Everything, everywhere all at once - was Hunt’s bugdet performance Oscar worthy?

LISTENING to the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget you might have felt that it set out to address everything for everyone, everywhere here and now.

Delivered with the news inflation seems to be on target to be more than halved by the end of the year and we have technically avoided a recession, the Chancellor appeared ebullient for the future prospects of the UK economy and growth.

It was good to hear about the proposed £100m support for local charities, recognition of the vital work and role our third sector plays in supporting our communities. So too was the news around the provision of £63m te for public swimming pools and leisure centres, all of which play a key part for many in ensuring physical and mental health and wellbeing.

When it came to the cost-of-living crisis everyone will have been pleased to hear that the energy price cap for households will remain in place for a further three months, with the start of the summer expected to see a reduction in real terms in the cost of energy.

Motorists will have welcomed the continuation of the 5p fuel duty freeze and for those that like a pint down the pub, the 11p reduction in alcohol duty on a draught pint has probably gone down a treat.

Moving on to what the Budget 2023 means for business and enterprise, Mr Hunt did not cancel the forthcoming increase in Corporation Tax from 19% to 25% this April.

He did seek to harness the upside of Super Deduction, the tax relief which was due to come to an end this April, with the introduction of full capital expensing for the next three years, with the intention of making this permanent. Under this relief, IT, plant and machinery will be deductible in full of taxable profits. Support for the life science and creative sectors in the form of an enhanced credit will see eligible companies able to claim £27 back of every £100 spent.

Further tax relief and support is also being introduced for SME’s who undertake more intensive R&D, especially in the fields of life science, healthcare and artificial intelligence.

One of the key challenges businesses face is workforce shortages and the Chancellor announced a number of measures aimed at targeting and supporting, those with health-related issues and child care challenges and encouraging those aged over 50 back to the work place.

There was a focus on addressing the shortage of health care professionals who might have left the profession as they have reached the pension threshold and felt continuing was not financially attractive or beneficial.

Measures to boost the workforce then saw financial support and incentives for those seeking childcare provision and more flexibility for nurseries and child minders as providers. Schools are also being encouraged to provide greater wrap around cover for childcare at the start and end of a working day. For the over 50s who may have left the workplace, the Chancellor increased the annual pension allowance from £40,000 to £60,000 and removed the life time allowance - the maximum a person may have in a pension pot.

Mr Hunt hopes this group will seek work, even if it is not necessarily what they used to do with apprenticeships for the over 50s helping them to re-train and upskill.

Whether the measures will help to fill vacancies will depend on the ability to match skills with jobs, especially in those sectors with particular challenges such as healthcare, education, tourism, hospitality and even the professions such as accountants and solicitors.

Finally, it was interesting to hear about the creation of 12 new investment zones including those planned for the West Midlands, East Midlands, Teesside, South and West Yorkshire along with the proposed £400m for further levelling up partnerships.

Such initiatives do appear to be, in part, underpinned in some areas with changes to public accountability and responsibility with a move to decisions, influence and control transferring from Local Enterprise Partnership to unity authorities. At just over an hour long the Chancellor’s Budget could not be classed as an epic, although it did seem to be action-packed and full of content.

Its substance will come to the fore when we see the devil in the detail over next 12 months as we run up to an election and we’ll see if it has the impact the government want and the electorate crave.