Budget 2024: Key points at-a-glance

14 hours ago 9

Reuters Rachel Reeves standing in Downing Street with a ministerial red box containing her Budget speechReuters

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is delivering Labour’s first Budget since 2010, after the party’s return to power at July’s general election.

Here is a summary of the main measures we know about so far.

Budget 2024: Follow the announcements live

Business taxes

Firms to pay National Insurance on workers’ earnings above £5,000 from April, down from £9,100 currently, with the rate increasing from 13.8% to 15%Employment allowance - which allows companies to reduce their NI liability - to increase from £5,000 to £10,500

Transport, alcohol, tobacco

Getty Images A bus driving through a Cornwall town Getty Images

£2 cap on single bus fares in England to rise to £3 from January5p cut to fuel duty on petrol and diesel, due to end in April 2025, kept for another year

Housing

Getty Images A newly-built detached houseGetty Images

Current affordable homes budget, which runs until 2026, boosted by £500mSocial housing providers to be allowed to increase rents above inflation under multi-year settlement

Wages, benefits and pensions

Legal minimum wage for over-21s to rise from £11.44 to £12.21 per hour from AprilRate for 18 to 20-year-olds to go up from £8.60 to £10, as part of a long-term plan to move towards a "single adult rate"Eligibility widened for the allowance paid to full-time carers, by increasing the maximum earnings threshold from £151 to £195 a week

UK debt, inflation and economic growth

Getty Images Photo of the Treasury building in LondonGetty Images

Office for Budget Responsibility predicts the UK economy will grow by 1.1% this year, 2% next year, and 1.8% in 2026Inflation predicted to average 2.5% this year, 2.6% next year, before falling to 2.3% in 2026

Government spending and public services

Extra £1.57bn next year for the NHS in England, to pay for surgical hubs, scanners and radiotherapy machines

Other measures

£11.8bn allocated to compensate victims of the infected blood scandal, with £1.8bn set aside for wrongly prosecuted Post Office sub-postmasters
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