Rachel Reeves has spoken. The Spring Statement has landed, and while there were no headline tax hikes, there were a small number of tax consultations announced, as well as a further commitment from the Government to invest in HMRC.
Cooper Parry’s specialist teams have dug into the detail and pulled out all the key headlines in our Spring Statement 2025 Round-Up. Read the full thing here.
Here’s the headlines:
- Tax Compliance Investment – Following the Government’s previous announcement in Autumn, a further commitment was made by the Chancellor to recruit more tax compliance and debt management staff over the next 5 years, all aimed at closing the Tax Gap and increasing compliance.
- Penalties – Investment in compliance also comes alongside measures announced to change the penalty regime for VAT, and a consultation on the penalty regime that applies when inaccuracies are found in returns and documents submitted to HMRC.
- Wages on the Rise – The National Living Wage is up 6.7%, which means higher payroll costs. If you employ younger workers, the 16.3% hike for 18-20s will hit too. Plan ahead.
- Cuts & Efficiencies – £3.6bn in departmental cuts and 10,000 fewer civil service roles. Public services may feel the squeeze, impacting businesses relying on government contracts.
- Housing & Development – 1.3m homes in the pipeline, planning rules eased. A green light for property developers, but will supply chain costs play ball?
- Rising GDP – the tax take as a share of UK GDP will rise from currently 35.3% for this year to hit a historic high of 37.7% by 2027/28 and remain at a high level for the remainder of the forecast period.
- Growth Predictions – The OBR have halved their growth prediction this year to 1% but is predicted to rise following this. This averages to 1.75% p.a. for the rest of this decade. This is about average for the last couple of decades and below the UK’s longer term historic average annual economic growth rate of 2-2.5%
If you want a recap of what’s already been announced in last year’s Autumn Budget, click here.
