Budget 2018 bullet point round-up

Economy

• The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised its growth forecast to 1.6% up from 1.3% for 2019 and to 1.4% for 2020 (up from 1.3%)
• Chancellor forecasts 800,000 more jobs by 2023
• OBR confirm that our national debt TO GDP to fall faster than forecast in the Spring Statement. Forecast to be 74.1% of GDP in 2023 to 2024
• Government borrowing will be £11.6bn lower this year than forecast at the Spring Statement

Personal taxation

• The personal allowance threshold to rise from £11,850 to £12,500 in April
• The higher rate income tax threshold to rise from £46,350 to £50,000 in April
• Following these both 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.

Alcohol, Tobacco etc.

• Beer, cider and spirits duties to be frozen
• Duty on a bottle of wine to rise by 8p from February 2019
• Tobacco duty will continue to rise by inflation plus 2%
• 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

Business

• New 2% digital services tax on UK revenues of  big technology companies, from April 2020 with global profits of £500m+
• 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
• £650m to rejuvenate High Streets

Housing market

• First-time buyers purchasing shared equity homes up to £500,000 to be exempt from stamp duty
• £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

Universal credit

• 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

Health/Social

• NHS 10-year plan will include "health crisis services in every major Accident and Emergency department, children's crisis teams, mental health ambulances and a mental health hotline."
• Extra £650m funding will be provided, in the form of grants, to Local Authorities to provide social care services.
• Extra funding for the police force - both general and counter-terrorism
• Treasury will mark the centenary of the armistice with a donation of £10m
• An additional £1bn to the Ministry of Defence to cover the remainder of this year and next
• £10 million of funding for the Air Ambulance service
• £420m to local authorities for potholes and bridge repairs.