Summary of Budget 2018: Key points at-a-glance
- Published
Philip Hammond has delivered his third Budget as chancellor. Here are the key points of his 72-minute speech.
Personal taxation and wages
The personal allowance threshold, the rate at which people start paying income tax at 20%, to rise from £11,850 to £12,500 in April - a year earlier than planned
The higher rate income tax threshold, the point at which people start paying tax at 40%, to rise from £46,350 to £50,000 in April
After that, the two rates will rise in line with inflation
National Living Wage increasing by 4.9%, from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour, from April 2019.
Tax rates and thresholds are different in Scotland. The Scottish government's Finance Secretary Derek Mackay will set out his plan for Scottish tax payers on 12 December.
Alcohol, tobacco and fuel
Beer, cider and spirits duties to be frozen
Cost of a bottle of wine duty to rise by 8p, in line with inflation, in February
Tobacco duty will continue to rise by inflation plus 2%
A packet of 20 cigarettes will go up by 33p at 18.00 GMT
A ten gram pack of cigars goes up by 17p.
Fuel duty to be frozen for ninth year in a row
Remote Gaming Duty to increase to 21% for online gambling on "games of chance" from 2019
Stamp duty and housing
All first-time buyers purchasing shared equity homes of up to £500,000 will be eligible for first-time buyers' relief
£500m for the Housing Infrastructure Fund, designed to enable a further 650,000 homes to be built
Lettings relief limited to properties where the owner is in shared occupancy with the tenant
New partnerships with housing associations in England to deliver 13,000 homes
Guarantees of up to £1bn for smaller house-builders
Welfare and pensions
Work allowances for universal credit to be increased by £1.7bn
2.4 million working families with children to benefit by £630 a year
An extra £1bn to help welfare claimants transfer to the new consolidated benefit
Chancellor insists controversial system is "here to stay"
The state of the economy
Era of austerity is "finally coming to an end", the chancellor says
2018 growth forecast downgraded to 1.3% from 1.5% in March, due to impact of bad Spring weather
But forecast for 2019 raised from 1.3% to 1.6% and annual forecasts raised to 1.4%, 1.4%, 1.5% and 1.6% in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively.
3.3 million more people in work since 2010 and 800,000 more jobs forecast by 2022.
Wages growth at its highest in nearly a decade
The state of the public finances
Public borrowing in 2018 to be £11.6bn lower than forecast in March, representing 1.2% of gross domestic product, (GDP) the total value of goods produced and services provided
Borrowing as a share of GDP to rise to 1.4% next year
Borrowing to total £31.8bn, £26.7bn. £23.8bn, £20.8bn and £19.8bn in next five years
Debt as share of GDP peaked at 85.2% in 2016-17, falling to 83.7% this year and to 74.1% by 2023-24
1.2% annual average growth in departmental spending promised
Brexit
Extra £500m for preparations for leaving the EU
Spring Statement next March could be upgraded to full Budget if needed
A commemorative 50p coin to mark the UK's departure from the EU
Defence and security
An extra £160m for counter-terrorism police
An extra £1bn for armed forces, for cyber-capabilities and the UK's new nuclear submarine programme
£10m for mental health care for veterans, to mark the centenary of the Armistice which brought World War One to an end
£1m to fund school trips to World War One battlefields
£1.7m in Holocaust education programmes to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, in northern Germany
Business and digital
New 2% digital services tax on UK revenues of big technology companies, from April 2020
Profitable companies with global sales of more than £500m will be liable
Private finance initiative (PFI) contracts to be abolished in future
New centre of excellence to manage existing deals "in the taxpayer's interest"
Annual investment allowance to be increased from £200,000 to £1m for two years
Contribution of small companies to apprenticeship levy to be reduced from 10% to 5%
Business rates bill for firms with a rateable value of £51,000 or less to be cut by third over two years
Measure to benefit 90% of independent shops, pubs and restaurants, cutting bills by £8,000
£900m in business rates relief for small businesses and £650m to rejuvenate High Streets
New 100% mandatory business rates relief for all lavatories made available for public use
Extending changes to the way self-employment status is taxed, from the public sector to medium and large private companies, from 2020
Education and health (England only)
Confirmation of an extra £20.5bn for the NHS over the next five years
A minimum extra £2bn a year for mental health services
New mental health crisis centres, providing support in every accident and emergency unit in the country
More mental health ambulances and a 24-hour mental health crisis hotline.
An extra £700m for councils, for care for the elderly and those with disabilities
£10m for air ambulances
A one-off £400m "bonus" to help schools buy "the little extras they need" this year
Funding for 10 University Enterprise Zones
Transport, infrastructure and culture
A £30bn package for England's roads, including repairs to motorways and potholes
A 30% growth in infrastructure spending
Opening the use of e-passport gates at airports - currently available to people from Europe - to those from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan
Air Passenger Duty to be indexed in line with inflation
Environment and energy
A new tax on plastic packaging which does not contain 30% recyclable material
No tax on takeaway coffee cups but to be reconsidered if the industry doesn't make enough progress
£60m for planting trees in England
£10m to deal with abandoned waste sites
Nations and regions
An additional £950m for the Scottish government, £550m for the Welsh government and £320m for a Northern Ireland Executive in the period to 2020-21
New City and Growth deals for Belfast, north Wales and the Tay Cities area, which includes the cities of Dundee and Perth as well as Angus and the north part of Fife,
£2m for Belfast to help recover from August's Primark fire
£70m to develop the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre near Loughborough
- Published29 October 2018
