Chancellor’s Spring Statement: growth halved, but no tax changes

The Chancellor previously confirmed that she only wanted to make major tax and spending announcements once a year, with this being in the Autumn Budget.  Therefore, no tax changes were expected and none were delivered.

The headline from the speech was that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has halved its 2025 growth estimate for the UK from 2% to 1% in 2025, but it has upgraded its longer term forecasts from 2026 onwards.

Alongside this, previously announced cuts to Welfare and Overseas Aid payments, Increases in Defence spending and Planning Reforms were confirmed.

In terms of signposting future changes that could be announced:

• The government confirmed it is looking at options to reform ISAs to “get the balance right between cash and equities to earn better returns for savers” which could indicate limited cash ISA allowances relative to Stocks and Shares ISA allowances.
• The government will also be holding a series of roundtables with key stakeholders over April as it considers the role of tax reliefs for Enterprise Management Incentives Schemes, Enterprise Investment Schemes and Venture Capital Trusts.

After the pension changes over the last few years and, in particular, last year’s confusion as the new pension rules were ‘bedded in’ and legislation adjusted, it was a relief to have no further tinkering with pension rules.

We already know of course, of various areas of impending change, including the removal of the ‘domicile’ tax regime from 6 April this year, the Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief changes from April 2026 and of course the Pensions and IHT changes from April 2027 – which we await further details on.

These areas and others, including the employer National Insurance increases, are covered off in our Autumn Statement 2024 summary.

There were some changes announced to Universal Credit from 2026 onwards and from this summer it will become possible for those newly liable for the High Income Child Benefit Charge to pay the tax through PAYE rather than via self-assessment.

If you’d like to discuss any of the announcements from the Spring Statement or Autumn Budget last October, and are concerned about how they will affect your financial plan, why not get in touch and speak to one of our expert advisers.

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This article is intended for general information only, it does not constitute individual advice and should not be used to inform financial decisions.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not regulate tax advice.