Boost for local enterprise November 29, 2011 THE TREASURY has responded to a year of criticism of its regional growth strategy by devising more initiatives to boost local enterprise. After swinging the axe at regional development agencies in summer 2010, George Osborne yesterday provided a £1bn top-up for the £1.4bn regional growth fund and offered 100 per cent capital allowance to enterprise [...]
£210m relief on rates for small traders November 29, 2011 BRITAIN’S hard-pressed small businesses were thrown a £210m lifeline when George Osborne extended a key tax relief. The small business rate relief scheme, which had been due to expire in October next year, will run until April 2013. Firms will also be given the chance to defer 60 per cent of the increase in 2012-13 [...]
HMT is sitting on £69bn loss from bailouts November 29, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT is sitting on a £69bn loss from bailing out the banks during the financial crisis, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) revealed yesterday. It means the last government paid double what the shares of RBS and Lloyds are worth today: their stock has fallen 45 per cent and 51 per cent respectively since [...]
Treasury forced to negotiate credit easing with Brussels November 29, 2011 THE GOVERNMENT cannot launch its credit easing programme until it gets permission from the European Commission, chancellor George Osborne revealed yesterday as he formally announced the £21bn programme to reduce the cost of borrowing by small businesses (SMEs). The scheme will work by guaranteeing the debt of those banks that lend most to SMEs, on [...]
Banks face repeated levy hikes over coming years November 29, 2011 BANKS face the prospect of having to repeatedly calculate the cost of the government’s bank levy after chancellor George Osborne hiked it yesterday and is likely to have to do so again. Osborne put up the levy for the second time this year, increasing from 0.075 to 0.088 per cent from January onwards. He had [...]
Pension charge loophole is shut November 29, 2011 Employers who make asset-backed pension contributions to their company’s pension scheme will receive less tax relief, the government said yesterday, closing a popular loophole used by a growing numbers of firms. A new Finance Bill 2012 was introduced with immediate effect to ensure that any payments now made will not allow businesses to claim “excessive” [...]
Tax breaks for artwork donors November 29, 2011 Wealthy individuals who donate gifts of valuable art to the nation will receive tax breaks, in an estimated £15m per year scheme announced yesterday. Givers of “pre-eminent objects” will be able to claim up to 25 per cent off their income or capital gains tax, up to a limit of £30m annually. The move combines [...]
Public sector faces further years of cuts November 29, 2011 WORKERS in the public sector are bracing themselves for years of extra pain, after the chancellor said he would squeeze government expenditure further as he seeks to balance the nation’s books. Osborne is planning to cap public sector pay rises to one per cent in 2016 and 2017 – two years beyond the current pay [...]
Rise in child support shelved November 29, 2011 THE COALITION has scrapped a planned above-inflation rise in child tax credits which had been unveiled by George Osborne only last year. The chancellor said he would not go ahead with the plan to raise the child element of the child tax credit by £110 above the rate of inflation in 2012-13, saving nearly £1bn. He [...]
Pension age to rise to 67 by 2026 to save £60bn November 29, 2011 WORKERS retiring in or after 2028 will draw a state pension from the age of 67 instead of 66, chancellor George Osborne said yesterday, in a move that will save up to £60bn in the decade after it is implemented. Osborne said the UK’s average life expectancy had risen by at least a year and [...]
