British finance minister Jeremy Hunt is set to make a major announcement in his Autumn Statement, with the expectation that he will permanently extend a tax break for businesses, as reported by The Times and The Financial Times newspapers on Tuesday. This policy, known as full expensing, allows businesses to immediately offset investments in plant and machinery against tax. Currently worth around 9 billion pounds a year, the tax break had been set to end in 2026 but will now be made permanent, according to government officials cited by The Financial Times. Hunt has previously expressed his desire to make the tax break permanent when the fiscal position allows. In addition to this major reform, Hunt is also expected to cut the headline rates of national insurance for approximately 28 million people.
On the eve of delivering his budget update, Hunt announced that Britain’s national minimum wage will increase by 9.8% to 11.44 pounds per hour from April 2024, up from 10.42 pounds. Photograph: British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt waits for the start of a speech by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a college in north London, Britain, November 20, 2023. Daniel Leal/Pool via REUTERS/ File Photo
Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru and Farouq Suleiman in London; Editing by Leslie Adler and Kylie MacLellan