Osborne freezes carbon tax March 19, 2014 The chancellor has announced a freeze in the carbon price floor. Carbon will cost £18 per tonne from 2016 for the rest of the decade. Measures in the budget taken to bring down cost of energy amount to £7bn. This will be welcome to energy intensive industries that have been hardest hit by the rising cost [...]
Chancellor hopes for 200,000 new homes as a result of budget measures March 19, 2014 George Osborne has announced the government will be providing support to small housebuilding firms, with £150m used for new build housing. The construction of a new garden city at Ebbsfleet was also confirmed. The chancellor said the measures taken in the budget would support over 200,000 new homes, with 120,000 built as a result of [...]
Osborne to tackle tax avoidance with stamp duty hike March 19, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne has announced a series of measure to tackle tax avoidance. There will be a new rate of stamp duty of 15 per cent on properties worth over £500,000 purchased through companies, the 15 per cent had previously been applied to properties valued ar £2m or more. Chartered accountants HW Fischer & Company, [...]
Osborne caps welfare at £119bn March 19, 2014 George Osborne has announced a cap on welfare spending of £119bn in 2015/16 rising to £127bn in 2018/19. Only the state pension and cyclical unemployment benefits are excluded from the cap. Read our full summary of the budget here.
Growth revised up to 2.7pc, borrowing and deficit down March 19, 2014 Growth Following growth of a more sturdier kind than the Office for Budget Responsibility originally forecast last year, it’s nudged long-term growth forecasts higher, as the chancellor delivers something of a more confident Budget. The OBR’s revised its 2014 growth forecast up to 2.7 per cent – the biggest upwards revision to growth in 30 [...]
Everything revealed in the Budget March 19, 2014 Apparently this a budget for makers, doers, and savers. But enough of the buzzwords, onto the substance. GrowthThe UK grew by three times as much as the OBR predicted at the budget last year. Now the OBR has revised its growth forecasts up. 2014 should see growth of 2.7 per cent, up from the 2.4 [...]
Why counterfeited £1 coins are useful to the UK economy March 19, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne's facelift for the £1 coin could have unintended consequences for the UK's economy. Designed to tackle counterfeiting in the UK, the new 12-sided coin should be much harder to forge than existing currency. The Royal Mint estimates that three per cent of all £1 coins are fakes, or £45m worth. Some warn [...]
Average earnings increase by 1.4pc March 19, 2014 Average weekly earnings in the UK, between November and January, rose by 1.4 per cent. Analysts had expected a 1.3 per cent climb, following the previous reading of a 1.1 per cent increase. Excluding bonuses, earnings rose 1.3 per cent – again, slightly above the 1.2 per cent forecast. Month-on-month, earnings rose 0.2 per cent [...]
Bank of England minutes reveal risks of further pound gains March 19, 2014 Members of the UK's interest rate setting committee voted unanimously against any policy change in March. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) chose to keep rates at their historic lows of 0.5 per cent, with asset purchases also unchanged. Minutes of the MPC reveal that sterling could strengthen further as the UK's economy [...]
Cambian Group plots market debut March 19, 2014 Specialist care and education provider Cambian Group has said it’s planning to raise about £20m through an Initial Public Offering. The latest in a slew of companies to head towards a debut on the London Stock Exchange, Cambian’s listing is being lead by JP Morgan, with Numis as a joint bookrunner. The firm will have [...]