Umbrella company contractors will no doubt be aware that today is Budget Day. This is the day when we find out how the government intends to get people back into work and kick-start economic growth.
We all know that the UK is suffering from record youth unemployment and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland believes that the Chancellor should tackle this by reducing NICs for people aged between 16 and 25.
ICAS points out that reducing NICs for an 18 year old who receives the minimum wage would save the employer around £400 a year.
The Institute’s assistant tax director, Elspeth Orcharton, said high unemployment is still a major concern and the government should be considering reducing NICs. It would be a simple measure to implement and would give employers a cash incentive to hire more young people.
She went on to say that low-income families would welcome an increase in the personal tax allowance threshold to £10,000. The government, under pressure from the Lib Dems, has agreed to raise the threshold to £10,000 before the next election but a lot of people are calling for this to be implemented sooner rather than later to boost consumer spending.
George Osborne has said that today’s Budget will be “for working people”. He claims it is designed to “help low and middle earners”.
The UK still has a long way to go before it can claim to be well and truly out of economic trouble. We all hope the red box will contain news that gives us a degree of confidence that things are going to get better.
