Rishi Sunak Chancellor of the Exchequer has delivered the Spring Budget 2022, announcing a new tax plan to ease the rising cost of living, and construction industry professionals share their thoughts via Construction Buzz.
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…Cutting VAT on energy-saving products like solar panels and home insulation will help lower energy bills…
Construction Buzz writes:
In the Spring Budget 2022, Rishi Sunak has announced a tax cut for nearly 30m UK workers through a rise in National Insurance thresholds to £12,570 from July – saving employees over £330 in the year.
The new tax plan also includes a £5b income tax cut from 2024 and fuel duty on petrol and diesel will be reduced by 5p per litre for the next year.
As well as this, the statement sets out measures to boost investment, innovation, and growth – including a £1,000 increase to Employment Allowance to benefit around half a million SMEs.
But how do professionals in the construction industry feel about the Spring Budget 2022 statement?…
Mike Foster, CEO of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), says: “The Chancellor has clearly not heard the outcry over rocketing energy bills faced by millions…”
Commenting on the Chancellor’s Spring Budget 2022 today, Clive Docwra, Managing Director of the property and construction consultancy McBains, said: “At a time when inflationary pressures are impacting heavily and confidence is dipping, there was little direct help for the construction sector.
“Cutting VAT on energy-saving products like solar panels and home insulation will help lower energy bills for the consumer, but also support retrofitting work for the construction sector….
“The 5% cut in fuel duty will also be of some consolation to the industry, although we would have liked to have seen the NI increase paused, as this would have allowed firms to invest more to recover from the pandemic and increase staff wages to help cover inflationary pressures.
“Training schemes could also have done with a boost right now – the most recent figures show the construction industry had 48,000 vacancies, the highest for 20 years, as a result of an ageing workforce, EU workers leaving since Brexit, and bureaucratic apprenticeship schemes, but all we heard was that this will be tackled in the Autumn budget.”….
Iain McKenzie, CEO of The Guild of Property Professionals, says: “….While energy price rises will increase the cost of powering our homes, the measures taken to cut VAT on environmentally friendly power sources and energy-saving insulation will give homeowners some relief going forward….”
