Klis Ramdeen-Lessey

🚨 SUMMARY: John Healey's first Budget SUPPORT FOR BILLS: - Eligible households in council tax bands A–D will receive a £100 cash payment from January to help with energy bills - The cut to VAT on electricity bills will be extended until July 2027 - Gas standing charges will be abolished by the end of 2027 or soon after, with costs shifted to gas unit rates - Targeted energy debt relief will be introduced to help households struggling with energy arrears - Local authorities in England will receive an extra £100m to support households on benefits facing severe energy pressures - Energy-intensive manufacturers will receive a 20–25% electricity discount from April 2027 - The 5p fuel duty cut will be extended until 1 July 2027 - The 3.7p-per-litre red diesel duty cut will be extended until 1 July 2027 - The HGV vehicle excise duty holiday will be extended until 1 July 2027 - £100m will be invested over two years to reduce the cost of local, lower-powered public EV chargers TAX: - Tax on savings income will rise by a further 2% from April - Tax on property income will rise by a further 2% from April - The tax on bank profits will rise from 3% to 6% from January 2027 to March 2028 - Machine Games Duty will rise from 20% to 25% on machines with stakes over £1 from April - Business rates relief will be removed for vape shops and adult gaming centres from April - Online marketplaces will have to collect VAT on sales by UK businesses making over £90,000 from October 2027 - Certain overseas businesses will have to account for UK VAT on services sold to UK businesses under tightened rules - Certain UK property income and gains earned by foreign sovereign investors will become subject to UK tax following a consultation - From April 2028, tax rules will change to stop shareholders from using certain methods to pay less tax on money taken out of their companies - HMRC will gain new powers to seize lower-value unpaid tax directly from the bank accounts of people who can afford to pay but fail to do so - The business rates threshold for retail, hospitality and leisure in England will rise from £12,000 to £18,000 - meaning 70,000 businesses will pay no business rates - Alcohol duty will increase in line with inflation from February 2027, potentially increasing prices for beer, wine and spirits - Small breweries and cider makers will receive £10 million a year in extra tax relief to help reduce their costs - Rachel Reeves' plans to cut the annual cash ISA allowance have been scrapped - it will remain at £20,000 rather than falling to £12,000 - From April 2027, the amount of profit eligible for tax relief when selling a business will be reduced from £1 million to £500,000 - From April 2027, eligible business founders selling their businesses will pay just 10% Capital Gains Tax on up to £10 million in profits over their lifetime WAGES, INCOME AND COST OF LIVING: - Import tariffs will be temporarily removed on more than 100 food and drink products from 26 November 2026 until December 2028 - Tariffs on heating kerosene will be suspended until December 2028 - Tariffs on specified fertilisers will be suspended until December 2027 - The tax-free allowance for pensioners relying solely on the state pension will be increased to match the rise in the pension to £13,097 - The minimum wage will rise to £13.21 for over 21s, £11.27 for 18 to 20 year olds and £8.31 for under 18s and apprentices - all rises of 3.9% - Eligible self-employed fathers, partners and adopters will gain access to parental pay from April 2029 - The tax-free mileage allowance for employees using their own cars for work will be made permanent: 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 35p (from 25p) per mile above that - Carers earning over £204 a week after tax will no longer automatically lose their entire Carer’s Allowance; a tapered reduction will be introduced from 2029 instead (lose £1 for every extra £1 earned) HOUSING: - £4.7bn will fund the new Your First Home scheme to help around 70,000 households buy a home, with deposits as low as 2.5% and interest-free Government loans for the first five years, starting April 2027 - A new ISA for first-time buyers will launch in April 2029. You can save up to £4,000 a year, and for every £100 you save, the Government will add £25, up to £1,000 a year, to help you buy your first home costing up to £450,000 - From tomorrow, people with an existing Lifetime ISA will face a lower penalty when using their savings to buy a home costing over £450,000. The penalty will drop from 25% to 20% - An extra £432m will be provided over 2027–28 and 2028–29 to help rough sleepers get off the streets - An extra £1bn will go towards social and affordable housing in England, taking funding for the 10-year programme to more than £40bn DEFENCE: - A new target date of spending 3% of GDP on defence in 2030 - The £298 billion Defence Investment will be "fully funded" through "capital reprioritisation across Whitehall" - £10bn in economic and military support for Ukraine DEVOLUTION AND LOCAL INVESTMENT: - Mayors in England will begin retaining 20% of business rates from April 2027 with the aim of allowing all business rates to be retained locally by 2030 - Mayors will receive a share of income tax receipts from April 2028 - The Government will work with mayors to develop a £1.5bn borrowing facility, expected to be available from 2028, to help fund larger local projects OTHER: - A new £15m fund will tackle misogyny in schools, workplaces and communities