HM Treasury
HM Treasury is the government’s economic and finance ministry, maintaining control over public spending, setting the direction of the UK’s economic policy and working to achieve strong and sustainable economic growth.
Shadow Ministers / Spokeperson
Liberal Democrat
Baroness Kramer (LD - Life peer)Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
Daisy Cooper (LD - St Albans)
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Treasury)
Conservative
Mel Stride (Con - Central Devon)Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Junior Shadow Ministers / Deputy Spokesperson
Conservative
Lord Altrincham (Con - Excepted Hereditary)Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Richard Fuller (Con - North Bedfordshire)
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Gareth Davies (Con - Grantham and Bourne)
Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer)
Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Junior Shadow Ministers / Deputy Spokesperson
Conservative
James Wild (Con - North West Norfolk)Shadow Exchequer Secretary (Treasury)
Mark Garnier (Con - Wyre Forest)
Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury)
Ministers of State
Darren Jones (Lab - Bristol North West)Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Lord Livermore (Lab - Life peer)
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Baroness Gustafsson (Lab - Life peer)
Minister of State (HM Treasury)
Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State
James Murray (LAB - Ealing North)Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Emma Reynolds (Lab - Wycombe)
Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Torsten Bell (Lab - Swansea West)
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
14:30
Oral Evidence
This inquiry will examine quantitative tightening, including its impact on the economy and its fiscal costs. It will also investigate …
To ask His Majesty's Government what assumptions they have made in their budget estimates for additional resources gained from the …
These Regulations provide for exemptions from capital gains tax, corporation tax, income tax and a relief from inheritance tax for …
A Bill to Authorise the use of resources for the years ending with 31 March 2024, 31 March 2025 and …
14:19
News and Communications
HM Treasury Commons Appearances
Oral Answers to Questions is a regularly scheduled appearance where the Secretary of State and junior minister will answer at the Dispatch Box questions from backbench MPs
Other Commons Chamber appearances can be:- Urgent Questions where the Speaker has selected a question to which a Minister must reply that day
- Adjornment Debates a 30 minute debate attended by a Minister that concludes the day in Parliament.
- Oral Statements informing the Commons of a significant development, where backbench MP's can then question the Minister making the statement.
Westminster Hall debates are performed in response to backbench MPs or e-petitions asking for a Minister to address a detailed issue
Written Statements are made when a current event is not sufficiently significant to require an Oral Statement, but the House is required to be informed.
Bills currently before Parliament
HM Treasury does not have Bills currently before Parliament
Acts of Parliament created in the 2024 Parliament
A Bill to make provision about secondary Class 1 contributions.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 3rd April 2025 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision about finance.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 20th March 2025 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to amend the Crown Estate Act 1961.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 11th March 2025 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to Authorise the use of resources for the years ending with 31 March 2024, 31 March 2025 and 31 March 2026; to authorise the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund for those years; and to appropriate the supply authorised by this Act for the years ending with 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 11th March 2025 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to make provision for loans or other financial assistance to be provided to, or for the benefit of, the government of Ukraine.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 16th January 2025 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to impose duties on the Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility in respect of the announcement of fiscally significant measures.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 10th September 2024 and was enacted into law.
A Bill to authorise the use of resources for the year ending with 31 March 2025; to authorise both the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund and the application of income for that year; and to appropriate the supply authorised for that year by this Act and by the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2024.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 30th July 2024 and was enacted into law.
HM Treasury - Secondary Legislation
Petitions
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
(4,255 in the last 7 days)
(1,726 in the last 7 days)
(1,055 in the last 7 days)
(537 in the last 7 days)
(282 in the last 7 days)
(4,255 in the last 7 days)
(207 in the last 7 days)
(33 in the last 7 days)
(282 in the last 7 days)
(58 in the last 7 days)
c. 937 added daily
153,713
(Estimated)
Don't change inheritance tax relief for working farms
Sign this petition Gov Responded - 5 Dec 2024 Debated on - 10 Feb 2025closes in 4 weeks, 1 day
We think that changing inheritance tax relief for agricultural land will devastate farms nationwide, forcing families to sell land and assets just to stay on their property. We urge the government to keep the current exemptions for working farms.
c. 745 added daily
115,424
(Estimated)
Don't apply VAT to independent school fees, or remove business rates relief.
