Budget 2024: Chancellor raises child benefit threshold from £50k – and confirms national insurance will be cut by 2p

Published

1 year ago

March 6, 2024

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The chancellor has confirmed a 2p cut to national insurance and increased child benefit thresholds.

In the budget, Jeremy Hunt said “permanent cuts in taxation” were possible because of the progress made in bringing down inflation – with forecasts suggesting it will fall to the target level of 2% within months.

More parents will be paid child benefit after the £60,000 threshold, beyond which no payment is currently made, will be extended to £80,000 from next month.

Budget live: No rabbit out of the hat on income tax from chancellor

At present if one parent earns £50,000 a year child benefit payments are reduced. Following Mr Hunt’s announcement such payments won’t be tapered off until a parent is paid £60,000 annually.

The policy change will help 170,000 families with children under 16, or under 20 if they are in full-time education or training, Mr Hunt said.

Eligible parents receive £24 a week for their first child and £15.90 for other each of their other children. These sums will rise to £25.60 and £16.95 a week next month.

Also due to change is the way child benefit is assessed.

It will move away from the present system, where just one parent earning £50,000 means the entitlement is tapered off, to whole household eligibility, whereby the income of parents is looked at together.

But this new joint assessment is won’t take effect until April 2026.

Average savings of around £1,300 will be made by nearly half a million families next year of the changes, Mr Hunt said.

Mr Hunt indicated plans to completely scrap national insurance contributions, branding it “double taxation”. National insurance brought in around £177bn in the 2022-23 period in tax.

Mr Hunt spoke about cutting taxes to increase growth, and the official Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast predicted that living standards will grow faster than expected.

But real disposable household income is not expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels until the 2025-26 period, after the next election.

And the tax burden is also set to continue to rise – albeit at a slightly reduced level when compared to last autumn’s forecast.

In total, the government will take £19.7bn more in tax by 2029 than forecasted in March 2021, even when the cuts to national insurance are included, due to fiscal drag.

Scrapping the “non-doms” regime, which allowed certain wealthy individuals to avoid paying tax on their foreign income, is expected to raise £2.7bn a year.

WHAT IS THE NON-DOM TAX STATUS

Removing the non-dom tax regime is a move that could be seen as being straight out of Labour’s playbook, although the chancellor suggested the Opposition got the idea from his predecessor Nigel Lawson in the late 1980s.

Potentially designed to take the wind out of Labour’s sails, it removes a clear dividing line between the parties’ policies.

A non-dom is someone who lives in the UK but whose permanent home is abroad.

The term is short for non-domiciled individual.

Under the UK’s current regime they only pay tax on money earned in the UK, their income and wealth from outside the UK isn’t taxed.

As a result, rich people make considerable savings if they choose to be tax domiciled abroad.

Non-doms can benefit from the tax arrangement for up to 15 years.

But that’s to change.

Labour wanted this to be cut just to four years. And that’s just what Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has done.

For those currently using the non-dom tax system “transitional arrangements” will be made, Mr Hunt said, including a two-year period in which individuals will be encouraged to bring wealth earned overseas to the UK.

This measure will attract an additional £15bn of foreign income and gains and generate more than £1bn of extra tax, he said.

Rishi Sunak was recused from the decision on non-dom tax to avoid any perceived or potential conflicts of interest.

In terms of spending, Mr Hunt earmarked almost £6bn for the NHS – with artificial intelligence set to be used to “cut form-filling for doctors” in a digitisation drive.

A 5p cut to fuel duty will be extended for another 12 months – with the government “backing the Great British pub” by holding the price of beer, wine and spirits steady until February 2025.

Meanwhile, Britons will be able to invest up to £5,000 in UK companies tax-free – in addition to their current ISA allowance – through a new “British ISA”.

He also announced:

• The High Income Child Benefit Charge threshold will increase from £50,000 to £60,000

• A new excise duty on vaping, as well as a one-off increase to tobacco duty

• The higher capital gains tax rate on property will fall from 28% to 24%

• The VAT registration threshold will rise from £85,000 to £90,000 from 1 April – the first increase in seven years

• A fund aimed at supporting vulnerable households with the cost of living will be extended by a further six months

• The UK economy is expected to grow by 0.8% this year – and 1.9% in 2025

• Hundreds of millions of pounds to tackle “historic underinvestment in our nations and regions”

The 2p cut to national insurance was widely trailed – and follows a previous 2p cut announced in the autumn statement. Combined, this could save the average worker up to £900 a year.

But the chancellor had faced calls from Tory MPs to cut income tax or unfreeze tax thresholds to prevent Britons from being dragged into higher bands when they get pay rises.

Drab fiscal statement will cool May election rumours

We were promised a tax cutting budget, and we got a tax cutting budget.

The budget this year was a bit more straightforward than usual – with big announcements pre-briefed ahead of time, and no big standout measures held back to surprise voters with.

