On 15 March 2023, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his Spring Budget. Here, we look at some of the key announcements and what they might mean for you, your business and personal life.
Fuel duty
The cost of filling up your van was due to increase by 12p a litre by April. But the Chancellor has announced a 5p relief for another year, easing the financial pressure of getting from A to B.
Remember, if you’re a sole trader or limited company you can claim back 45p per mile in your car or van on the first 10,000 miles in a tax year, and 25p per mile on each mile over that.
Energy bill support
There’s further financial relief for running your home too. The current energy price guarantee, which limits the price of gas and electricity tariffs to an average household bill of £2,500 a year, was due to rise to £3,000 in April. However, this has now been extended for a further three months.
It’s worth thinking beyond this though, especially when looking at ways to help your own customers prepare for potential future price increases. The spring and summer could be a great time to carry out work to improve the energy efficiency of homes.
We know from our recent Trade Trends research, which is due out later this month, that homeowners are driving the demand for this work. The upcoming ECO+ scheme, which is intended to help thousands of households with the cost of insulation, is also expected to get the public thinking about ways to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
Check out the Jewson Making Better Homes range for ideas, advice and products for your next project.
Corporation tax rise
If you run your own limited company, you should pay close attention to the following changes.
Corporation tax is going to rise from 19% to 25%. Although this sounds like quite a jump, if your profits are under £50,000, then your corporation tax rate will remain 19%. If you have profits of between £50,000 and £250,000 there will be a staggered increase.
Childcare boost
It’s good news for growing families. The Chancellor has announced that working parents of two-year-olds will be able to get 15 hours of free childcare from April 2024. This will be extended to all children from nine-months-old from September 2024. Then, from September 2025, working parents with children aged under five will have access to 30 hours free childcare a week.
Incentives to get early retirees back to work
Due to an increased number of people aged between 50 and 64 not returning to work following the pandemic, there’s a shrinking labour market. In a bid to get more early retirees back to work, the Chancellor has announced the government will increase lifetime allowance for pensions from £1.07 million to £1.8 million.
Across the construction sector, 266,000 workers are needed by 2026 to meet growing demand, but increasing the tax free allowance on pension pots isn’t powerful enough an incentive to plug that gap. Specialist roles like carpentry and joinery are currently in most demand across the sector, so what we need is training and incentives to encourage the next generation to take up these trades.
What do you think of the Spring Budget announcements? Do they go far enough to help people like you, or would you like to see more support in certain areas?
