Chancellor cuts fuel duty in Spring Statement

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a 5p per litre cut in fuel duty for petrol and diesel in the 2022 Spring Statement. The government says it is the largest ever cut on all fuel duty rates, which applies from 6pm on 23 March 2022. The Chancellor also announced that the starting thresholds for national insurance contributions (NICs) will rise to £12,570. From 6 July 2022 employees earning between £242 (£190 from 6 April to 5 July 2022) and £967 per week…

The UK’s business groups gave a mixed response to Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement speech. Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: ‘The Spring Statement falls short of the action businesses needed to see. While there are some positive announcements that firms will welcome, it did not fundamentally address the huge cost pressures they are facing.’ The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) warned that the measures announced by the Chancellor ‘don’t do enough to tackle the…

Estimates show that up to £195 million in extra tax revenue has been collected via Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTD for VAT), according to research from HMRC. The research, conducted by HMRC and peer reviewed by independent academics, showed that in 2019/20 the estimated additional tax revenue was between £185 million to £195 million, compared to a previous estimate of £115 million. The tax authority stated that the additional revenue was due to the reduction in error on tax…

The Bank of England has raised interest rates for the third consecutive time. The Bank also warned that the Ukraine conflict could see under-pressure households hit with double-digit inflation later this year. Members of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted eight to one to increase rates from 0.5% to 0.75%. The move takes rates back to where they were before the pandemic struck. Alpesh Paleja, Lead Economist at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said: ‘With ongoing conflict in…

UK economic growth is expected to halve this year amid soaring inflation, major tax rises, and global shocks including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warns the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). The BCC has downgraded its expectations for UK GDP growth in 2022 to 3.6% from 4.2% in its previous forecast in December 2021. This would be less than half the growth of 7.5% recorded last year. It says business investment is forecast to grow at 3.5% in 2022, down from…

The level at which students begin to pay back their loans will be lowered from £27,295 to £25,000 for new borrowers. From September 2023, the interest rate on student loans will also be set to RPI+0%. Additionally, the length of time that students have to pay their loans back until they can be written off has been extended from 30 to 40 years. University tuition fees have been capped at £9,250 for the next two years and will not rise…

Intervention by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has freed more leaseholders from increasing ground rent terms that saw them trapped in homes they struggled to sell or mortgage. Businesses which had bought freeh­olds from housing developer Countryside have now given formal commitments to the CMA to remove terms that cause ground rents to double in price. These terms, which kick in every ten or 15 years, mean people often struggle to sell or obtain a mortgage on their leasehold…

Rate from April 2022 The current rate (April 2021 to March 2022) Increase National Living Wage £9.50 £8.91 6.6% 21-22 Year Old Rate £9.18 £8.36 9.8% 18-20 Year Old Rate £6.83 £6.56 4.1% 16-17 Year Old Rate £4.81 £4.62 4.1% Apprentice Rate £4.81 £4.30 11.9% Accommodation Offset £8.70 £8.36 4.1%  

Key Points Spring Statement 2022 takes place following the unprovoked, premeditated attack Vladimir Putin launched on Ukraine. The invasion has created significant uncertainty in the global economy, particularly in energy markets. The sanctions and strong response by the UK and its allies are vital in supporting the Ukrainian people, but these decisions will inevitably have an adverse effect on the UK economy and other economies too. Higher than expected global energy and goods prices have already led up to an…

The chancellor must act at the Spring Statment or risk the UK economy drifting backwards to low growth, warns the confederation of British Industry (CBI) The sprint statement will take place on 23rd March 2022. The CBI has set out a range of policies it says are aimed at sparking growth via business investment. These include a permanent investment incentive to replace the super-deduction. The business group says this will boost business investment by £40 billion a year by 2026.…