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_{Key points that might affect you and your business from the Chancellors Spring Budget.}

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Business

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·       Main rate of corporation tax, paid by businesses on taxable profits over £250,000, confirmed to increase from 19% to 25%

·       Companies with profits between £50,000 and£250,000 to pay between 19% and 25%

·       Companies able to deduct investment in new machinery and technology to lower their taxable profits

·       Tax breaks and other benefits for 12 new investment Zones across the UK, funded by £80m each over the next five years

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Energy

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·       The government funded subsidies limiting the typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year, have been extended by another3 months

·       £200 million to help the 4 million households using prepayment meters to bring the charges in line with those paying by DD

·       Commitment to invest £20 Billion over next two decades on low-carbon energy projects, with a focus on carbon capture and storage

·       Nuclear energy to be classed as environmentally sustainable for investment purposes, with promise of more public funding

·       £63m to help leisure centres with rising swimming pool heating costs, and invest to become more energy efficient

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Wages & Taxation

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·       The cap on the amount workers can accumulate in pensions savings over their lifetime before having to pay extra tax is to be abolished

·       Having been frozen for 9 years, the tax-free yearly allowance for a pension pot is to rise from £40,000 to £60,000

·       The 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel that was due to end in April, has been extended for another year

·       Alcohol tax in pubs to be 11 pence in the pound lower than supermarkets

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Employment

·       30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England expanded to cover one and two-year-olds, in a bid to help them work more

·       Families on universal credit to receive childcare support up front instead of in arrears, with the £646-a-month per child cap raised to £951

·       £600 "incentive payments" for those becoming childminders, and relaxed rules in England to let childminders look after more children

·       New fitness-to-work testing regime to qualify for health-related benefits

·       Funding for up to 50,000 places on new voluntary employment scheme for disabled people, called Universal Support

·       Tougher requirements to look for work and increased job support for lead child carers on universal credit

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Economy and public finances

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·       Office for Budget Responsibility predicts the UKwill avoid recession in 2023, but the economy will shrink by 0.2%

·       Growth of 1.8% predicted for next year, with2.5% in 2025 and 2.1% in 2026

·       UK's inflation rate predicted to fall to 2.9% bythe end of this year, down from 10.7% in the last three months of 2022

·       Underlying debt forecast to be 92.4% of GDP this year, rising to 93.7% in 2024

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In addition, there is also an 11bn rise in defence spending over the next 5 years an extra 10m over two years for charities helping to prevent suicide. You can read the details on the , for a discussion on how this budget might affect you and your business, contact our Risk Control Team on 01273 424904.