Budget 2018: what to expect

• 25 Oct 2018

All eyes will turn to Chancellor Philip Hammond on Monday afternoon as he delivers the Autumn Budget. There are fears Mr Hammond is set to announce the government will roll out changes to IR35 into the private sector, following a recent BBC article suggesting the Treasury is ‘finalising plans’ to introduce this measure at the Budget.

IPSE will of course be paying close attention and preparing for all eventualities around the rolling out of disastrous changes to IR35 into the private sector.

IPSE has lobbied hard on this issue, working with other business organisations to demonstrate the folly of introducing this change in the private sector. We’ve also helped to fight the legislation in the courts – an IPSE member, Susan Winchester, recently won a payout from HMRC after contesting the idea that her client (HMRC) could tax her like an employee, without providing employment rights.

The Chancellor told the Conservative Conference this month that the Conservatives were the ‘party of business’. It’s now time to walk the walk – supporting rather than hammering our independent workforce.

We will also be closely monitoring the Budget for any other measures that affect the UK’s 4.8 million self-employed people, negative and positive. There have been rumours around the following areas:

• A reduction in pensions tax relief;
• Introduction of tax-free training for self-employed;
• Lowering of the VAT threshold;
• Reform of Universal Credit to offer individuals more support;
• Freezing of the Personal Allowance;
• Scrapping of the New Enterprise Allowance.

But we will have to wait until Monday afternoon to see what the Chancellor decides. We will provide an email update to all IPSE members on Monday evening, summarising the key news on IR35 and everything else that freelancers and independent professionals need to know about.