Summer budget: cut to corporation tax and action on nuisance calls

There were a couple of significant announcements for businesses; the living wage will become compulsory from 2020 totalling £9 per hour and corporate tax will be cut to 18%.

The cut in corporation tax to 18% is designed to offset the increased burden on businesses from adopting the living wage.

There will be further action taken on nuisance calls as the amount charged by claims managment regulation companies will be capped. This is a measure is aimed at companies making PPI cold calls and should act as disincentive to making nuisance calls.

But, this was a budget that predominantly focussed on welfare, the Chancellor spoke about the large increases to welfare over the last 15 years and emphasised that it took up an ever greater share of the overall budget.

However, his cuts to the welfare budget will not be as drastic as earlier indicated. George Osbourne now plans to reach a budget surplus a year later than planned. There will be £37 billion of spending cuts coming over the course of this Parliament.

To summarise, corporate tax cuts and a living wage will be of particular interest to businesses but this was a budget that centred on cuts to welfare. It was an attempt to steal ground from Labour by cutting less than planned, instead spreading planned welfare cuts out over a longer period of time.