2024 Spring Budget: what it means to you

Taxes and wages 

National Insurance cut 

From 6 April, National Insurance will be cut from 10% to 8% for employees. Jeremy Hunt says as a result, the average worker on £35,400 will receive a tax cut of over £450 per year from April 2024. The self-employed rate will fall from 8% to 6%. There's no change to the 2% national insurance rate on earnings over £50,270.  

As a result of today's announcement, employed workers earning between £26,000 and £60,000 in the 2024/25 tax year will gain more from the national insurance cut than they lose from national insurance and income tax threshold freezes. These thresholds have been frozen since 2021, and are planned to stay frozen until April 2028. 

However, for those earning between £12,750 a year – when national insurance becomes payable – and £26,000, or for those earning more than £60,000, the cut is offset by the frozen thresholds, so there's no gain, as explained by Money Saving Expert. 

New tax on vaping products  

A new tax on vaping products will start in October 2026. The existing tax on tobacco will also increase, to maintain the "financial incentive to choose vaping over smoking." 

Fuel duty frozen again 

The 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel, due to end later this month, will continue for another year. This will save the average car driver £50 next year, the chancellor said. 

VAT

The VAT registration threshold will increase from £85,000 to £90,000. 

Personal finance and debt 

Budgeting advance loan repayment time increase

The time you have to repay a Universal Credit Budgeting Loan is to be extended from 12 months to 24 months. These interest-free loans are available if you're claiming Universal Credit and need funds for an emergency, such as replacing a broken cooker. You pay them back through your regular Universal Credit payments – you get paid less until the loan is repaid. 

£90 fee for debt relief orders (DROs) scrapped 

DROs are granted by the Insolvency Service and are specifically aimed at people on low incomes with debts of less than £30,000. This kind of order freezes your debt repayments and interest for 12 months, and if your financial situation hasn't changed at the end of this time, then your debts are written off. The order currently carries a £90 fee – but this will now be scrapped. 

Household Support Fund to be extended for six months 

The Household Support Fund gives local councils funding to support vulnerable households with paying for essentials, such as energy and water bills, rent, food and more. It was due to end on 31 March 2024, but has now been extended for six months with £500 million. More than 170 councils in England had called for Hunt to extend the household support fund by at least a year.   

Benefits and pensions 

Child Benefit changes 

The threshold at which you start having to pax a tax on child benefit you receive (the High Income Child Benefit Charge) will be raised from £50,000 to £60,000, which the Chancellor says will take 170,000 families out of paying this tax. 

The point at which the High Income Child Benefit Charge will equal the amount of the Child Benefit payment will rise from £60,000 to £80,000.  

There will be a government consultation on child benefit rules, to apply it to collective household incomes rather than for individuals, from April 2026.  

The Government confirmed in its Spring Budget documents today that benefits will be uprated by 6.7%, in line with inflation, as the Chancellor had already announced in his Autumn Statement last November. 

The Chancellor has continued to build on the Back to Work programme outlined in the Autumn Statement, a £2.5 billion investment to expand support for the long-term sick and disabled and long-term unemployed.

Additional funding to support the processing of increased volumes of disability benefit claims. 

NHS 

The NHS is to get an additional £2.5bn this year to support reducing waiting times and a £3.4bn plan to boost NHS productivity, which Hunt says will roll out universal electronic patient records. The Chancellor has pledged to double the investment in technological and digital transformation in the NHS in England. 

Life sciences 

The Government has announced £45 million to support charity-funded early career researchers.

Forecasts 

The UK's inflation rate is forecast to fall below 2% target "in just a few months' time".

The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts the UK economy to grow by 0.8% this year, 1.9% in 2025, 2% in 2026, 1.8% in 2027 and 1.7% in 2028.

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