Business awaits back-to-work Budget

A generous raising of childcare allowances for nursery places, the planned raise in capital gains tax and a series of tax breaks to encourage investment are the expected highlights in today’s Spring Budget.

The government is trailing the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget as an package of measures designed to get people back into the workforce, either by cutting costs of childcare, or changing pension rules to increase the lifetime allowance to £1.8million.

The Office for National Statistics said 8.89 million people aged 16-64 in the UK were “economically inactive” as of the end of 2022, 28% say they are suffering a long-term illness.

Businesses and households are also hopeful of support on energy costs, which limits typical bills to £2,500.

City regions are also expecting an announcement today on devolution of further powers. Greater Manchester and the West Midlands in particular are anticipating a devolution of powers of skills budgets, single pot funding for innovation districts and 

TheBusinessDesk.com will be bringing news and commentary on the Spring Budget today, following up with analysis on what the changes to tax and spend rules mean for regional businesses.