Sign this petition Gov Responded - 20 Dec 2024 Debated on - 3 Mar 2025closes in 1 month, 2 weeks
Prevent independent schools from having to pay VAT on fees and incurring business rates as a result of new legislation.
Departmental Select Committee
Treasury Committee
Commons Select Committees are a formally established cross-party group of backbench MPs tasked with holding a Government department to account.
At any time there will be number of ongoing investigations into the work of the Department, or issues which fall within the oversight of the Department. Witnesses can be summoned from within the Government and outside to assist in these inquiries.
Select Committee findings are reported to the Commons, printed, and published on the Parliament website. The government then usually has 60 days to reply to the committee's recommendations.
11 Members of the Treasury Committee
Treasury Committee Member since 9th September 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 28th October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 28th October 2024
Treasury Committee Member since 9th December 2024
Treasury Committee: Upcoming Events
22 Apr 2025, 2 p.m.
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Treasury Committee - Oral evidence
Lifetime ISA
23 Apr 2025, 2 p.m.
At 2:15pm: Oral evidence
Emma Reynolds MP - Economic Secretary to the Treasury at HM Treasury
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Treasury Committee: 14 Current Inquiries
Treasury Committee: Previous Inquiries
50 most recent Written Questions
(View all written questions)The Prime Minister announced on 25 February 2025 that NATO qualifying defence spending would increase to 2.5% GDP in 2027-28. This would be fully funded by a reduction in ODA spending from 0.5% to 0.3% GNI.
The Spring Statement document, published on 26 March, set out the Resource DEL and Capital DEL uplifts to defence spending over the scorecard period.
The proportion of this uplift that will be allocated to the MOD budget is to be determined as part of the Spending Review 2025, which will conclude on 11 June 2025.
The Defence Secretary will continue to work with the Service Chiefs in the usual way.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Barnett formula is applied when UK Government departmental budgets change, not when additional funding is announced. The Barnett consequentials from the £1 billion employment support package will be confirmed at Phase 2 of the Spending Review 2025.
The Northern Ireland Executive is receiving £18.2 billion in 2025-26, including an additional £1.5 billion through the operation of the Barnett formula. This is the largest spending review settlement in real terms since devolution and ensures that the Northern Ireland Executive continues to receive over 24% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK, including the 2024 restoration financial package.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Duty Reimbursement Scheme (DRS) has been operational since 30 June 2023, allowing businesses who move goods into Northern Ireland to reclaim or remit duty provided that the goods can be shown not to have subsequently entered the EU.
As of 3 April 2025, 1407 claims have been submitted under the DRS.
Period | Claims Submitted | Amounts Repaid |
30 June 2023 – 31 December 2023 | 92 | £134,925.30 |
1 January 2024 – 31 December 2024 | 873 | £1,706,950.41 |
1 January 2025 – 3 April 2025 | 442 | £1,720,655.27 |
Businesses also have a three-year window from the date they were notified of the duty being owed to make a claim under the DRS.
HMRC has published extensive guidance and will continue to support businesses to use the scheme effectively, as well as other schemes like the Customs Duty Waiver Scheme.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The figure of £45 billion in annual savings and productivity gains represents the long-term potential benefits of the digital transformation of the public sector. The ‘Blueprint for modern digital government’ sets out the vision for modern digital government in the UK, and Spending Review 2025 will set out the next steps to reforming the public services. Judgements on the economic and fiscal impacts of government policy are for the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
For the 273 projects lacking information on (1) the date of the Official Journal of the European Union, (2) the date of preferred bidder, and (3) the date of financial close, this is because the relevant data has not been provided to His Majesty's Government by the responsible department or contracting authority. The data published on 19 February regarding Current PFI and PF2 projects as of 31 March 2024 is not audited by His Majesty's Treasury or the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (now NISTA, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, as of 1 April). NISTA continues to collaborate with departments to enhance the quality and reliability of the data.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial Year | Write-offs | Remissions | Total Losses |
2023-24 | £5,049m | £567m | £5,616m |
2022-23 | £3,154m | £596m | £3,750m |
2021-22 | £1,892m | £515m | £2,407m |
2020-21 | £1,517m | £445m | £1,962m |
2019-20 | £3,538m | £546m | £4,084m |
2018-19 | £3,669m | £794m | £4,463m |
2017-18 | £3,370m | £367m | £3,737m |
2016-17 | £3,564m | £303m | £3,867m |
2015-16 | £3,171m | £604m | £3,775m |
2014-15 | £3,865m | £372m | £4,237m |
HMRC revenue losses are made up of remissions and write-offs. Remissions are debts capable of recovery, but HMRC has decided not to pursue the liability on the grounds of value for money. Write-offs are debts that are considered to be irrecoverable because there is no practical means for pursuing the liability.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In response to feedback from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government made amendments to the policy parameters of two measures. Firstly, the Universal Credit standard allowance will reach £106 per week in 2029-30, an increase above inflation. This differs to the level of £107 per week in 2029-30, which was the latest policy assumption at the time of the statement to the House delivered by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 18 March 2025. Secondly, the government will freeze the reduced Universal Credit health element level for new claimants, in line with our objectives to rebalance the system, rather than uprating it by Consumer Price Index inflation, which was the policy assumption at the time of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’s statement to the House on 18 March 2025.
