Spring Statement 2019: An Overview
At this time of year, a few things are certain in Britain; grassy verges will begin turning to yellow with the growth of daffodils, fields are full of skipping lambs and the Chancellor will release his Spring Statement.
2019 was no different and yesterday on the 13th March 2019, Philip Hammond shared this year’s Spring Statement. With Brexit around the corner, there was little significant changes to what had already been announced in the 2018 Autumn Budget. The Chancellor did however announce that a full spending review would be completed before this year’s Autumn Budget.
From what little was announced, you may be wondering as a contractor what you should take from yesterdays announcements. Well wonder no more as we’ve listed below the points which may affect you and your finances over the next few months:
- Due to the Brexit issue being yet unresolved, the proposed spending review is assuming the deal is agreed over the next few weeks and the uncertainty hanging over the economy is lifted
- Public finances set aside for a no-deal Brexit have been increased to £26.6bn
- The Government announced that they plan to do more to tackle the problem of late payments to small businesses, which is promising news for contractors
- In the 2019 Autumn Budget economic growth was forecast to be 1.6%, but this has now been revised to 1.2%
- Economic growth has been re-forecast to be 1.6% in each 2021, 2022 and 2023
- The borrowing forecast has been revised and reduced by £3bn from the initial forecast in the 2018 Autumn Budget
- The borrowing forecast is now also expected to be lowered in all subsequent years until 2023-24
Read our full overview of the 2019 Spring Statement here.
Published on: 14 March 2019 - By: First Freelance
