What happened in the Autumn Budget 2021?

On Wednesday 27th October 2021 Rishi Sunak delivered his third budget as chancellor. Here are the key takeaways from his one hour and ten minute speech concerning personal finances and housing - some of our core focuses here at The Nottingham. To have a look at the Budget as a whole, please visit the BBC News or GOV.uk websites as official sources. Unusually, today's budget also took place on the same day as the Spending Review which looks at longer-term plans for government departments.

Education, skills and family costs

• There will be £3 billion going towards helping post-16 education which in turn will increase the number of places in skills bootcamps and creating traineeships. 
• There is also going to be a separate £560 million commitment for up to 500,000 people to receive free personal tutoring and more. 
• £500 million will be spent supporting parents and children in England with a network of family hubs.
• £300 million will go towards "A Start for Life" offer for families including help with perinatal mental health and parenting programmes.
• Just under £2 billion in new funding for schools and colleges. 

• £24 billion has been set aside for a "multi-year housing settlement" with £11.5 billion of this earmarked for building up to 180,000 new affordable homes. 

• The National Living Wage is going up next April from £8.91 per hour to £9.50 for people aged 23 and over. 
• The public sector pay freeze will be lifted.
• A cut from 63% to 55% in the Universal Credit taper rate will happen no later than 1st December which should benefit nearly two million families.

• We already knew before the Budget announcements that national insurance contributions will be increasing by 1.25% from April 2022 to provide more support for the NHS and social care. This increase will apply to class 1 (employee) and class 4 NICs (self-employed workers) and will be paid in the same way that it is currently - administered by HMRC. 
• There will now be just six rates of alcohol duty with the higher the alcoholic percentage, the higher the rate. This means the rate on weaker alcoholic drinks will be reduced and stronger spirits will get more expensive. Sparkling wines will also have the same duty as equivalent strength non-sparkling wine. 
• The planned duty increase on fuel will be cancelled due to petrol and diesel being at an all time high at the time of writing.