Autumn budget was one for the young

Autumn budget was one for the young

In many ways Chancellor Hammond’s autumn budget was one for the young; especially for those that aspire to be homeowners. In the recent general election 60% of voters aged 18-24 voted Labour whilst 61% of over 64’s voted Conservative. It is unsurprising that the budget addressed this Labour voting group.

How the budget helps young people in work

Key to keeping young people in work; is the requirement that they are able to live a commutable distance from jobs. As the majority of work is located in cities, there were changes made to housing provision in urban areas. The plan the Chancellor said is: “ to build high-quality, high-density homes, in city centers and near transport hubs.”

• An enquiry into planning permission was launched on 22 November. The enquiry will look into affordable housing and brownfields developments where wasteland could be freed up if planning restrictions were lifted. The enquiry results will be delivered before the spring budget.
• Commuting budgets will stretch further with the introduction of a rail-card for 25-30 year olds. Plans to ensure that new homes are built with electric car charging stations have been put in place. A commitment of £400m has been made to a new ‘charging infrastructure fund’ for electric cars. An extra £100m has been put towards helping people to buy electric cars. Though fuel duty is frozen there will be a temporary rise, from April 2018, on Company Car Tax and on Vehicle Excise Duty on all new diesel cars. This does not affect commercial vans used by tradespeople.
• There will be tougher penalties for development companies that acquire land and ‘bank’ it, without building on the land. Councils will also be given the power to charge 100% of council tax on empty properties that are located in sought-after areas.
• Five new garden towns will be created in the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge areas as part of an economic growth initiative.
• In keeping with the extension of garden towns the Transforming Cities initiative £385m will be pledged to projects to 5G and full-fibre broadband.
• Stamp duty up to £300,000 is abolished on homes under £500,000 for first time buyers. The first £300,000 is exempt from stamp duty only, after that normal stamp duty rates apply. For example on a £500,000 home 5% stamp duty would be due on the remaining £200,000.
• A pledge to build 300,000 new homes per year until the mid 2020’s was made, with an additional £15.3bn in this budget taking total housing budget to £44bn.
• The minimum wage was increased to £7.83 per hour.
• Also increased is the personal tax-free allowance which; will go up to £11,850.
• The 40% tax threshold will increase to £46,350.

Thankfully there were no more changes since last years’ autumn budget to ‘pension freedoms’ that were introduced in April 2015.

The NHS will receive an additional £6.3m of funding.

Duty on beer, wine, cider and spirits is frozen.

An additional £1.7bn will go towards improving transport in English cities.

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