Hello and welcome to Small Business’s live coverage of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement 2022.
Rishi Sunak is expected to stand up in Parliament at around 12:30pm today and outline his changes to the Government will fund the economy, given the war in Ukraine just as the punch-drunk economy crawls away from the Covid crisis.
Key things small business owners will be looking out for include:
National Insurance
Will the Chancellor help low-paid workers facing the 1.25 per cent rise in national insurance? There’s talk that Rishi Sunak will exclude workers who earn below £27,500 a year from the rise.
temporarily increase National Insurance by 1.25 per cent for employers, employees and the self-employed
Depending on where he sets the threshold, this could mean that those who earn below the median £27,500 a year may be excluded from the rise.
Rising energy costs
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called for the Chancellor to match the £350 rebate for households with an equivalent rebate on business rates. Other ways to help businesses cope with uncapped energy price rises include reducing the 20 per cent green fuel levy and 5 per cent VAT on energy bills.
Business rates
Will Rishi Sunak cancel the proposed increase in business rates and instead retan the amounts paid by business in 2021?
IR35 (off-payroll tax)
There have been calls for the Chancellor to extend the soft landing of the new off-payroll IR35 rules for self-employed contractors introduced in April 2021 for another year.
Our coverage begins at around 12:30pm.
More on Spring Statement 2022