Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his 2018 Budget on 29 October.
He stated that his was-
“a budget for hard-working people” and that “the era of austerity is finally coming to an end”.
3.3 million more people in work since 2010 and 800,000 more jobs forecast by 2022.
Below is a summary of some the key points from his speech:
Personal allowance threshold to rise to £12,500.
Higher rate income tax threshold to rise to £50,000.
National Living Wage to increase to £8.21 per hour.
Lifetime Allowance to rise to £1,055,000.
All first-time buyers purchasing shared equity homes of up to £500,000 to be exempt from stamp duty.
Guarantees of up to £1bn for smaller house-builders.
Individual small donations increased from £20 to £30
For gifts exceeding £100 charities can offer benefits up to £25 and 5% for amounts over £100.
A new two-year help to buy equity loan scheme will be available from April 2021.
New 2% digital services tax on UK revenues of big technology companies from April 2020.
Business rates bill for firms with a rateable value of £51,000 or less to be cut by a third over two years.
Contribution of small companies to apprenticeship levy to be reduced to 5%.
Extra £160m for counter-terrorism police.
Extra £1bn for armed forces for cyber-capabilities and the UK’s new nuclear submarine programme.
Beer, cider and spirits and fuel duties frozen.
Duty on a bottle of wine to rise by 8p in February.
Tobacco duty to continue to rise by inflation plus 2%.
Confirmation of extra £20.5bn for NHS over the next 5 years.
Minimum extra £2bn a year for mental health services.
Extra £700m for councils for the care of elderly & disabled.
One-off £400m “bonus” to help schools buy “little extras”.
A new tax on some plastic packaging.
£10m to deal with abandoned waste sites.
£60m for planting trees in England.
£30bn package for England’s roads.
30% growth in infrastructure spending.
Air Passenger Duty to be indexed in line with inflation.
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