The chancellor cut national insurance by the expected two percentage points in a move that impacts 27 million people, worth £450 per year for the average person.

Capital gains tax will also be reduced, but the slightly more flamboyant move was stealing Labour’s proposals to scrap the non-dom tax status loophole and replace it with a new residency based system.

It means that an extra £2.7 billion a year will be used to fund tax breaks elsewhere in the budget.

There was a lot of pressure riding on Jeremy Hunt today among swirling chatter in Westminster of a May election, but this rather drab fiscal statement may have cooled those rumours.

But both parties could still be accused of electioneering today.

Mr Hunt thanked a list of Conservative MPs for their lobbying and campaigning as he announced certain measures, and even sometimes name checked the constituencies they represent.

Labour were much louder in their disagreement than usual, heckling the chancellor barely two minutes in.

The chancellor even started his speech at the despatch box with a bizarre, unrelated reference to Israel and Gaza, in a striking example of just how much the conflict has impacted UK politics since 7 October.

In terms of the immediate offerings, Jeremy Hunt confirmed the 5p fuel duty cut will continue, after it was due to expire at the end of March and confirmed a continuation of the alcohol duty freeze.

The Household Support Fund has also been extended for another six months.

There were elements in there for savers too, a new British ISA was announced allowing another £5,000 on top of existing ISA offerings and further tax relief for creative industries.

There was also a noticeable pivot back to more traditional Conservatism.

With the Conservatives 20 points behind in the polls, the chancellor must have been hoping that his budget can turn around Tory fortunes.

But today showed that for him this mission is clearly more of a marathon, not a sprint.

Mr Hunt is already facing anger from Scottish Conservatives, after he announced an extension of the windfall tax on profits made by energy companies in the North Sea.

The leader of the Scottish Tories, Douglas Ross, said he would not vote with the legislation – implying he would either oppose or abstain on the motion to introduce the measure.

Andrew Bowie, a Tory minister, said the will be “working with” Mr Ross to “resolve” the matter.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the budget was “bereft of ideas”.

This budget is set to be the last before the election – with Mr Hunt under pressure to revive economic growth and the government’s prospects at the ballot box.

The UK economy slipped into a technical recession at the end of last year, and the Tories are about 20 points behind in the opinion polls.

Money blog: What budget means for you

Before the budget was announced, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The Conservatives promised to fix the nation’s roof, but instead they have smashed the windows, kicked the door in and are now burning the house down.

“Taxes are rising, prices are still going up in the shops and we have been hit by recession. Nothing the chancellor says or does can undo the economic vandalism of the Conservatives over the past decade.”

UK

Mansfield Town footballer Lucas Akins jailed for causing death of cyclist in car crash

Published

1 hour ago

April 24, 2025

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Mansfield Town footballer Lucas Akins jailed for causing death of cyclist in car crash

A professional footballer has been jailed for causing the death of a cyclist in a car crash.

Mansfield Town forward Lucas Akins crashed into Adrian Daniel in his Mercedes G350 in Huddersfield on 17 March 2022, while taking his daughter to a piano lesson.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Mr Daniel, 33, suffered catastrophic head injuries and died 10 days later.

Akins, 36, played in Mansfield’s 0-0 draw with Wigan on 4 March, hours after pleading guilty at Leeds Crown Court to death by careless or inconsiderate driving.

The footballer has continued to play for Mansfield since the incident.

Judge Alex Menary said on Thursday that he had considered imposing a suspended sentence, but had concluded that only an immediate sentence of 14 months’ imprisonment was appropriate.

A spokesperson for Mansfield Town FC said it “acknowledges” the court’s decision and offered the club’s “sincere and deepest condolences to the family of Adrian Daniel at this difficult time”.

“The club is considering its position with regards to Lucas and will be making no further comment at this stage,” the spokesperson added.

‘Like hell’

Prosecuting, Carmel Pearson said it was a “difficult junction to emerge from” but that the defendant “did not stop at the give-way sign”.

Savanna Daniel, Mr Daniel’s wife, told the court it had been “like hell and a nightmare [she is] not waking up from”.

“There was no reason for Adrian to be killed that way,” she said, adding it was “too simple a collision to have taken a life”.

Mrs Daniel said she did not want Akins’s children growing up without their father as she did not want “any more lives to be destroyed from this”, but she criticised the defendant for failing to plead guilty at an earlier stage.

Tim Pole, representing Akins, said he was “fundamentally a decent, honest and hard-working individual”.

“I want to publicly apologise on his behalf,” he said.

Mr Pole added that Akins understood Mrs Daniel’s “frustration and anger” over the time it took him to plead guilty.

Handing down his sentence, the judge accepted that Akins’s remorse was genuine but by not admitting to the offence at an earlier stage, he had prolonged Mrs Daniel’s “heartache and grief”.

