The Autumn Statement 2023 was delivered by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt today (Wednesday 22 November 2023).
The Autumn Statement delivers the biggest package of tax cuts to be implemented at a fiscal event since the 1980s, while getting borrowing lower and inflation falling. This means combining the biggest tax cut on investment in modern British history with the largest ever cut to workers National Insurance – a £20 billion package of annual tax cuts.
Click on the following link to read today’s Autumn Statement in full: Autumn Statement
The Autumn Statement for Growth will:
👉🏽 Cut taxes for 27 million working people from January by cutting the main rate of National Insurance Contributions from 12 per cent to 10 per cent. For the average worker earning £35,000 a year, that means a £450 tax cut.
👉🏽 Cut and simplify tax for 2 million of the self-employed, abolishing an entire class of NICs and cutting the rate of the NICs top rate from 9 per cent to 8 per cent – a with an average total saving of around £350 for someone earning £28,000 a year.
👉🏽 Cut business taxes by £11 billion – the biggest business tax cut in modern British history by permanently enabling businesses to invest for less and offset investments against their tax bills.
👉🏽 Reduce debt, with the OBR forecasting we will meet our fiscal rule to have debt falling as a share of the economy a year early.
👉🏽 Cut business rates by freezing the small business multiplier yet again, saving an average shop £1,650, and extending the Retail Hospitality and Leisure Relief for a year.
👉🏽 Boost the National Living Wage to record levels: £11.44 an hour. That is a 9.8 per cent increase, benefiting 2.7 million workers.
👉🏽 Help the most vulnerable with an average income boost of £800. 1.6 million of the families most struggling with the cost of living will have their Local Housing Allowance increased.
👉🏽 Boost pensions, in line with our Triple Lock, by 8.5 per cent – ensuring dignity in older age for those who have worked their entire lives. The basic State Pension will be £3,750 higher than in 2010.
👉🏽 Freeze alcohol duty, alleviating pressure on the hospitality sector.
👉🏽 Increase all working age benefits in full by 6.7 per cent, boosting benefit payments for around 5.5 million households who receive Universal Credit – by an average of £470 a year.
👉🏽 Provide support with the cost of living with further Cost of Living Payments this year, helping more than 8 million UK households on eligible means-tested-benefits, 8 million pensioner households and 6 million people across the UK on eligible disability benefits.
👉🏽 Get people into work by reforming welfare and toughening up work requirements.
👉🏽 Reduce inflation further. The OBR state that the package as a whole means inflation is forecast to be lower next year than they said at Spring Budget.
