41
PRO INSTALLER JANUARY 2015
PRO BUSINESS
@proinstaller1
REACTION TO
CHANCELLOR’S
AUTUMN STATEMENT
Last month, Chancellor George Osborne delivered his final
Autumn Statement before this year’s General Election in May.
The GGF had written
to the Chancellor
eight weeks before
his Autumn Statement announcement
highlighting the GGF’s
campaigns and raising
Members’ concerns.
In general, the Autumn
Statement is seen as a
chance to set out future tax
and spending plans, as well
as set out the state of the
nation’s finances. During
the speech, the Chancellor
hailed Britain as the “fastest
growing of any advanced
economy in the world.” He
also stated that, against a
difficult global backdrop,
“Britain has achieved higher
growth, lower unemployment and a falling deficit.”
Nigel Rees, GGF Group
Chief Executive commented,
“As had been anticipated, it
was good to hear the Chancellor confirm the increase
in funding of £100m to support homeowners installing
energy efficient measures in
their properties. However,
it remains to be seen how
much of this funding will
help homeowners install
energy efficient windows.”
“It was also pleasing to
see a drive to increase new
builds and positive to hear
that the Chancellor’s statement has included some
measures that will benefit
small businesses, such
Energy
‘increase in funding of £100m to
support homeowners installing
energy efficient measures’
as expanding the British
Business Bank, freezing
fuel duty as well as doubling business rate relief for
small businesses for another
year.”
Giles Willson, GGF Deputy
Chief Executive and Director
of Technical Affairs, added;
“Some of our Members’
work on the correlation
between house sales and replacement windows appears
to have had some influence
on the Chancellor announcing a significant change in
stamp duty. However, it is
a pity that the Government
hasn’t had some joined up
thinking on stamp duty and
energy efficiency. We would
like to see the Chancellor
using it as an incentive to
increase energy efficiency
home improvements. However, being optimistic, with
this change in stamp duty
we hope it motivates the
property market and in turn
drives the home improvement sector.”
Nigel Rees summarised,
“Though there weren’t many
great surprises in this Autumn Statement, businesses
can take some comfort that
the economic growth is expected to rise by 3% in 2015
and though there will still
be tough times ahead, there
is stability with slow, yet
gradual improvement.”
The GGF’s political advisors,
GK Strategy, have put together a summary of some of the
key points of the Chancellor’s
Autumn Statement. Please see
following list.
• There will be a £31 million investment in new
energy security and innovation centres
• The government is allocating £25 million of funding
in 2015-16 for first time
heating systems in off-gasgrid homes in England
• As announced on 7 October 2014, the government
will increase funding by
£100 million over 2014-15
and 2015-16 to support
households installing
energy efficiency improvements
• Most energy companies
have also pledged to hold
the price of electricity
and gas constant until
either the end of 2014 or
2015, subject to wholesale
prices not increasing significantly. We assume that
they stick to this commitment, which lowers
annual inflation as there
were large increases in
utility prices in late 2013
and early 2014
Construction
and Planning
• The Statement takes
forward existing commitments for up to 42,000
homes, release land
with capacity for up
to 150,000 homes and
commit to new measures
to support up to 133,000
homes
• The speed of decisions
on major applications
will be kept under review, with the minimum
performance threshold
increasing to 50% of
major decisions on time
as performance continues
to improve
Jobs
• National Insurance will
be abolished for young
apprentices
• Universal credit work
allowances will be frozen
for another year
• There will be an end to
unemployment benefits
for migrants with few job
prospects
Tax/Pensions
• The tax-free personal
allowance will rise to
£10,600
• The higher rate tax
threshold will be go to
£42,385 next year
• Stamp duty is to be
redesigned and only
apply to the part of the
property price that falls
within that band
• The 55% death tax on
unused pensions is to
be abolished
Business
• He plans to expand
the British Business
Bank and peer to peer
lending
• There will be a £45m
package for first time
exporters
• He will be increasing
the Research and Development tax credit for
smaller firms
• The small