After the sentencing, Mrs Daniel said “three years of hell” had come to a close, in a statement via West Yorkshire Police.

She said Akins had made a “farce” of the justice system and that his failure to plead guilty sooner “makes a mockery of any remorse that Akins offers for his actions”.

Akins, who has played for Mansfield Town since 2022 and was previously with clubs including Huddersfield Town, Tranmere Rovers and Burton Albion, was also suspended from driving for 12 months.

UK

UK weather: Large parts of country set to be warm and sunny early next week

Published

1 hour ago

April 24, 2025

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UK weather: Large parts of country set to be warm and sunny early next week

Much of the UK will bask in warm, sunny conditions at the start of next week, with inland temperatures up to 10C higher than average, but it’s a mixed picture before then.

The first half of spring brought warmth and sunshine for many, but the last 10 days have been more changeable.

Some areas of Ireland, Northern Ireland, southwest Wales, and southwest England have seen much-needed rainfall, whereas parts of northern Britain have observed very little.

See the latest weather forecast where you are

Tyne and Wear in northeast England has recorded just 7% of its average April rainfall, whereas Cornwall in the southwest of the country has already seen 156%.

And the Milford Haven rain gauge in Wales has seen over twice its average April rainfall.

There’ll be more rain over the next few days, mainly in the West, but it looks like high pressure will settle things down from Sunday.

Temperatures will rise too, becoming widely above average on Monday and Tuesday.

Highs of 22C (72F) to 24C (75F) can be expected.

The highest temperature of the year so far is 24C (75F), seen at Northolt in northwest London on Saturday 12 April.

The settled conditions will bring plenty of sunshine, with UV levels expected to be around moderate.

Tree pollen levels will be high in the South, low to moderate in the North.

What happens from next Wednesday onwards is unclear.

A thundery breakdown is possible from the South, or wet and windy conditions may move in from the North West.

Other computer models suggest high pressure will hold on, with the fine weather continuing and potentially higher temperatures.

The last time that 25C (77C) was reached in April was during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

The highest temperature ever recorded in April was 29.4C (85F), seen at Camden Square in London on 16 April 1949.

All this means that it will be quite warm for the London Marathon, which will take place this Sunday.

Temperatures will be around 11-12C (52-54F) at the start, potentially peaking at a warm 22C (70F).

That’s a little off the highest temperature ever recorded for the race, which stands at 24.2C (76F) seen at St James’s Park in 2018.

But it will be a lot higher than the 12.6C (55F) seen last year.

It’ll be dry for runners and spectators, with sunny spells and light winds.

Competitors in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday will face similar conditions to London’s runners; it should be dry with sunny spells. The temperature first thing will be around 9C (48F), but it’ll warm up with a high of about 19C (66F).

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Rise in school suspensions and exclusion

Published

1 hour ago

April 24, 2025

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Rise in school suspensions and exclusion

England’s schools are under fresh scrutiny after government data revealed a sizeable increase in both suspensions and permanent exclusions.

According to the Department for Education, almost 300,000 pupils were suspended during the spring term of 2023/24, an increase of 12% recorded in spring 2022/23.

Suspensions have nearly doubled since spring 2019, surging 93% from 153,465 back then.

Meanwhile, permanent exclusions were also higher and went from 3,039 to 3,107, a 2% rise.

At Lewis Hamilton’s charity Mission 44, chief executive Jason Arthur said: “We are continuing to see the number of children losing learning due to suspensions and exclusions grow year on year – especially for vulnerable learners who face disadvantage or discrimination.”

The reasons for both the suspensions and permanent exclusions were “persistent disruptive behaviour” but many voices from the education sector say the figures tell a deeper story about post‑pandemic pressures.

Mr Arthur said: “Persistent disruptive behaviour continues to be the most common reason – yet taking children out of the classroom often only addresses the symptom and not the underlying causes of poor behaviour.”

Campaigners and unions have also reacted with concern. Head of the Association of School and College Leaders Pepe Di’Iasio warned: “Young people only have one chance at a good education … missing classroom time damages their future.”

He urged ministers to back “early intervention strategies” rather than rely on exclusions as a quick fix.

Paul Whiteman, from the National Association of Head Teachers, echoed the plea, highlighting how poverty, the cost of living crisis and lingering pandemic fallout were fuelling bad behaviour.

He stressed that schools “need funded, specialist help” to tackle the root causes.

Charity director Steve Haines said: “Over 295,000 suspensions is a stark warning: our schools aren’t set up to support all students. Disadvantaged youngsters are four times more likely to be suspended.”

The Education Minister Stephen Morgan acknowledged the “broken system,” vowing that the government’s “Plan for Change” will roll out mental‑health professionals in every school, boost SEND support and expand free breakfast clubs –measures he says will curb the “underlying causes of poor behaviour”.