Budget 2021: a summary

In a Budget which ‘meets the moment’, the Chancellor has set out a £65 billion three-point plan to provide support for jobs and businesses as we emerge from the pandemic and forge a path to recovery.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer set out a three-point plan to protect jobs and strengthen public finances by:

1. providing billions to support businesses and families through the pandemic;
2. encouraging investment-led recovery as UK emerges from lockdown; and
3. securing future changes to strengthen public finances.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said his immediate priority continues to be supporting those hardest hit, with extensions to furlough, self-employed support, business grants, loans and VAT cuts – bringing total fiscal support to over £407 billion.

He also set out plans to drive jobs, growth and investment to help the economy rebound - and spoke honestly about the tough choices required to put the public finances on a more sustainable path.

Commenting on the Budget James said,

“This Budget will help protect families, jobs, and businesses in North West Norfolk as part of a huge package of over £400 billion of support this year and next. Measures including extending the £20 a week Universal Credit uplift, continuing the furlough scheme, and widening access to self-employment support will give people the support they need to get through the pandemic.

It is great news for our tourism and hospitality sector that the VAT cut and business rate holiday which I campaigned on have been extended.  The new restart grants will help firms to bounce back.

The Budget shows the government’s commitment to growth across the country. King’s Lynn and West Norfolk is in the top priority group for the new Levelling Up fund for projects up to £20 million and has been granted £125,000 to support the development of bids. 
The Chancellor was also honest about the challenges facing the public finances due to this unprecedented support and the damage done to the economy by Covid and the steps we need take to start fixing them once on the road to recovery.

With further measures to boost business investment, improve productivity, and to encourage firms to take on more apprentices and trainees this Budget lays the foundations for the recovery and our future economy.”

1. Protecting jobs and livelihoods

In line with the government’s roadmap for the cautious easing of social distancing rules, the Chancellor pledged to keep economic support in place until we are out of lockdown.

(a) Covid-19

• An extra £1.65 billion cash injection to ensure the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out in England continues to be a success.
• £28 million to increase the UK’s capacity for vaccine testing, support for clinical trials and improve the UK’s ability to rapidly acquire samples of new variants of COVID-19.
• £22 million for a world-leading study to test the effectiveness of combinations of different Covid-19 vaccines. This will also fund the world’s first study assessing the effectiveness of a third dose of vaccine to improve the response against current and future variants of COVID-19.
• A further £5 million on top of a previous £9 million investment in clinical-scale mRNA manufacturing, to create a ‘library’ of vaccines that will work against Covid-19 variants for possible rapid response deployment.
• Extending £500 Test and Trace support payments in England until the summer.

(b) Protecting jobs and livelihoods

• An extension of the Coronavirus Job Support Scheme to September 2021 across the UK.
• An extension of the UK-wide Self Employment Income Support scheme to September 2021, with 600,000 more people who filed a tax return in 2019-20 now able to claim for the first time.
• An extension to the temporary cut in Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Northern Ireland until September will support the housing market and protect and create jobs.
• A new mortgage guarantee scheme will enable all UK homebuyers secure a mortgage up to £600,000 with a 5% deposit.
• £5 billion for new Restart Grants – a one off cash grant of up to £18,000 for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal care and gym businesses in England.
• A new UK-wide Recovery Loan Scheme to make available loans between £25,001 and £10 million, and asset and invoice finance between £1,000 and £10 million, to help businesses of all sizes through the next stage of recovery.
• Extension of the Film & TV Production Restart scheme in the UK, with an additional £300 million to support theatres, museums and other cultural organisations in England through the Culture Recovery Fund.
• Six-month extension of the £20 per week Universal Credit uplift in Great Britain, with the Northern Ireland Executive receiving additional funding to match the increase. A one-off payment of £500 to eligible Working Tax Credit claimants across the UK.
• Extension to the VAT cut to 5% for hospitality, accommodation and attractions across the UK until the end of September, followed by a 12.5% rate for a further six months until 31 March 2022.
• 750,000 eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England will benefit from business rates relief.
• Extension of the apprenticeship hiring incentive in England to September 2021 and an increase of payment to £3,000.
• £7 million for a new “flexi-job” apprenticeship programme in England, that will enable apprentices to work with a number of employers in one sector.
• Additional £126 million for 40,000 more traineeships in England, funding high quality work placements and training for 16-24 year olds in 2021/22 academic year.
• More than doubling the legal limit for single contactless payments, from £45 to £100
• £10 million to support veterans with mental health needs across the UK.
• £19 million to tackle domestic abuse in England and Wales, with funding for a network of ‘Respite Rooms’ to support homeless women and a programme to prevent reoffending.
• £90 million funding to support our government-sponsored national museums in England due to the financial impact of Covid-19.
• £300 million for major spectator sports, supporting clubs and governing bodies in England as fans begin to return to stadia.
• Small and medium-sized employers in the UK will continue to be able to reclaim up to two weeks of eligible Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) costs per employee from the Government.
• To further support the cashflow of businesses, the government is extending the loss carry back rules worth up to £760,000 per company.
• £100 million for a new Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to crack-down on COVID fraudsters who have exploited UK Government support schemes.

