Dizzy heights, jazzed up economics or sheer anarchy? What notes does Budget hit for you?

The day started with an early confirmation that the minimum wage was going up by 4.1 per cent to £12.71 per hour for the over-21’s, with the 18 to 20 age bracket having an 8.5 per cent increase to £10.85 an hour, writes Ivan Woolgrove, Corporate Tax Director at Ensors - part of Azets.

For 16- and 17-year-olds there is an increase of just below six per cent to £8 an hour. We also heard about the “milkshake tax” - an extension of the existing sugar tax to include milk-based drinks sold in bottles and cartons.

For businesses from April 2026, the writing down allowance will reduce to 14 per cent but there will be the introduction of a first-year allowance at 40 per cent for certain qualifying assets acquired from January 2026.

To help level up competition with overseas businesses, their favourable customs treatment for low value imports will come to an end with the removal of the £135 de-minimis limit from April 2029.

For personal income tax and national insurance the Chancellor confirmed that the rates of tax will not be changing in this budget, but that the thresholds at which those rates are applied will remain frozen for a further three years to 2030/31. Keeping with personal income tax, we were told that savings, property and dividend taxes would be increasing by two percentage points.

The increase in tax on savings income will apply across all bands, basic, higher and additional rate, with the maximum tax rate on savings income being 47 per cent. For property income there will be separate tax rates; basic rate at 22 per cent where finance cost relief will also be provided, higher rate at 42 per cent and additional rate at 47 per cent.

Finally for dividend income the ordinary rate and higher rate will be increasing by the two percentage points, but the additional rate will remain at the current level. Staying with investments, we did hear that for those below the age of 65, the amount that can be saved tax free into a cash ISA will be reduced from £20,000 to £12,000.

As an employee if you fund your pension via salary sacrifice then from 2029 you will suffer NI on the contributions you pay in excess of £2,000. All employer pension contributions will remain free of NI.

To further encourage employee share ownership, the Enterprise Management Incentive share option scheme will see the employee limit double to 500 employees, and the gross assets test rise to £120m. VCT and EIS limits will also be raised.

It was a rather mixed bag for drivers as the fuel duty freeze was continued until September 2026, however after this time we will see a staged increase. From 2028 owners of electric vehicles will have to pay 3p for every mile driven on top of their excise duty, with drivers of plug-in hybrids paying 1.5p per mile. It was also announced that for electric vehicles the price at which the additional rate supplement for VED will be increased to £50,000.

A High Value Council Tax surcharge will apply from April 2028 for properties in England worth £2m or more. This will be levied on the homeowner and not the occupier and will be paid alongside their existing Council Tax. There will be 4 rate bands, with the charges being £2,500, £3,500, £5,000 and £7,500, respectively.

In recent years we have seen the sale of companies to Employee Ownership Trusts increase in prevalence where the sellers, who meet the strict conditions, could obtain 100 per cent relief from capital gains tax; today the Chancellor announced that the relief will be reduced to 50 per cent.

Having significantly increased inheritance tax (IHT) at last year’s budget we heard today that the Government will introduce the ability to transfer the 100 per cent APR/BPR entitlement between a couple.

• The information contained is given by way of general guidance only, is correct and applicable only at the time of delivery and no action should be taken solely on the basis of the information contained herein. Ensors Accountants LLP will be pleased to provide further guidance on the issues, and how they might affect you. No liability is accepted by the firm for any actions taken without seeking appropriate professional advice.