The Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered a Spring Statement on 23 March 2022 that included a rise in National Insurance thresholds. The UK Government projects that this will benefit 2.4 million working people in Scotland with a typical employee saving over £330 a year, whilst the typical self-employed person will save over £250.
The Chancellor also set out a series of measures to help businesses boost investment, innovation, and growth – including a £1,000 increase to Employment Allowance to benefit businesses across the UK. This was the top ask of the FSB. See Chancellor adopts FSB proposal to help 500,000 small firms through Employment Allowance (23 March 2022). To check if your business is eligible, see Employment Allowance on the UK Government website.
The UK Government also announced it is providing the Scottish Government with an additional £45 million through the Barnett formula next year.
See the UK Government press release of 23 March 2022: Chancellor announces tax cuts to ease cost of living pressures in Scotland.
For the full Spring Statement 2022 and related documents, see the UK Government website.
Summaries and reactions
The Bookseller’s article by Ruth Comerford highlights concerns of industry figures and bodies including: lack of adequate support for businesses and individuals, little to mitigate rising costs, and failure to remove VAT on audiobooks. See Chancellor’s spring statement falls well short of support needed, industry heads say (23 March 2022)
The BBC website has a summary: Spring Statement – Key points at a glance (23 March 2022)
Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary writes to Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement (20 March 2022) and comment by Peter Walker in Business Insider (23 March 2022)
FSB in Scotland on Spring Statement (23 March 2022)