2. Strengthening the public finances

The Chancellor was honest with the public about the need to get public finances back on track and give people and businesses the certainty they need for the future while not raising rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT.

• Maintaining the income tax Personal Allowance and higher rate threshold from April 2022 until April 2026.
• To balance the need to raise revenue with the objective of having an internationally competitive tax system, the rate of Corporation Tax will increase to 25%, which will remain the lowest rate in the G7. In order to support the recovery, the increase will not take effect until 2023. Businesses with profits of £50,000 or less, around 70% of actively trading companies, will continue to be taxed at 19% and a taper above £50,000 will be introduced so that only businesses with profits greater than £250,000 will be taxed at the full 25% rate.
• Maintaining inheritance tax thresholds at their current levels until April 2026.
• Fuel duty will be frozen for the 11thconsecutive year.
• Alcohol duties will be frozen across the board for the second year running saving drinkers £1.7 billion.
• Capping the amount of SME payable R&D tax credit that a business can receive in any one year at £20,000 (plus three times the company’s total PAYE and NICs liability).
• Maintaining the Lifetime Allowance at its current level of £1,073,100 until April 2026.
• The adult ISA annual subscription limit for 2021-22 will remain unchanged at £20,000.

3. An investment-led recovery

The Budget will spread investment and opportunity across the UK, helping businesses to grow, and improving access to skills, capital and ideas.

• Beginning April 2021, the new super-deduction will cut companies’ tax bill by 25p for every pound they invest in new equipment. This is worth around £25 billion to UK companies over the two-year period the super-deduction will be in full effect.
• Eight new English Freeports will be based in East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside.
• The £375 million UK-wide ‘Future Fund: Breakthrough’ will invest in highly innovative companies such as those working in life sciences, quantum computing, or clean tech, that are aiming to raise at least £20 million of funding.
• Reforms to the immigration system will help ambitious UK businesses attract the brightest and best international talent.
• A new Help to Grow scheme to offer up to 130,000 companies across the UK a digital and management boost.
• £2.8 million to support a UK and Ireland bid to host the 2030 World Cup and £25 million investment in UK grassroots sports, enough for around 700 new pitches.
• Launching a review of Research & Development tax reliefs to make sure the UK remains a competitive location for cutting-edge research.
• £20 million to fund a UK-wide competition to develop floating offshore wind demonstrators and help support the government’s aim to generate enough electricity from offshore wind to power every home by 2030.
• £68 million to fund a UK-wide competition to deliver first-of-a-kind long-duration energy storage prototypes that will reduce the cost of net zero by storing excess low carbon energy over longer periods.
• £4 million for a biomass feedstocks programme in the UK to identify ways to increase the production of green energy crops and forest products that can be used for energy.
• Publication of the the government’s ‘Build Back Better: our plan for growth’.
• Over £1 billion funding for a further 45 towns in England through the Towns Fund, supporting their long-term economic and social regeneration as well as their immediate recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.
• £135 million to progress A66 Trans-Pennine upgrade.
• £28 million to fund the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022, delivering a major celebration for the UK.
• Plans for at least £15 billion of green gilt issuance in the coming financial year, to help finance critical projects to tackle climate change and other environmental challenges, fund important infrastructure investment, and create green jobs across the UK.
• £150 million Community Ownership Fund will allow communities across the UK to invest to protect the assets that matter most to them such as pubs, theatres, shops, or local sports clubs.
• £18.8 million to transform local cultural projects in Hartlepool, Carlisle, Wakefield and Yeovil.
• Publication of the prospectus for the £4.8 billion UK-wide Levelling Up Fund, providing guidance for local areas on how to submit bids for the first round of funding starting in 21-22.