TALA COMMUNITY NEWS: UK - AUTUMN BUDGET 2021

BBC News 27 October 2021

Summary

The chancellor pledges a major increase in public spending amid higher than expected economic growth
Total departmental spending will increase by £150bn by 2024-25, which Rishi Sunak says is the largest increase this century
He announces extra money for schools, tax cuts for businesses and a cut to air duties for flights within the UK
A shake-up of alcohol duty will see cheaper sparkling wine and draught beer, while a planned rise in fuel duty has been cancelled
Amid huge concern over the £20 cut to Universal Credit, changes will be made to let working claimants keep more of their benefits
Labour's Rachel Reeves - standing in for Keir Starmer, who has Covid - says struggling families will think Sunak is "living in a parallel universe"
Many announcements had already been made, including new money for the NHS, a rise in the National Living Wage and public sector pay rises

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled the contents of his Budget in the House of Commons.

He is setting out the government's tax and spending plans for the year ahead.

Here is a summary of the main points.

Inflation in September was 3.1% and is likely to rise to average 4% over next year, OBR says
UK economy forecast to return to pre-Covid levels by 2022
Annual growth set to rebound by 6.5% this year, followed by 6% in 2022
Unemployment expected to peak at 5.2% next year, lower than 11.9% previously predicted
Wages have grown in real terms by 3.4% since February 2020
Borrowing as a percentage of GDP is forecast to fall from 7.9% this year to 3.3% next year
Borrowing as a percentage of GDP will then fall in the following four years to 1.5%
Foreign aid spending projected to return to 0.7% of GDP by 2024-25

Whitehall departments to receive rise in overall spending, totalling £150bn over the course of this Parliament
Universal Credit taper rate will be cut by 8% no later than 1 December, bringing it down from 63% to 55%
Business rates retained and reformed
New 50% business rates discount will apply in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors, up to a maximum of £110,000
Planned rise in fuel duty to be cancelled amid the highest pump prices in eight years
£24bn earmarked for housing: £11.5bn for up to 180,000 affordable homes, with brownfield sites targeted for development
A 4% levy will be placed on property developers with profits over £25m rate to help create a £5bn fund to remove unsafe cladding
Funding will rise by an average of £4.6bn for the the Scottish Government, £2.5bn for the Welsh Government, and £1.6bn for the Northern Ireland Executive
Levelling Up Fund will mean £1.7bn will be invested in local areas across the UK
Government backing projects in Aberdeen, Bury, Burnley, Lewes, Clwyd South, Stoke-on-Trent, Ashton under Lyne, Doncaster, South Leicester, Sunderland and West Leeds
Extra £2.2bn for courts, prisons and probation services
Tax relief for museums and galleries will be extended for two years, to March 2024
Core science funding to rise to £5.9bn a year by 2024-25

Schools to get an extra £4.7bn by 2024-25
There will be nearly £2bn of new funding to help schools and colleges to recover from the pandemic
Schools funding to return to 2010 levels in real terms - an equivalent per pupil cash increase of more than £1,500
£300m will be spent on a "Start for Life" parenting programmes, with an additional £170m by 2024-25 promised for childcare
A UK-wide numeracy programme will be set-up to help improve basic maths skills among adults

Flights between airports in the UK nations will be subject to a new lower rate of Air Passenger Duty from April 2023
Financial support for English airports to be extended for a further six months
A new ultra long haul band in Air Passenger Duty for flights of over 5,500 miles will be introduced from April 2023

Planned rise in the duty on spirits, wine, cider and beer will be cancelled
Simplification of alcohol duties will see the number of rates drop from 15 to six
Stronger red wines, fortified wines, and high-strength ciders will see a small increase in their rates
Rates on many lower alcohol drinks including rose wine, fruit ciders, liqueurs, lower strength beers and wines to fall
All sparkling wines to pay same duty as still wines of equivalent strength
New, lower rate of duty on draught beer and cider will cut the rates by 5%