RISHI Sunak is currently setting out the Budget 2021 plan to help struggling families and keep British businesses afloat.
The Chancellor revealed extra help for 600,000 self employed people with grants of up to £7,500 and said furlough is to be extended until September.
The Chancellor also revealed that hundreds of thousands of self-employed Brits, many of whom became self-employed in 2019-20, can now claim direct cash grants under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Previously they could only claim if they had filled in a recent tax return, which meant millions were shut out.
Rishi said the Government will give a fourth grant of up to £7,500 to the self-employed and a fifth one will come over the summer – in line with the furlough extension.
The Chancellor also extended the stamp duty holiday as house prices rocketed 6.9 per cent year-on-year last month to a record high of £231,061 last month, new data shows.
A £20 a week Universal Credit uplift in payments has also been extended for another six months for low income households.
You can watch the Budget here, live on this page, by clicking the video above and follow all the latest news, updates and analysis of what the Budget means for you on our live blog below…
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NEW UK WIDE SCHEME – HELP TO GROW
It will offer management training to tens of thousands of small and medium sized businesses and the Government will pay 90% of the cost.
There will be help to provide businesses with free expert training on how to develop their digitial skills with a 50% discount on new productivity-enhancing software – worth up to £5,000 each.
Both schemes will begin in Autumn.
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NEW SAVINGS FOR GREEN PRODUCTS
Rishi Sunak has announced a retail savings product which will give UK savers a chance to support green projects.
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UK INFRASTRUCTURE BANK ANNOUNCEMENT
A UK Infrastructure Bank will be built in Leeds and will invest across the Uk in public and private projects to finance the green industrial revolution.
It will begin in Spring with an initial capitalisation of £12billion.
It will be expected to support at least £40billion of total investment infrastructure.
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FUEL DUTY ALSO CANCELLED
An increase in fuel duty has also been cancelled.
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ALCHOLIC DUTIES FROZEN
Alcoholic duties will be frozen for the second year in a row, the third time in two decades.
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‘SUPER DEDUCTION’ ANNOUCNED
For the next two years, when companies invest, they can reduce their tax bill by reducing it by 130% of the cost.
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SMALL PROFITS RATE CREATED
Mr Sunak announced a protection of small businesses with profits of £50,000 or less by creating a Small Profits Rate maintained at the current rate of 19%.
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CORPORATIONTAX INCREASE
Corporation tax paid by companies will increase in 2023 to 25%.
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NEW TASKFORCE OF 1,00 INVESTIGATORS TO BE CREATED
A new taskforce of up to 1,000 investigators is to be set up to tackle fraud in the Governments covid schemes.
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HIGHER RATE OF THRESHOLD WILL INCREASE NEXT YEAR
The Higher Rate threshold will increase next year to £50,270 and will remain the same until April 2026.
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PERSONAL TAX THRESHOLDS WILL INCREASE NEXT YEAR
The personal tax thresholds will increase next year to £12,750 however it won’t move this year.
It will keep at that number until April 2026.
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NO RISE IN RATES OF TAX
Mr Sunak told the House of Commons that there would be no increase in the income tax, national insurance or VAT.
Instead Mr Sunak plans to freeze personal tax thresholds.
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BUSINESSES OF ANY SIZE CAN APPLY FOR LOAN
Rishi Sunak said some businesses will still need loans to see them through despite the restart grants, telling MPs: “As the Bounce Back Loan and CBIL schemes come to an end, we’re introducing a new recovery loan scheme to take their place.
“Businesses of any size can apply for loans from £25,000 up to £10 million, through to the end of this year.”
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ECONOMIC RESPONSE IS WORKING SAYS SUNAK
Sunak says the economic forecasts out today show the Government’s economic response is working.
He says the OBR expects the economy to grow by 4% this year, then 7.3% in 2022, then 1.7%, 1.6% and 1.7% in the following years.
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£65BILLION IN SUPPORT
An additional £65billion of support will be included in this years Budget in response to the pandemic.
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NIL RATE BAND WILL BE EXTENDED UNTIL SEPTEMBER
The £500,000 nil rate band will be in place until the end of September.
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INTERIM RATE FOR SIX MONTHS AFTER
There will be an interim rate of 12.5% as to not jump back to 20% which will last until April next year.
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5% CUT ON VAT UNTIL SEPTEMBER
There will be a 5% cut on VAT that will be extended until September 30 in a bid to protect jobs.
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£700M SUPPORT TO ARTS
There will be £700million support given to the arts, culture and sporting institutions once they reopen.
The £500million film and TV restart scheme will be extended.
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RESTART GRANT WILL BEGIN IN APRIL
A Restart Grant will being in April which will help businesses reopen and get going again.
Non-essential businessess will open first and receieve grants of up to £6,000 per premises.
Hospitality and leisures which will open later will get grants of up to £18,000.
That’s £5billion of new grants on top of £20billion that has already been provided.
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THALIDOMIDE SURVIVORS – FUNDING EXTENDED
Current funding for thalidomide survivors will continue with an extra £49million – “guaranteeing funding forever”.
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£10M TO SUPPORT VETERANS WITH MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS
Mr Sunak announced that there will be an additional £10million to support veterans with mental health needs.
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INCREASE IN NATIONAL LIVING WAGE
The National Living Wage will increase to £8.91 from April – an annual pay rise of £350 for someone working full time on the NLW.
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UNIVERSAL CREDIT UPLIFT
There will be a Universal Credit increase of £20 a week and will continue for another six months.
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IMPROVEMENT TO SELF-EMPLOYED SCHEME
With the new scheme provided that they filed a tax return by midnight last night, the self-employed will be able to claim the fourth and fifth grants.
