The newly appointed Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, delivered the 2020 Budget this afternoon in the House of Commons, splitting this into two areas; the first focused on support to combat Coronavirus and the second on the Main Budget. We have summarised the main headlines in this article:
Coronavirus
- £30bn of additional stimulus was announced to combat the impact of Coronavirus on businesses and individuals:
- Individuals will be eligible for statutory sick pay from day 1
- The Government will fund Statutory Sick Pay in full for 2 weeks for businesses with less than 250 employees
- A new coronavirus business interruption loan scheme will see banks offer loans of up £1.2m to support SME’s
Main Budget
Infrastructure
- £12.2bn to help build affordable homes across the country
- Over £1bn for infrastructure to build nearly 70,000 new homes
- £6bn of new funding to support the NHS to deliver 50,000 more nurses, 50m more GP surgery appointments and to build 40 new hospitals
- £1.5bn of new capital over five years to improve FE college buildings and facilities
- £510m to get 4G mobile coverage to all areas of the UK
- £500m to support roll out of new rapid charging hubs, so drivers are never more than 30 miles from being able to charge their vehicle
- £1bn building safety fund to remove dangerous cladding
- £2.5bn over next five years to fix potholes and maintenance of roads
Businesses
- Cash grants of £3,000 to any business currently eligible for small business rates relief
- Entrepreneurs relief lifetime limit reduced from £10m to £1m
- Increasing investment in R&D to £22bn a year, the largest and fastest increase in R&D investment on record
- £5bn of new export loans for businesses
- £130m of new funding to extend start up loans for entrepreneurs in 2021-22
Climate
- From April 2022, manufacturers and importers will be charged £200 per tonne on packaging made of less than 30% recycled plastic
- £5.2bn over next 6 years for flood and coastal defences
Tax and benefit changes
- Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) rate increased from 12% to 13%
- Structural and Building Allowances (SBA’s) increased from 2% to 3%
- Employment Allowance increased from £3,000 to £4,000
- The National Insurance threshold will be raised £8,632 to £9,500 from next month, giving 31 million individuals a tax cut
- Corporation Tax rate will remain at 19%
- Fuel duty remains frozen along with all alcohol duties
- Reading tax abolished from 1st December 2020
- Diesel tax relief abolished
- 2% stamp duty surcharge for non-UK residents
- A one-year break from NI contributions for employers of veterans
- Abolishment of tampon tax from 1stJanuary 2021