Autumn Statement 2023 Response

Jeremy Hunt opened his Autumn Statement by announcing that he was introducing “110 measures to help grow the British economy”. Fortunately for those of us listening he didn’t go into details of them all, but the message was clear that stimulating growth was a priority.

The Chancellor set out five focus areas: reducing debt; cutting tax and rewarding hard work; backing British business; building domestic and sustainable energy; and delivering world-class education.

The two headline tax measures were the full expensing of capital allowances for companies and the reduction in National Insurance contributions. Full expensing of capital allowances for companies was introduced on a temporary basis in the Spring Budget but has now been made permanent. The National Insurance reduction affects employees and the self-employed, with class 2 NIC being abolished completely and rates reducing to 8% for the self-employed and 10% for employees.

Other announcements included removing barriers to investment in infrastructure; reforms to the plannings system; more detail on the changes to the previously announced Research and Development Tax Reliefs; and measures to help small business with getting paid on time.