borrowing to total £234bn in 2021-22
- Debt as a share of GDP to fall from 4.5% next year to 3.5% in 2022-23
Taxation
- No changes to rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT
- Personal income tax allowance to be frozen at £12,570 from 2022 to 2026
- Higher rate income tax threshold to be frozen at £50,270 from 2022 to 2026
- Corporation tax on company profits to rise from 19% to 25% in April 2023
- Rate to be kept at 19% for about 1.5 million smaller companies
- Alcohol and fuel duties to be frozen
Health and education
- £19m for domestic violence programmes, funding network of respite rooms
- £40m of funding for Thalidomide victims and lifetime support guarantee
The arts and sport
- £400m to help arts venues in England, including museums and galleries, re-open
- £300m recovery package for professional sport and £25m for grassroots football
- Apprenticeships for creative industries
Business, digital and science
- Incentive grants for apprenticeships to rise to £3,000 and £126 for traineeships
- VAT cut for hospitality firms to be maintained at 5% until September; with interim discounted rate thereafter
- Interim 12.5% rate to apply for the following six months
- Business rates holiday for firms in England will continue from April until June
- £5bn in re-opening grants for non-essential businesses of up to £6,000 per premises.
- Help to grow for small businesses – digital skills and software support – Government to provide 90% of cost
Housing
- Stamp duty holiday on properties up to £500,000 continues until the end of June. It will be kept at double its standard level until the end of September, and then return to usual levels from 1 October.
- New policy for first-time homebuyers – 5% deposit scheme
- Government to offer lenders guarantee to provide 95% mortgages
Sustainability
- Government commitment to green growth and industries with UK infrastructure bank based in Leeds
- Green projects to be supported through green recovery bond
- Funding for new port infrastructure to aid offshore wind
- Additional £2.4 billion for the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland through the Barnett formula, and measures to grow a greener, more sustainable future
Additional
- The chancellor confirms the Treasury will establish an economic campus in Darlington, alongside the business, international trade, and housing and communities departments among others.
- Sunak announces more than £1bn funding for 45 new “town deals” across the UK.
- Freeports – special economic zones with different rules to make it easier and cheaper to do business – will be launched. They will include infrastructure planning, customs and favourable duties and taxes.
- Sunak announces eight locations in England: East Midlands airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber, Liverpool city region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside.
- £19m pledged for programmes related to domestic abuse
- £10m to support veterans with mental health needs
- £40m new funding for thalidomide victims and lifetime support guarantee
- Visa reforms for highly-skilled immigrants