Beyond the tax rises – getting under the skin of the Autumn Budget

Getting under the skin of the Autumn Budget

There was much speculation around the Autumn Budget this year and thanks to the trailing of announcements in recent weeks, most of us had a good idea of what would be included (even before the accidental early release of the OBR’s report on the day).

As expected, it was a tax-raising budget – positioned as primarily targeting the wealthy, high-earning and asset-rich, but in fact also impacting the ambiguously-defined ‘working people’ – as the Chancellor looked to give herself more fiscal headroom and generate more money for higher government spending to stimulate growth. The tax rises, however, are going to come into force later than this spending will take place.

The government’s overall messaging remains pro-growth and there was much in the Chancellor’s speech about the importance of business and private sector investment in improving the economy.

Of course, many businesses – small, medium and large – have faced challenges in recent times, Mike Wilson, managing partner at Blake Morgan who was recently appointed to the role of Chair of the CBI’s South-East Council, is very tapped into.

Despite a few small measures including reforming business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure firms and some to support scale-ups, there were, however, not many pro-business announcements made.

Looking at the Budget in more detail, there were many elements that are relevant to our work at Blake Morgan, our clients and the sectors we work across.

The link was made between accelerating development of housing and infrastructure and economic growth, and the Chancellor was keen to demonstrate progress here with a reference to planning reform at the very start of her speech.

Among the announcements published in the lead up to the Budget were two from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government which block local authorities from refusing planning applications for schemes of more than 150 homes and fast track developments within walking distance of well-connected public transport hubs. The Budget also included an announcement of £48 million of funding to recruit more planners and address the skills shortage affecting the sector.

Devolution was a focus, too, as mayors were given increased budget and powers to spend £13 billion on infrastructure and skills development. On infrastructure, the government committed to additional investment in the major growth project the Lower Thames Crossing and moving forward with its White Paper on water reform.

UK growth industries were prioritised, as plans previously announced for AI growth zones and small modular reactor (SMR) construction in Wales were factored in. There is much that needs to happen to get these plans off the ground, from physical considerations such as planning and skills, to regulation around the use of technology including AI.

Large-scale nuclear power was covered as well, with the government taking steps towards regulatory reform and streamlining the delivery of infrastructure, including Sizewell C, which received backing at the Spending Review. My colleagues working in this space will be keeping a keen eye on the regulatory side of things as we move forward.

One new commitment which was well trailed, however, was the creation of up to 250 neighbourhood health centres by 2030. These health centres will use a new model of public private partnerships (PPPs). It will be interesting to see how PPPs work in this context and there are also procurement law considerations to keep in mind.

Our team is aware of the opportunities and risks here – with my colleague Penny Rinta-Suksi writing about the next generation of public-private partnerships back in the summer for Construction News. Aside from healthcare, it appears the government is considering how PPPs might be used in wider infrastructure delivery too.

With my private client lawyer hat on, I’m also thinking of the tax changes that will affect individuals, including the so called ‘mansion tax’. There were, however, no further changes to inheritance tax announced – nor was the anticipated changes for LLPs introduced. My colleague Dan Church has written for Thomson Reuters and looked at the tax changes in the budget, commenting that while there were no headline-grabbing raises, the series of smaller, calculated tax changes add up to one of the biggest tax overhauls since 2010.

Overall, there is lots to digest from the Budget. Beyond the headline-grabbing elements, there were many announcements of relevance to our work at Blake Morgan and that of our clients. Our team of experts will continue to be on hand to support clients on all of these matters over the coming months.