Here is a snap shot of the autumn statement in november 2023. here is a few points from the statement, the main one is a cut in ni by 2%. This means someone on £30k, will pay £28 less a month on ni tax.

The UK Autumn Statement was announced on November 22, 2023 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt ¹. The statement aimed to bring stability to the UK economy as inflation and the cost of living rises ¹. Here are some of the highlights from the speech:

• Benefits will increase by 6.5%.
• The cost of rolled tobacco will go up by 105%.
• The cost of duty on alcohol in pubs will be frozen until the summer of 2024.
• The public sector needs to be 0.05% more productive per year.
• Investment will be boosted by £20 billion with an additional £50 million for apprentices in engineering and other similar sectors.
• Planning reforms will be implemented to reduce planning time with a prompt service or your money back on planning application which should help the building projects for business.
• Pension reforms will enable you to keep your current pension pot and ask new employer to pay into that.
• AI will be at the heart of the future, and £500 million will be invested to make the UK an AI powerhouse.
• Advanced manufacturing and green sectors will have £4.5 billion support into strategic manufacturing sectors for life sciences, green industry, etc.
• Level up measures will include extending free ports from 5 years to 10 years. There will be more investment zones in West Midlands, Yorkshire, East Midlands, and Greater Manchester creating 65,000 jobs. There will also be another investment zone for Wrexham.
• For small businesses, on business rates they have removed 1/3 properties out of this band & frozen business rates and the small business multiplier be frozen for 1 more year and the 75 percent discount for hospitality will continue for 1 more year.
• Class two NI for self-employed will be abolished, and access to benefits will continue. Class 4 NI for self-employed will be 8% instead of 9%.
• Business investment full expensing was for 3 years and now they have changed this to a long-term permanent policy, which creates an investing culture for business.
• Minimum wage is going up to £11.44 per hour.
• Employee NI will be cut by 2% to 10%, which for someone on £25k will be a £245 saving a year, this is from 6th January 2024.

These are some of the highlights from the Autumn Statement. For more information, please refer to the official statement from the UK government ².

Minimum wage (living wage)

It was announced, for over 21 year olds, this will now be at £11.44 per hour. This means if someone works 40 hours, the wage is £23,795. A 45 hr contract is £26,769 and a 48 hr contract is  £28,554. This is basic wage excluding tips and service.

There are things you will need to start to do, this will include:

• budget for the difference
• review the hours you require your team, do they all need to be on a 48 hr week contract or can some be on 40 hours or 45 hours
• review the opening hours of your business, if you have a quite day, do you require to be open or can open later?
• review technology, can you use technology to reduce manual labour, which in turn, can help staff feel happier and also it means they can work 40 hours and not 48 hours

The rates for under 21 year olds, at the time writing this has not been released yet.

HtE Recruitment News & Insights

This news and insights page has been written for HtE Recruitment and edited by Rick. HtE Recruitment take no responsibility for this post.