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Yesterday Philip Hammond, the chancellor of the exchequer delivered his Autumn budget 2017. In case you missed it, we have summarised the key points of what he announced yesterday afternoon here.
Employment levels and tax
- Unemployment level is at its lowest since 1975, with full time employment also near a record high. Nearly 32million people are in work in 2017, with a solid growth this year.
- The higher rate tax threshold is to increase from £45,001 to £46,350.
- The national living wage is to increase from £7.50 an hour to £7.83 in April 2018. A rise of 4.4%.
- By 2022, another 600,000 people are forecasted to be in work.
Alcohol, tobacco and fuel
- Tobacco is continuing to rise above the Retail Price Index (RPI) by 2%. This is equivalent to 28p on a pack of 20.
- The duty on beer, wine, spirits and most ciders will be frozen. This will equate to roughly 1p off a pint of beer and 6p off a bottle of wine.
- The legislation for April 2018, which stated that the duty on petrol and diesel cars is to rise has now been scrapped.
Stamp duty and housing
- The stamp duty for first time buyers is to be abolished immediately for properties up to £300,000.
- Government are targeting 300,000 new houses a year by the middle of the next decade, with £44bn support from the Government.
- £28m for Chelsea and Kensington council to provide counselling services and mental health support for the victims of Grenfell tower and for regeneration of surrounding areas.
The economy
- The growth of the economy for 2017 is cut from 2% to 1.5%.
- Forecasts for the next few years are as followed;
- 2018 – 1.4%
- 2019 – 1.3%
- 2020 – 1.5%
- 2021 – 1.6%
- £3bn to be set aside over the next two years for any eventuality which may happen due to the UK leaving the European Union.
- Annual government borrowing has been £49.9bn this year, which is £8.4bnnllower than it was forecasted in March.
Business, digital & education (England only)
- The VAT threshold for small businesses to remain at £85,000 for two years.
- With the growth of electric cars, there is going to be £540m to support the growth of them and including more charging points.
- £30m to develop digital skills learning courses.
- For underperforming schools, there will be £40m set aside for teacher training. Equating to around £1,000 per teacher.
- Schools and colleges are expected to receive £600 per student who decide to choose A-level core maths and additional maths, which is expected to cost around £177m.
- £2.8bn extra NHS funding in England.
- £30m to improve connectivity on TransPennine rail routes.
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