These updates were made after statement, once the Office for Budget Responsibility had given its final assessment of the costings and behavioural assumptions associated with the measures. The adjustments we have made ensure we continue to strike the right balance between setting strong work incentives and fiscal sustainability. This package remains consistent with the government’s Green Paper and the statement to the House made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 18 March 2025.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Budget Responsibility published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) in March 2025, which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances, including their forecast on levels of employment https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2025/#:~:text=Real%20earnings%20grow%20by%201.4,%2D26%20to%202029%2D30.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Barnett formula applies to all increases or decreases to UK Government Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL). As the Community Pharmacy Contract is being funded from within existing Department for Health and Social Care’s budgets, there will be no additional Barnett consequentials for the devolved governments. The Barnett formula has already been applied to funding previously allocated at the Budget in October 2024 and Phase 1 of Spending Review 2025 for 2025-26.
The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. The most recent report was published in July 2023, and the next version of the Block Grant Transparency will be published in due course.
The Northern Ireland Executive’s 2025-26 Spending Review settlement is the largest settlement in real terms of any since devolution and ensures that the Northern Ireland Executive continues to receive over 24% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK, including the 2024 restoration financial package.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor’s Spring Statement document, published on 26 March, set out the Resource DEL and Capital DEL uplifts to defence spending over the scorecard period.
A greater proportion of the uplift will be Capital DEL funding. This reflects the needs of defence, and will enable the accelerated adoption of cutting-edge capabilities, and rebuild stockpiles, munitions, and other essentials depleted after a period focussed on international terrorism and global crises. This Capital DEL focus also supports the Chancellor’s mission to boost growth, enabling greater spending on novel and innovative technologies.
The allocation of this uplift and the MOD budget will be confirmed as part of the Spending Review 2025, which will conclude on 11 June 2025.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced by the Chancellor in July 2024 (and confirmed in the Budget in October 2024) £1.4 billion of funding will be provided to HMRC over the next five years to recruit an additional 5,000 HMRC compliance staff, raising £2.7 billion per year in additional revenue by 2029-30.
In addition, the Government confirmed at the Budget in October 2024 that £262 million will be invested over the next five years, to fund 1,800 HMRC debt management staff, raising £2 billion per year in additional revenue by 2029-30. Further investment of £272m to modernise HMRC’s IT and data systems and increase tax receipts as a result, is expected to raise additional revenue of £700m per year by 2029-30.
As part of the Spring Statement 2025, a package of measures to help further close the tax gap and raise over £800 million in additional gross tax revenue per year by 2029-30 was announced.. Specifically, investment of £100m in 500 additional HMRC compliance staff and £114m in 600 additional HMRC debt management staff, as well as £87m to increase collection of overdue tax debt using Debt Collection Agencies acting on HMRC’s behalf.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government expects an additional £6.3 billion per year to be gained by 2029-30 from the measures announced as part of the Budget in October 2024 and Spring Statement 2025. These estimates have been certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments.
On 13 March, the Prime Minister announced that NHS England will be brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care to form a new joint centre.
Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term.
Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which Departments will benefit from this and how this will be spent is not yet known.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments.
On 13 March, the Prime Minister announced that NHS England will be brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care to form a new joint centre.
Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term.
Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which Departments will benefit from this and how this will be spent is not yet known.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments.
On 13 March, the Prime Minister announced that NHS England will be brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care to form a new joint centre.
Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term.
Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which Departments will benefit from this and how this will be spent is not yet known.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published their latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 26 March 2025 alongside Spring Statement 2025. This included an assessment of some of the changes in the Pathways to Work Green Paper which the Government is legislating on, with the relevant legislation being introduced in due course. In their March 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the OBR stated they “plan to work with the Treasury and DWP to further scrutinise both the direct and indirect effects of these welfare and employment support policies ahead of our next forecast, alongside the effects of any further measures from the Green Paper that have been sufficiently developed”.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Child Tax Credit has been fully replaced by Universal Credit and Pension Credit since 6 April 2025. The Department for Work and Pensions has invited all eligible customers to claim. There are consequently no plans to review past Child Tax Credit rules or arrangements.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Departments will bid for funding from a central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which Departments will benefit from this and how much each will therefore contribute are not yet known.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor’s Spring Statement document, published on 26 March, set out the Resource DEL and Capital DEL uplifts to defence spending over the scorecard period.
A greater proportion of the uplift will be Capital DEL funding. This reflects the needs of defence, and will enable the accelerated the adoption of cutting-edge capabilities, and rebuild stockpiles, munitions, and other essentials depleted after a period focussed on international terrorism and global crises. This Capital DEL focus also supports the Chancellor’s mission to boost growth, enabling greater spending on novel and innovative technologies.
The allocation of this uplift and the MOD budget will be confirmed as part of the Spending Review 2025, which will conclude on 11 June 2025.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. Forecasts, including for real household disposable income per person, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). These forecasts are published by the OBR as part of their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO).
The OBR’s assessment of policy decisions at the 2024 Autumn Budget can be found in their October 2024 EFO, available here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/
The OBR’s assessment of policy decisions at the 2025 Spring Statement can be found in their March 2025 EFO, available here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2025/
In their March forecast, after accounting for the effects of policy at both events, the OBR forecast was for RHDI per capita to rise by an annual average of 0.5% over this parliament (Q3 2024 – Q2 2029).
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments.
Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term.
Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which departments will benefit from this and how this will be spent is not yet known.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) March 2025 forecast is for people to be on average over £500 a year better off, relative to the March 2024 forecast. This refers to Real Household Disposable Income (RHDI) per person, a commonly used measure of living standards.
This statistic is based on publicly available OBR forecast data. Specifically, the difference in RHDI per person between the March 2025 forecast and the March 2024 forecast for each financial year over 2024/25 to 2028/29. To make consistent comparisons, both forecasts are adjusted for inflation using the consumer expenditure deflator to convert to 2022 prices. The average difference in RHDI per person across the five years is over £500.
The two relevant OBR forecasts are available at the links below.
The OBR’s March 2024 forecast data is available here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility
The OBR’s March 2025 forecast data is available here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2025/
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Phase 1 of the 2025 Spending Review, an additional £500 million was allocated to the Department for Transport to fund local highways maintenance in 2025-26. The Barnett formula was applied in the usual way to changes in the Department for Transport’s Delegated Expenditure Limit (DEL) budget.
At Spending Reviews, the Barnett formula is applied to changes to each UK Government department’s overall DEL budget, rather than to individual programmes.
The Welsh Government’s Spending Review settlement for 2025-26 is the largest in real terms of any Welsh Government settlement since devolution. The Welsh Government is receiving at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in England. That translates into over £4 billion more in 2025-26 and includes £1.7 billion through the operation of the Barnett formula.
The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. The most recent report was published in July 2023. An update to Block Grant Transparency to include Autumn Budget 2024 changes will be published in due course:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We are creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century.
To deliver our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, from 2026-27.
This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so from 2026-27 we intend to introduce a higher rate on those properties with Rateable Values of £500,000 and above. This will apply to the most valuable properties, including large distribution warehouses such as those used by online giants, so that they can help support the viability of high streets.
The Spring Statement confirmed the spending envelope for phase 2 of the spending review. We will consider the full range of priorities and pressures facing departments in the round, including any impact of the higher multiplier, when setting these budgets.
