{"id":8234,"date":"2022-09-28T10:37:41","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T09:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/09\/28\/news-in-review-74\/"},"modified":"2022-09-28T12:46:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T11:46:12","slug":"news-in-review-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/09\/28\/news-in-review-74\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cOur entire\nfocus is on making Britain more globally competitive\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Last Friday, Kwasi Kwarteng <\/strong>outlined a series of tax cuts and\nmeasures aimed at<\/strong> boosting economic\nactivity. <\/strong>HisGrowth Plan<\/strong> was built around three key priorities: reforming the supply-side of the\neconomy, maintaining a responsible approach to public finances and cutting\ntaxes to boost growth, he pledged, <\/strong>\u201cOur entire focus is on making Britain more globally\ncompetitive\u2026 We promised to prioritise growth. We promised a new approach for a\nnew era. We promised to release the enormous potential of this country.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Key tax\nannouncements included:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n
  • A reversal of last April\u2019s National Insurance\ncontribution rise was confirmed by the government. The 1.25 percentage point\nincrease will be reversed from 6 November. The planned Health and Social Care\nLevy, due to replace the National Insurance rise as a new standalone tax\nfrom April 2023, has also been cancelled<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n
    \n
    • A reduction in Stamp Duty Land Tax\n(SDLT) in\nEngland and Northern Ireland, raising the residential nil-rate threshold from\n\u00a3125,000 to \u00a3250,000, with immediate effect, and First Time Buyers Relief from\n\u00a3300,000 to \u00a3425,000. He also increased the\nmaximum amount that an individual can pay for a home while remaining eligible\nfor First Time Buyers\u2019 Relief, from \u00a3500,000 to \u00a3625,000. As SDLT is devolved in Scotland\nand Wales, the Scottish and Welsh Governments will receive funding through an\nagreed fiscal framework to allocate as they see fit<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n
      \n
      • A cut in the basic rate of Income\nTax to 19% in April 2023 \u2013 one year earlier than previously planned. At\npresent, people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland pay 20% on annual\nearnings between \u00a312,571 and \u00a350,270; different rates apply in Scotland. The highest rate of Income Tax\n(the \u2018additional rate\u2019 paid at 45% by those earning over \u00a3150,000) will be\nabolished. From April 2023 there will be a single higher rate of Income Tax of\n40%<\/strong><\/li>
      • A\nreversal of the 1.25 percentage point increase in Dividend Tax rates applying\nUK-wide from 6 April 2023, so the ordinary and upper rates of Dividend Tax will\nrevert to 7.5% and 32.5% respectively.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n
        \n

        UK markets and sterling have fallen following the\nannouncement as investor concerns intensify at\nthe prospect of a surge in government borrowing in order to fund the tax cuts.\nSterling plunged to historic lows forcing the Chancellor and the Bank of\nEngland to reassure markets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        Energy Bill Relief Scheme <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        Last Wednesday the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy\nannounced its new Energy Bill Relief Scheme which outlines its plans to reduce energy bills for all non-domestic\ncustomers, including all UK businesses, the voluntary sector such as charities\nand public sector organisations including schools and hospitals in Great\nBritain and Northern Ireland. The\nsupport package fixes\nelectricity and wholesale gas prices for firms for six months from 1 October\nand will be automatically applied to appropriate\nbusinesses, potentially\nreducing energy costs by more than\n50% this winter. The level of price reduction\nwill vary depending on the contract type and circumstances of the business or\norganisation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        Rates on the rise<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        The Bank of England raised Bank Rate by half\na percentage point on Thursday from 1.75% to 2.25%, taking it to its highest\nlevel since 2008. Five members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted for\nthe 0.5% rise, while three members favoured a 0.75% increase, the remaining\nmember preferred a 0.25% elevation. In the minutes of the September meeting,\nthe expectation is that due to the Energy Price Guarantee, unveiled by Liz\nTruss earlier in the month, \u2018Uncertainty\naround the outlook for UK retail energy prices has nevertheless fallen,\nfollowing the government\u2019s announcements of support measures\u2026 the peak in\nmeasured CPI inflation is now likely to be lower than projected in the August Report,\nat just under 11% in October. Nevertheless, energy bills will still go up and,\ncombined with the indirect effects of higher energy costs, inflation is\nexpected to remain above 10% over the following few months, before starting to\nfall back.\u2019<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        At the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting on 21\nSeptember, the US central bank pushed interest\nrates to their highest level in almost 15 years, raising\nits key rate by another 0.75 percentage points, lifting the target range to 3%\nto 3.25%. Fed Chairman\nJerome Powell said the rate rises were necessary to avoid long-term economic damage,\nbut conceded that they will take a toll, “We\nhave got to get inflation behind us\u2026 I wish there were a painless way to do\nthat. There isn’t.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        Here to help<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        Financial\nadvice is key, so please do not hesitate to get in contact with any questions\nor concerns you may have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        The value of investments can go down as well\nas up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. The past is not a\nguide to future performance and past performance may not necessarily be\nrepeated.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

        \n

        All\ndetails are correct at time of writing (28 September 2022)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        \u201cOur entire focus is on making Britain more globally competitive\u201d Last Friday, Kwasi Kwarteng outlined a series of tax cuts and measures aimed at boosting economic activity. HisGrowth Plan was built around three key priorities: reforming the supply-side of the economy, maintaining a responsible approach to public finances and cutting taxes to boost growth, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":8238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,112],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8239,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8234\/revisions\/8239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8234"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=8234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}