The first steps towards preparing the UK for a post-Brexit future have been announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond in his Autumn Budget statement, with a focus on lower income households and business tax avoidance.
The new Chancellor announced a reduced growth target and predicted a tougher economic period during the transition towards Brexit.
Highlights included:
- £2.3bn allocation to the housing infrastructure fund to support the development of 100,000 new homes in high-demand areas, and a further £1.4bn to deliver 40,000 extra affordable homes
- For those ‘just about managing’ (JAM) homes, the Government’s primary focus, there was a range of housing, tax and benefit changes. These included an increase in the personal allowance before income tax is paid, from £11,000 to £11,500 from April 2017
- A tax break for higher rate tax payers, with the threshold extended from £43,000 of taxable income this year, to £45,000 in 2017
- The abolition of letting agents fees charged to tenants
- The National Living Wage, the minimum hourly rate payable to those aged over 25, will rise from £7.20 per hour to £7.50 from April 2017
- From April 2017 there will be a change to employer National Insurance (NI) thresholds, to £157 per week, which will cost employers on average £7.18 per year for each worker
Buckles Solicitors LLP managing partner Colleen Gostick said: “Banning estate agents from charging fees to tenants is likely to result in landlords feeling a bit more of a squeeze, following on from last year’s stamp duty rise on buy-to-let and second homes, as it’s quite likely the loss will be passed on to them by the agents. Whether that, in turn, is passed to the tenants through higher rents is something that remains to be seen.”
She added: “Generally, this autumn statement from the new Chancellor has been fairly benevolent towards consumers, although any knock-on effect of increased borrowing will have to play out. There’s less in the way of any new good news for business, as the corporation rate cut is as previously announced, and tax efficiency will need to be reviewed across several areas.”
