Budget 2015 key points: At-a-glance summary

George Osborne has delivered his seventh Budget as chancellor, the first for a majority Conservative government since November 1996. Here is a summary of his main announcements.

Personal taxation and pay

  • New national living wage will be introduced for all workers aged over 25, starting at £7.20 an hour from April 2016 and set to reach £9 by 2020 - giving an estimated 2.5 million people an average £5,000 rise over five years
  • Low Pay Commission to advise on future changes to rates
  • Personal allowance, at which people start paying tax, to rise to £11,000 next year. The government says the personal allowance will rise to £12,500 by 2020, so that people working 30 hours a week on the minimum wage do not pay income tax
  • The point at which people start paying income tax at the 40p rate to rise from £42,385 to £43,000 next year

Analysis: What it means for you

Welfare and pensions

  • Tax credits and Universal Credit to be restricted to two children, affecting those born after April 2017
  • Income threshold for tax credits to be reduced from £6,420 to £3,850
  • Working-age benefits to be frozen for four years - including tax credits and local housing allowance, but maternity pay and disability benefits exempted
  • Rents in social housing sector will be reduced by 1% a year for the next four years.
  • Subsidies for social housing will be phased out with local authority and housing association tenants in England who earn more than £30,000 - or £40,000 in London - having to pay up to the market rent
  • Disability benefits will not be taxed or means-tested while state pension triple lock to be protected
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  • 18-21-year-olds will not be entitled to claim housing benefit automatically, with a new "earn to learn" obligation
  • Employment and Support Allowance payments for new claimants who are deemed able to prepare for work to be "aligned" with Jobseeker's Allowance
  • Green Paper published on proposals for "a radical change" to pension saving system
  • The amount people can contribute to their pension tax-free to be reduced for individuals with incomes over £150,000
  • The cost of funding free TV licences for the over-75s transferred from the government to the BBC between 2018 and 2021
  • The annual household benefit cap will be reduced to £23,000 in London and to £20,000 in the rest of Britain.

Analysis: Who will be affected by benefit changes?

The state of the economy

  • Economy grew by 3% in 2014
  • 2.4% growth forecast in 2015, 0.1% lower than predicted in March, followed by 2.3%, 2.4% and 2.4% in the following years
  • One million extra jobs predicted to be created by 2020

Public borrowing/deficit/spending

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  • Spending to be £83.3bn higher up to 2020 than projected before the election
  • Borrowing set to fall from £69.5bn this year to £43.1bn, £24.3bn and £6.4bn before reaching a £10bn surplus in 2019-20
  • Debt as a share of GDP to fall from 80.3% this year to 79.1%, 77.2%, 74.7%, 71.5% and 68.5% in successive years
  • 1% public sector pay rise to continue for next four years
  • £37bn of further spending cuts by 2020, including £12bn of welfare cuts, £5bn from tax avoidance and a £20bn reduction in departmental budgets

Analysis: End to the big squeeze

Alcohol, tobacco, gambling and fuel

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  • No rise in fuel duty this year with rates continuing to be frozen
  • New VED bands for brand new cars to be introduced from 2017, pegged to emissions for the first year. Subsequently, 95% of car owners will pay a flat fee of £140 a year
  • Alcohol and tobacco duties not mentioned in statement

Business

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  • Corporation tax to be cut to 19% in 2017 and 18% in 2020
  • £7.2bn to be raised from clampdown on tax avoidance and tax evasion with HMRC budget increased by £750m
  • Cap on charges imposed by claims management companies and an increase in insurance premium tax to 9.5% from November
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  • New apprenticeship levy for large employers
  • Climate Change Levy exemption for renewable electricity to be removed
  • National Insurance employment allowance for small firms to be increased by 50% to £3,000 from 2016
  • Dividend tax credit to be replaced with a new tax-free allowance of £5,000 on dividend income. Rates of dividend tax to be set at 7.5%, 32.5% and 38.1%.
  • Annual investment allowance will be fixed permanently at £200,000 from January 2016

Health and education

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  • NHS will receive a further £8bn by 2020, in addition to the £2bn already announced)
  • The maintenance loan will increase to £8,200
  • New university professorships to be created to mark the Queen's 90th birthday
  • £50 million to expand the number of cadet units in state schools

Housing/infrastructure/transport/regions

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  • Control over fire services, planning and children's services to be handed to consortium of 10 councils in Greater Manchester
  • Discussions on devolution of services to Sheffield, Liverpool and West Yorkshire
  • £30m for new body, Transport for North, to promote integrated transport - including use of Oyster cards - in the north of England
  • Rent-a-room relief scheme to rise to £7,500

Defence

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  • Government to spend 2% of GDP on defence every year, meeting Nato target
  • Spending on defence to rise in real terms - 0.5% above inflation - every year during the Parliament
  • New £1.5bn Joint Security Fund for investment in military and intelligence agencies
  • Recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross will see annual pension annuities rise from £2,129 to £10,000, paid for by bank fines. Government to fund memorial to victims of terrorism overseas

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