Matt Breakwell, business development manager at Kimpton said:
“Additional capital investment and maintenance pledges for the NHS and schools is clearly welcome and seems to indicate that the government recognises the importance of safeguarding the future of properties in these vital sectors.
“We were also pleased to read further commitments to decarbonisation and achieving net zero targets, with support from the new National Wealth Fund. For the Liverpool City Region, this promises to create thousands of jobs in engineering and other supply chain roles through the implementation of carbon capture and green technologies.
“The next important step for the government must be around training and significantly ramping up the skills pipeline to meet this new demand. Every type of engineer is currently listed as a shortage occupation and this existing undercapacity will only become intensified. Nobody is getting to net zero without the engineers needed to deliver it.”
Sean Keyes, CEO of Sutcliffe said:
“The UK economy has long been constrained by a lack of investment in infrastructure, which has negatively impacted both businesses and communities. While the Prime Minister’s initial plans for increased house building and investment in unlocking brownfield sites is encouraging – especially the 2,000 new affordable homes based on Liverpool docks – it is crucial that the Chancellor remains focused on delivering the right infrastructure projects to accelerate economic growth as shown by the announced £5bn affordable homes programme. This is comforting for the housing sector, as it looks likely we are going to come close to achieving the 1.5m target.
“However, for the private sector to engage and invest in this government’s plans, then it must first understand the barriers that exist and work to mitigate them effectively. The array of tax-raising changes in today’s budget is somewhat worrying considering our tax burden already sits amongst one of the highest. For the business sector to participate and fund this government’s initiatives, it must be certain that the new, higher taxes will be used appropriately.
“Developers will also be impacted by the collective 24% increase in capital gains tax included in today’s announcement. Developers are less inclined to take on new projects or extend current ones when profit margins are constrained; though there’s no doubt that the government has shown a welcome desire in the months since the election to lift the major constraints on not only house building and achieving its 1.5m target by investing £5bn to deliver this programme, but other major infrastructure projects that could accelerate economic growth in alignment with today’s budget.”
John Jones, Director and Head of Residential Property at Jackson Lees said:
“Rachel Reeves has increased the SDLT surcharge on second-home buyers to five per cent, starting tomorrow, but failed to mention or deal with extending the current first-time buyer SDLT relief, which will revert to a lower threshold from April 2025, at which point duty is payable. This is a mistake. Today’s budget was a missed opportunity to help those struggling to get onto the property ladder.
“I would, at the very least, have liked to have seen some recognition by the chancellor of the importance that home ownership has on the wellbeing and life chances of most people in this country. Reverting in April 2025 to the pre-September 2022 threshold is simply going to make it more difficult for people to buy, add expense to the buying process and, for those of us in the older generation, it will result in the need to downsize becoming more expensive to do so.
“It is no surprise that there are calls for SDLT to be scrapped altogether. For conveyancers, the pressure from first-time buyers and others to complete transactions before the threshold reverts to the lower level in April 2025 will replay the nightmare that was the Covid SDLT holiday.”
Jo Henney, CEO of Nugent:
“There are no fast fixes and shortcuts in today’s budget but I am encouraged that what the Chancellor has set out will result in real change for the economy and our essential services over the next five years and beyond.
“I’m delighted to see acknowledgement for care workers with the increase in the Carers’ Allowance, meaning that they can keep more of their money while doing one of the most important and demanding jobs.
“However, I cannot ignore the financial implications that raising employer National Insurance will cause as a charity leader; more clarity on how the third sector will navigate this rise in tax would have been appreciated.
“In the immediate future, this rise in employer National Insurance will mean less money is available for core missions and initiatives within charities and could affect the essential services that we provide – making ‘need to haves’ into ‘nice to haves.”
Greg Johnson, Managing Director of Warwick North West said:
“It is not so much the 1.2% rise in employer contributions, but the lowering of the threshold that could hit business owners hardest.
“Warwick employs more than 120 people at our factory in North Liverpool. By some very quick and loose calculations the cost implications for me as a business owner could be close to £100,000.
“We are very lucky to be in a position to be able to stomach the blow in the short term. Many other businesses might not be.
Greg welcomed some of Rachel Reeves’ comments though, adding:
“I thought on the whole the announcements were palatable, there were perhaps not quite the many nasty surprises many of us anticipated.
“I’ll be interested to see the detail on Labour’s commitment to affordable housebuilding in the coming weeks.”
RSM explore Autumn Budget 2024 highlights and analysis from their tax, legal and economic experts, touching on:
- Increases to employers’ national insurance costs
- The high street impact
- Capital gains tax
- Inheritance tax
- Income tax personal allowance and fiscal drag
- Non-dom tax regime
- Pensions
- Stamp duty land tax
- Private equity
- Business taxation
- VAT and other indirect taxes
- The economist’s view
Read more here.