Autumn Statement 2013 documents

worldtraveller

You can find the full Autumn Statement 2013 document HERE

Summary as follows:

In recognition of the need to continue to reduce the deficit and debt, the Autumn Statement sets out:

• a reduction in Whitehall departmental budgets for 2014-15 and 2015-16 of 1.1%, excluding protected departments, local government, Security and Intelligence Agencies and HMRC
• how a cap on welfare announced at Budget 2013 will work to control welfare spending
• how future reviews of the State Pension age will work in practice
• a review of the current fiscal policy framework to ensure that debt continues to fall as a percentage of GDP, including using surpluses in good years for this purpose

To support families with the cost of living, the Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement that the government is:

• freezing fuel duty for the remainder of this Parliament, saving the average motorist £11 every time they fill up their tank by 2015-16
• introducing the married couples transferable tax allowance, benefitting eligible couples by up to £200 in 2015-16
• introducing reforms to save the average energy bill payer £50, whilst maintaining support for the poorest families
• extending free school meals to all children in reception and years 1 and 2 *cap the average increase in regulated rail fares for 2014 in line with the Retail Prices Index, complementing the decision by the Mayor of London to cap average fare increases in London for 2014

To help business grow and create jobs and to provide help for the high street, the government is:

• introducing a cap on the Retail Prices Index (RPI) increase in business rates in England to 2% in 2014-15
• introducing a £1,000 business rates discount to help the high street
• doubling the Small Business Rate Relief for a further 12 months from 1 April 2014 to help 540,000 firms
• making it cheaper for businesses to employ young people by abolishing National Insurance contributions for under-21s earning below £813 per week
• introducing a new tax relief for shale gas and support for the creative industries

In order to ensure all young people can compete in the global economy, the Chancellor set out that that the government will:

• remove the cap on university places so more people can go into higher education – it is estimated this will allow 60,000 more young people to go to university every year
• provide an extra £40 million to increase the number of people starting higher apprenticeships by 20,000

Freecall

worldtraveller wrote: »

introducing the married couples transferable tax allowance, benefitting eligible couples by up to £200 in 2015-16

Many (possibly most) couples still better off divorcing and taking early retirement to spread pension income across two full personal allowances.

Not suggesting as course of action but it does put things in proportion.

Conrad

Those that caught my eye;


Employer national insurance contributions will be removed on workers aged under 21, affecting 1.5 million jobs


There will be an additional 50,000 start-up loans for entrepreneurs


Every business in a premise with a rateable value of up to £50,000 will get a business rates discount worth £1,000 (ha, this will benefit my business)

New loans worth £1bn intended to unblock housing developments, including in Manchester and Leeds. The Housing Revenue Account borrowing limit will be raised by £300m. There will be a new priority "right to move" for social tenants who need to relocate for a job


free school meals to all schoolchildren in reception, year one and year two


Next year's fuel duty rise (supposed to be 2p a litre) cancelled. That means petrol will be 20p a litre less than under Labour's plans



There will be a new reoccupation relief to encourage the use of vacant town centre shops, halving the rates for new occupants.


A package of measures to tackle tax avoidance, evasion, fraud and error will raise more than £9bn over the next five years


Capital gains tax will be imposed on non-residents who sell residential property in the UK from April 2015.

Rolling back green levies takes an average £50 off energy bills

An additional £100m of Libor fines will go to military charities

Generali

All sound like pretty reasonable measures to me. Not much to argue with.

Help small businesses, close a couple of loopholes.

Loughton_Monkey

Generali wrote: »

All sound like pretty reasonable measures to me. Not much to argue with.

Help small businesses, close a couple of loopholes.

Tell that to idiot Ballsie......

His response speech was pure comedy due to it's lack of any coherent content.

mystic_trev

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Tell that to idiot Ballsie......

His response speech was pure comedy due to it's lack of any coherent content.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

John_Pierpoint

FT criticises 59 changes but no coherence
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/58fd8388-5dc9-11e3-b3e8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2mhFsveqr

FT High cost of healthy retired living longer round Bournemouth
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5188079c-5ce1-11e3-81bd-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2mhZjcdAP
On average, a woman in east Dorset who retires in 2028 can expect to collect £195,436.80 in total benefits in retirement, compared to her counterpart in Corby, Northamptonshire, who will collect only £137,030.40.

[Will this be more expensive than subsidising the cost of raising a child?]