Here we consider the winners and losers from the Chancellor’s first and last Autumn Statement.

Winners

Enabling infrastructure

• The National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) will provide £23 billion of additional spending in: transport, digital communications, research and development (R&D), and housing.

Housing

• £2.3 billion for a new Housing Infrastructure Fund for projects such as roads and water connections that will support the construction of up to 100,000 new homes
• £1.4 billion for 40,000 new affordable homes, including some for shared ownership and some for affordable rent.
• £1.7 billion will be used to speed up the construction of new homes on public sector land.
• The government will fund a large-scale regional pilot of the Right to Buy for housing association tenants.
• Implementation of the cap on Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance rates in the social rented sector will be delayed by 1 year, to April 2019.

Road

• £1.1 billion will be spent on reducing congestion in England by upgrading local road and public transport networks.
• £220 million will be spent on tackling 'pinch points' on strategic roads
• £27 million on an 'expressway' planned between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge
• Two-year 100 per cent first year allowance for companies who install electric charge-points.

Electric vehicles

• £100 million investment in testing infrastructure for driverless cars.
• £150 million to provide at least 550 new electric and hydrogen buses, reduce the emissions of 1,500 existing buses and support taxis to become zero emission.
• £80 million to install more charging points for ultra-low emission vehicles.

Rail

• £450 million will also be spent on trialling railway digital signalling technology which will expand capacity and improve reliability.

Telecoms

• £1 billion to invest in full-fibre broadband and trialling mobile 5G networks.

• 100% business rate relief on new fibre networks.

Science and research

• £2 billion more per year in research and development funding for universities and businesses by 2020-21

Families with children

• Tax free childcare rolled out across the country.

Drivers

• Two pence rise in fuel duty cancelled.

Universal credit

• Tax rate reduced by two per cent from 65 per cent to 63 per cent.

National living wage

• Four per cent increase from £7.20 to £7.50 from April confirmed.

Losers

Insurers

• The Insurance Premium Tax will increase by two per cent from 10 per cent to 12 per cent on 1 June 2017, though effects of the rise may be offset somewhat by the Government’s pledge to cut motor insurance premiums by £40 per year through reducing the number of whiplash claims.

Salary sacrifice

• Tax relief status on employee benefits such as gym membership or health checks or company cars scrapped. Pension contributions, childcare benefits, private health insurance and cycle to work schemes will be exempt.

Letting agents

• Fees charged to tenants will be banned.

Cold callers

• The Government will consult before Christmas on plans to tackle pensions scams, including banning businesses from cold calling someone about their pension.

Newington’s clients will shortly receive tailored briefings setting out the detail of how the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement could affect their operations.   If you would like to receive a briefing or for more information, please contact [email protected]