Spring Budget 2023

Announcements in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget which affect small businesses include:

Levelling up

• Investment Zones will be re-introduced and 12 zones will be created across the UK.
• The role of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) will be taken over by local government from April 2024. A consultation will be held on proposals to withdraw central support from LEPs.
• New Levelling Up Partnerships will provide over £400 million to 20 of England’s areas most in need.
• The third round of the Levelling Up Fund will open later in 2023.

Support for businesses

• The Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide all eligible businesses across the UK with a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024.
• Over £100 million of support will be provided to charities and community organisations in England to help with increased demand and higher delivery costs.
• The amount Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) can lend to eligible businesses will increase. The amount accredited CDFIs can raise through Community Investment Tax Relief will also increase.

Tax

• Fuel duty will be frozen for the next 12 months.
• The Government will undertake a review of tax guidance for small business.
• HMRC’s income tax services will be modernised so taxpayers can quickly and easily manage their own tax affairs online.

Investment and R&D

• From 1 April 2023, companies will be able to write off the full cost of qualifying plant and machinery investment in the year they invest until 31 March 2026.
• From 1 April 2023, an increased rate of relief for loss-making R&D-intensive SMEs will be introduced.
• The British Patient Capital programme will be extended for a further ten years until 2033/34.

Workers

• The Lifetime Allowance charge on pensions will be removed from April 2023 and the allowance will be abolished from April 2024. The Annual Allowance will increase to £60,000.
• The Government will introduce Returnerships to provide over-50s with better access to retraining to help them return to work.

Childcare

• New childminders will receive grants to help with start-up costs.
• From April 2024, working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare per week. This will be extended to working parents of children aged nine months to two years from September 2024.
• The Government will increase the hourly funding rate paid to childcare providers to deliver the existing free hours offers in England.

The Spring Budget is available in full at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2023