UK: What You Need To Know About The Autumn Budget 2024

The government is investing £22.6 billion in the NHS over the next two years. This is the biggest increase in NHS spending since 2010 (excluding COVID-19 years) and will help patients to access 40,000 more elective appointments each week as well as upgrades for GP facilities, new surgical hubs, and more diagnostic scans.

The Chancellor confirmed that working people will see no changes to their payslips as there will be no increases to Income Tax, VAT, or employee National Insurance. From April 2025, the National Living Wage will rise to £12.21 per hour – that's £1,400 more per year for full-time workers. Pensioners will benefit from a 4.1 percent increase in the State Pension, and the fuel duty freeze means continued support for motorists.

Major infrastructure investment totalling over £100 billion will go towards rebuilding our crumbling schools and hospitals and fixing our roads, including over one million potholes. Funding will also support local transport and regional growth as well as boosting our digital infrastructure, so that everyone across the country can access high-power broadband.

We are protecting the businesses that make up our high streets by permanently reducing tax on properties used for retail, leisure and hospitality from 2026. In the meantime, the government is supporting these businesses with a 40 percent reduction in their business rates bill, capped at £110,000.

We are also freezing the small business multiplier for one year to protect over a million small properties from inflationary bill increases. Lastly, the Chancellor confirmed that she will maintain Corporation Tax at 25 percent for the duration of parliament – the lowest rate in the G7.

We are reforming the tax system, closing loopholes and improving HMRC efficiency. The money saved will go directly to funding public services and fixing the foundations of the economy. Finally, this Budget laid out how we will ensure economic stability through new fiscal rules (rules the government sets itself to manage its own decisions on spending and taxes). The new fiscal rules will make sure that the government only borrows for investment and that public sector debt falls over time.

• Read the Budget in full to understand what it means for you.

The post UK: What you need to know about the Autumn budget 2024 appeared first on Caribbean News Global .

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