What did George Osborne's Budget today say for employers?

George Osborne today delivered the first Conservative budget for nearly a quarter of a century to “make work pay” branding it a budget for the working people of Britain.  There was plenty for employers to digest with the living wage commitment being the only real surprise. 

What did Mr Osborne say for employers?

• Measures to clamp down on the use of personal service companies for tax avoidance purposes (disguised employment).
• Commitment to increase apprenticeships to 3 million this Parliament with a levy on large UK employers to fund these new positions.
• More power to councils and the new mayors to set the Sunday trading hours in their areas.
• Pension tax relief for highest earners will be tapered away to a minimum of £10,000. The government has issued a green paper consulting on further possible changes to pensions tax relief and George Osborne said he is “open to further radical change” in this area.
• All working parents of children aged between 3-4 years to receive free childcare for up to 30 hours per week.
• The Priority is to cut tax on working people including raising the tax free personal allowance to £11,000 (boosting wages by £900 in total). The personal allowance will raise in line with the minimum wage. The threshold for higher rate tax will rise to £43,000 from next year. This announcement accelerates plans previously announced by David Cameron to increase the rate to £42,700 in April 2016 and £43,300 in April 2017. This announcement also seeks to address concerns that the threshold has failed to keep pace with wages, dragging millions more people into a rate originally meant to hit only the wealthy.
• New compulsory minimum wage of £7.20 from next April with the intention of it reaching £9 by 2020.

We shall be looking at these announcements more closely. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us for further details.