UK 2024 Budget in nine key points
Wia dis foto come from, Reuters
- Author, Paul Seddon
- Role, Political reporter
- Read am in 5 mins
Chancellor Rachel Reeves don deliver Labour first Budget since 2010, after di party return to power for July general election.
She announce tax rises worth £40bn to fund di NHS and oda public services.
Dis na di summary of di main measures.
Personal taxes
- Rates of income tax and National Insurance (NI) paid by employees, and of VAT, go remain unchanged
- Income tax band thresholds go rise in line with inflation after 2028, dis go prevent more pipo from being dragged into higher bands as wages rise
- Basic rate capital gains tax on profits from selling shares go increase from 10% to 18%, and di higher rate go rise from 20% to 24%
- Rates on profits from selling additional property go dey unchanged
- Inheritance tax threshold freeze dey extended by further two years to 2030, with unspent pension pots also subject to di tax from 2027
- Exemptions wen inheriting farmland go become less generous from 2026
Business taxes
- Companies go pay NI at 15% on salaries above £5,000 from April, up from 13.8% on salaries above £9,100, raising an additional £25bn a year
- Employment allowance - wey allow smaller companies to reduce dia NI liability - to increase from £5,000 to £10,500
- Tax paid by private equity managers on share of profits from successful deals go rise from up to 28% to up to 32% from April
- Main rate of corporation tax, paid by businesses on taxable profits over £250,000, go stay at 25% until next election
Wages, benefits and pensions
- Legal minimum wage for over-21s go rise from £11.44 to £12.21 per hour from April
- Rate for 18 to 20-year-olds go go up from £8.60 to £10, as part of a long-term plan to move towards a "single adult rate"
- Basic and new state pension payments go go up by 4.1% next year due to di "triple lock", more than working age benefits
- Eligibility dey widened for di allowance dem dey pay to full-time carers, by increasing di maximum earnings threshold from £151 to £195 a week
Transport
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
- Dem keep for anoda year, 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel wey di Conservatives bin bring in, wey go end in April 2025
- £2 cap on single bus fares for England go rise to £3 from January, outside London and Greater Manchester
- Commitment to fund tunnelling work to take HS2 high-speed rail line to Euston station for central London
- Goment say dem go "secure di delivery" of Transpennine rail upgrade between York and Manchester, after reports ministers dey look into to cut costs
- Air Passenger Duty go go up in 2026, by £2 for short-haul economy flights and £12 for long-haul ones, and rates for private jets go go up by 50%
- Extra £500m next year to repair potholes for England
- Vehicle Excise Duty wey owners of all except di most efficient new petrol cars go double in dia first year, to encourage shift to electric vehicles
Drinking and smoking
Wia dis foto come from, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
- New flat-rate tax of £2.20 per 10ml of vaping liquid introduced from October 2026, as ministers throway Tory plans to link di levy to nicotine content
- Tax on tobacco go increase by 2% above inflation, and 10% above inflation for hand-rolling tobacco
- Tax on non-draught alcoholic drinks go increase by di higher RPI measure of inflation, but tax on draught drinks cut by 1.7%
- Goment go review thresholds for sugar tax on soft drinks, and consider to extend am to "milk-based" beverages
Goment spending and public services
- Day-to-day spending on NHS and education in England go rise by 4.7% in real terms dis year, before smaller rises next year
- Defence spending go rise by £2.9bn next year
- Home Office budget go shrink by 3.1% dis year and 3.3% next year in real terms, due to assumed savings from asylum system
- £1.3bn extra funding next year for local councils, wey go also keep all cash from Right to Buy sales from next month
Housing
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
- Social housing providers go dey allowed to increase rents above inflation under multi-year settlement
- Discounts for social housing tenants to buy dia property under di Right to Buy scheme go dey reduced
- Stamp duty surcharge, paid on second home purchases in England and Northern Ireland, to go up from 3% to 5%
- Point wia house buyers go start to pay stamp duty on a main home go drop from £250,000 to £125,000 in April, reversing a previous tax cut
- Threshold wey first-time buyers dey take pay di tax go also drop back, from £425,000 to £300,000
- Current affordable homes budget, wey dey run until 2026, go dey boosted by £500m
UK growth, inflation and debt
Wia dis foto come from, Getty Images
- Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predict say di UK economy go grow by 1.1% dis year, 2% next year, and 1.8% for 2026
- Inflation predicted to average 2.5% dis year, 2.6% next year, before falling to 2.3% for 2026
- Official definition of UK goment debt go dey loosened by including a wider range of financial assets, such as future student loan repayments
- Budget policies go increase UK borrowing by £19.6bn dis year and by an average of £32.3bn over di next five years, according to di OBR
Oda measures
- £11.8bn dey allocated to compensate victims of di infected blood scandal, with £1.8bn set aside for wrongly prosecuted Post Office sub-postmasters
- Goment go stop receiving surplus cash from pension scheme for mineworkers
- Extra spending in England go lead to £3.4bn more for Scotland, £1.7bn more for Wales, and £1.5bn more for Northern Ireland in devolution payments
