Philip Hammond announced yesterday, 22nd November 2017, his second budget as chancellor and here are some key points on what will affect our members, focusing on the business aspects and the effects on UK companies.

The small business VAT threshold will be kept at £85,000. There had been speculation that this will be brought in line with other European countries and reduced. Philip Hammond says he is consulting on the design of the system and whether it could be used better to incentivize growth, but in the meantime, it will remain at its current level of £85,000 for the next two years.

There will be a rise to the living wage from April, rising 4.4% from £7.50 an hour to £7.83, giving a much-needed payrise to those on minimum wage and those working full time an extra £600 pay increase.

The business rate change has been brought forward, with a changeover from RPI (Retail Price Index) to CPI (Consumer Price Index) now set to change in April 2018. Worth more than £2.3bn over the next five year, further evaluations will now take place every three years rather than above average wait in recent years, this will hopefully result in more fairer business rates for companies.

UK economy is now expected to grow by only 1.5% in 2017, downgraded from the more buoyant figure of 2% forecast in March. Watchdog database reports shows this growth report as the weakest forecast report produced by any treasury between November 1983 and June 2010.

There will be extra Money for Brexit, to cover any possible outcomes.whatever these outcomes may be, are still under discussion from the ever present ongoing Brexit divorce talks.

Income Tax to be applied for April 2019 on digital economy royalties relating to UK sales which are paid for too low tax jurisdiction, raising about £200m a year for the government and in the long run the economy.

If you would like to see how you fair after the budget personally, Deloitte has created a Budget Calculator, which you can find here

If you are affected by any of these changes or would like how they can affect your business then please get in touch with the Giftware Association at enquiries@ga-uk.org