2020 BUDGET AT A GLANCE
CORONAVIRUS
■ £5billion fund to back NHS during crisis
■ Those told to self-isolate entitled to statutory sick pay of £94.25 a week even if they have no symptoms
■ Sufferers can get sick notes via 111 rather than going to the GP
■ Self-employed ‘gig’ economy workers get benefits fast-track
■ Firms with fewer than 250 staff refunded for sick pay payments for two weeks
■ Small firms can access ‘business interruption’ loans of up to £1.2million
■ Business rates scrapped for small shops, restaurants and entertainment venues in England for the next 12 months
ECONOMY
■ Huge emergency interest rate cut - down 0.5 points to 0.25 per cent
■ Higher borrowing: more than £125billion added to Britain’s deficit
■ Office for Budget Responsibility reveals a £14billion bonus from leaving the EU
■ Economy to grow by 1.1 per cent - revised down from 1.4 per cent a year ago
■ Debt as a percentage of GDP forecast to be lower at
the end of the Parliament than now
TAXES
■ Tax cut for 31million workers: national insurance threshold up from £8,632 to £9,500
■ Taxes on beer, wine, spirits and cider frozen and business rate discount for pubs increased to £5,000
■ 27p on a packet of 20 cigarettes
■ Fuel duty frozen again
■ 5 per cent tax on sanitary products - the tampon tax scrapped
■ Entrepreneur’s tax relief slashed to £1million from the current £10million
■ Proposed cut on corporation tax shelved
■ Entire high street business rates regime to be reviewed
■ VAT on digital publications scrapped
■ Stamp duty surcharge for foreign buyers levied at 2pc from April 2021
ENVIRONMENT
■ Climate levy on businesses’ gas use to rise
■ Tax relief abolished on cheaper ‘red diesel’ used by
construction firms, but farmers spared
■ Extra £500million for flood defences
■ New tax on firms making plastic that does not contain 30 per cent recycled material
■ 30,000 hectares of trees to be planted
INFRASTRUCTURE
■ More than £600billion spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing by mid-2025
■ £27billion roads building plan including two-mile tunnel near Stonehenge
■ £2.5bn will be available to fix potholes and resurface roads
PUBLIC SERVICES
■ £6billion in extra NHS funding over five years to pay for staff recruitment and hospital upgrades
■ Help for NHS consultants: 98 per cent taken out of pension tax taper
■ Migrants charged £624 a year for using the NHS
■ £5billion on better broadband
■ Further education colleges get £1.5billion to upgrade buildings