23 Sep 2022
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will deliver the Mini Budget today at 9:30am. We will keep you up to date on the key Mini Budget announcements and supply a summary, which will appear on our website.
The Mini Budget comes on the back of a Bank of England announcement that saw interest rates rise by half a percentage point to 2.25%. This marks the seventh time in a row that interest rates have risen and means the Bank's benchmark rate is now at its highest level for 14 years.
Speculation is rife that the new Chancellor will scrap the planned increase in corporation tax and announce plans to help boost UK economic growth. On 22 September Mr Kwarteng announced that the 1.25 percentage point rise in national insurance will be reversed from 6 November. The Health and Social Care Levy will also be cancelled through a Bill – the Chancellor confirmed that funding for health and social care services will be protected and will remain at the same level as if the Levy were in place.
On 21 September the government outlined plans to help cut energy bills for businesses. These plans include a new Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS), which will provide bill relief for businesses in Great Britain. A similar scheme will be established in Northern Ireland.
Through the scheme, the government will provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers, including businesses, charities and the public sector. It will apply to fixed contracts agreed on or after 1 April 2022, as well as to deemed, variable and flexible tariffs and contracts. The EBRS will apply to energy usage from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, running for an initial six-month period for all non-domestic energy users.