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Spring Budget key takeaways 2023

15 / 03 / 2023  |  Blogs


On 15 March 2023, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his first Spring Budget. With a focus on four key pillars – enterprise, education, employment and everywhere - here’s an overview of the Spring Budget key takeaways 2023.

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Responding to: The Spring Budget 2023

Vehicle tax
  • Fuel rates have been frozen, and the five pence reduction has been maintained for a further year
  • VED rates for car and van increase in line with RPI
  • HGV VED rates have been frozen
  • A new reformed HGV levy will be introduced from August 2023.
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Taxation
  • Yearly tax-free allowance for pension pots is to rise from £40,000 to £60,000
  • The cap on the amount workers can accumulate in pension savings over their lifetime before having to pay extra tax will be abolished
  • The government will be launching a call for evidence on the Share Incentive Plan (SIP) and Save As You Earn (SAYE) employee share schemes, and consider opportunities to improve the scheme.
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Energy
  • The Energy Price Guarantee, which limits typical household energy bills to £2,500, will be extended for three months
  • Charges on prepayment meters to be brought in line with prices for customers paying by direct debit
  • The Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide eligible businesses a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024.
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£20bn
investment for the early deployment of Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage, saving 20-30Mt of
CO2 emissions by 2030
Infrastructure

£200m to be invested in 2023-24 to maintain and improve roads, enabling local authorities to fix more potholes.

Business
  • Tax breaks and other benefits for 12 new Investment Zones across the UK, funded by £80m each over the next five years to drive growth and bring investment into local areas
  • Outgoing super deduction being replaced with ‘full expensing’, where qualifying plant and machinery (excludes cars and leased vehicles) can claim 100% first year allowances, to be in effect for three years from April 2023.
Communities and wellbeing
  • £406m plan to tackle the biggest health reasons that keep people out of work
  • £200m to be invested in 2023-24 to maintain and improve roads, enabling local authorities to fix more potholes, complete resurfacing and invest in major repairs and renewals
  • £10m made available for a grant fund for suicide prevention organisations over the next two years to support people experiencing suicidal thoughts or approaching a mental health crisis.
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Support to work
  • Working parents of two-year-old children will get 15 hours of free care from April 2024
  • Children from nine months will get 15 hours free childcare from September 2024
  • All under 5s will get 30 hours free childcare from September 2025
  • Funding for wraparound care for school-age children will be increased by September 2026
  • New programme to be introduced to support people with disabilities and long-term sickness into work
  • More support for people with disabilities, as the Work Capability Assessment is to be abolished and funding for up to 50,000 people per year on a new employment scheme called Universal Support
  • Apprenticeship-style programme called Returnships launched, which will help people aged over 50 learn new skills and return to work.
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On-demand - Responding to: The Spring Budget 2023

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