The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals ……………………………………………………………Policy News Journal
Government News
CIPP summary of Budget 2016
March 2016
The Chancellor spoke for just over an hour so we got off quite lightly when you compare it to the longest Budget delivery in history in 1853 at 4 hours and 45 minutes. I’m sure we have mentioned this before but worth repeating for the favourable contrast. The Chancellor proudly told us how the British economy is resilient, and employment is at a record high, but that we face a challenge still as the outlook for global economy is weak – a dangerous cocktail of risks but this government is ready. After mentioning that the OBR has revised down the UK’s economic growth due to the somewhat fragile global situation, we particular liked the phrase “We fix our plans to fit the figures, we don’t fix the figures to fit our plans”. Further cuts in government spending were announced, a sugar tax of sorts – called a soft drinks industry levy and over £115 million to support those who are homeless and to reduce rough sleeping. The M62 is to receive a fourth lane, the A66 and A69 are to be upgraded, fuel duty is to be frozen for a sixth year and the duty rates on beer, spirits and most ciders will also be frozen this year. The theme to this budget was very much that it is a budget for the ‘next generation’. So did George Osborne boldly go where no man has gone before or did he play it safe with the impending EU referendum and resist the ‘final frontier’? A Lifetime ISA is to be introduced in April 2017; a pensions dashboard was promised by 2019 - to assist those who want to ‘live long and prosper’ perhaps? And small businesses and ‘enterprise’ came out on top with further boosts announced. This was the Chancellor’s eighth budget and it is clear that the payroll industry continues to be fundamental to delivering the successful outcome of budget promises. Of particular interest to our profession is an increase in the personal allowance to £11,500 from 2017, an increase in the higher rate threshold to £45,000 from 2017, the extension of the voluntary payrolling framework to allow employers to account for tax on non-cash vouchers and credit tokens from April 2017, a review on the impacts of proceeding with moving employee NICs to an annual, cumulative and aggregated basis, and moving employer NICs to a payroll basis, a possible limit on the rage of benefits that are provided as part of salary sacrifice schemes, consultation on the extension of shared parental leave and pay to grandparents, termination payments from 2018 will attract employer NICs ……………..
Just a few things to keep us on our toes; read on for our summary of announcements and as ever we shall be scrutinising all 148 pages of the red Budget book for any details yet to be uncovered.
The CIPP policy team has also produced a Budget 2016 webcast so listen in if you want to know the key announcements from the budget or would like to share a summary with your payroll teams. The webcast is only 23 minutes long and can be a time saving medium to impart information to several people.
Back to Contents
cipp.org.uk
Page 217
of 588
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker