Government Autumn Budget 2024: What does this mean for you?
8th November 2024
On 30 October 2024, the UK Government announced their autumn budget.
This budget brings both challenges and opportunities for the business community with announcements on key issues such as National Insurance contributions, a rise in the National Living Wage, fuel duty, and business rates. A summary of a number of these can be found below with additional useful resources at the end of this news post.
Employer National insurance contributions (NICs) will increase by 1.2 percentage points from 13.8% to 15% from 6 April 2025. Additionally, the level at which employers start paying NICs for each employee will fall from £9,100 to £5,000.
The Government has announced National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates for 2025, including the National Living Wage. The new rates which will come into force from 1 April 2025 are as follows:
| NMW Rate | Increase (£) | Increase (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Living Wage (21 and over) | £12.21 | £0.77 | 6.7% |
| 18-20 Year Old Rate | £10.00 | £1.40 | 16.3% |
| 16-17 Year Old Rate | £7.55 | £1.15 | 18.0% |
| Apprentice Rate | £7.55 | £1.15 | 18.0% |
| Accommodation Offset | £10.66 | £0.67 | 6.7% |
Additionally, the government has committed to not increase the income tax thresholds for basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, National Insurance contributions (NICs) or VAT until April 2028 where these personal tax thresholds will be uprated in line with inflation.
The government has announced permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties from 2026-27. The Budget also provides £1.9 billion of support to small businesses and the high street in 2025-26 by freezing the small business multiplier and providing 40% relief on bills for RHL properties, up to a £110,000 cash cap.
The government will be continuing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) at a reduced level for a further year, providing £900 million; this transitional arrangement will allow local authorities to invest in local growth, in advance of wider funding reforms.
Fuel duty will remain frozen and the temporary 5p cut in fuel duty announced by the previous government will be extended for one year to 2025/26. This will save the average car driver £59 in 2025-26.
The government is extending the bus fare cap, which was due to end in December 2024. A new cap will run from January 2025 to December 2025 at the higher rate of £3.
The government has promised to fix an additional 1 million potholes per year and is providing a £500 million cash increase on 2024-25 local roads maintenance baseline funding. Aditionally, an additional £100 million investment in cycling and walking infrastructure in 2025-26, to support Local Authorities to install cycling infrastructure and upgrade pavements and paths.
Additional resources:
An extensive summary of the main announcements that could affect your business finances and operations has been compiled by Sage and can be found here
A visitor economy focused summary by Visit West can be found here
Enterprise Nation has created a summary focusing on creatives which can be found here
WEAF have produced a summary on the impacts of the South West Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing Sectors here
The full Government Autumn Budget 2024 statement can be found here