Final details on the large business multiplier will be set out at Budget 2025, in light of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met in February 2025. International taxation was among the topics discussed, including OECD/G20 work on addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy through ‘Pillar 1 and 2’ reforms to international corporate taxation. South Africa subsequently published a Chair’s summary of these meetings which is indicative of G20 members’ views.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC guidance sets out that woodland is only agricultural property, and therefore qualifies for agricultural property relief, if it is occupied with, and that occupation is ancillary to, agricultural land or pasture. It will include woodland shelter belts, game coverts, fox coverts, coppices grown for fencing materials and clumps of amenity trees or spinneys. Woodlands occupied for purposes that are not agricultural, such as amenity woodland or woodland used for the production of commercial timber, are not agricultural property. However, they may be eligible for woodlands relief or business property relief.
Executors must include the value of any timber and woodland owned by the deceased that is not part of a farm in box 69 of the IHT400 form, alongside the value of the deceased’s other interests in any business or partnership (which may or may not be related to woodlands). Some farms may also include coppices, small woods and belts of trees that shelter the land, and the value of these should be included in the value of any farm, farmhouses and farmland owned by the deceased in box 68 of the IHT400 form.
However, as stated in our answer to UIN 29188, while estates include supporting documentation about the type of assets on which they claim agricultural and business property reliefs when submitting their claims, only the value of eligible assets is digitally captured in a format available for further analysis. It is also combined with the value of other assets in the boxes mentioned above, and these may or may not be related to woodlands. As such, any further level of detail is not readily available from historic claims to estimate how many future estates might contain woodland. It would be disproportionately costly for HMRC to manually review historic claims to digitally capture this information.
As detailed in my recent letter to the Chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, Inheritance Tax is currently operated by HMRC using a predominantly paper-based system. As part of my work to modernise HMRC, we plan to move to a digital system.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The impact of raising the additional rate of employee National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by 6 percentage points to 8 percent has not been directly evaluated.
The impact of a 1 percentage point increase in the additional rate of employee NICs has been published. HMRC regularly publish statistics relating to the direct effects of illustrative tax changes, including changes to NICs rates in section 9. The most recent version of this publication can be found on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Digital infrastructure will play a key role in the Government’s forthcoming 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, which will set out the long-term ambitions for rollout of 5G and Standalone 5G.
Eligible plant and machinery used on 5G are exempt from business rates from 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2035.
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government published a Discussion Paper setting out priority areas for business rates reform and inviting industry to co-design a fairer business rates system. In summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Autumn Budget 2025.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Small businesses are vital to our high streets and communities. The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector and we recognise the significant contribution they make to the UK economy.
The Government will introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000, from 2026-27. In the meantime, the Government has prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.
The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year.
The Government has committed £250m in 25-26 for the British Business Bank’s small business loans programmes, including Start Up Loans and the Growth Guarantee Scheme.
To drive further progress on our manifesto commitments, as part of the growth mission, the Government will bring forward a Small Business Strategy this year.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Taxation is a vital source of revenue that helps to fund vital public services.
Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates. In some cases, reliefs do not represent good value for money, as there is no guarantee that savings will be passed on to consumers.
The Government has no plans to remove VAT on children’s bikes.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is legally required to introduce transitional relief for ratepayers to support those seeing the biggest increases at revaluations.
The Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023 removed the requirement for transitional relief schemes to be self-funding.
Only once we understand the complete 2026 revaluation picture will the Government be in a position to make final decisions, at Autumn Budget 2025, on the transitional relief scheme
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
We want to support more disabled people into work and to stay in work. In doing so, we need to get the balance right between supporting employers to understand and provide reasonable adjustments as part of their legal duties, and interventions that go beyond this to enable employment.
As announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we are consulting on the future of the Access to Work scheme so that it better helps people to start and stay in work through reasonable adjustments and making use of assistive technology. The government will consider next steps on Access to Work following the consultation.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Aggregates Levy is an environmental tax which aims to encourage the more efficient extraction and use of all aggregates. There are no current plans to undertake a specific assessment of its impact on the marine environment, but the government keeps all taxes under review.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.
The reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief are forecast to raise a combined £520 million in 2029-30. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) certified this costing at Autumn Budget 2024 and it does not expect the reforms to have a significant macroeconomic impact. The OBR published information about the costing in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 30 October 2024. The OBR published more detail on the costings on 22 January 2025. This material is all available on the OBR’s website.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.
The reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief are forecast to raise a combined £520 million in 2029-30. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) certified this costing at Autumn Budget 2024 and it does not expect the reforms to have a significant macroeconomic impact. The OBR published information about the costing in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 30 October 2024. The OBR published more detail on the costings on 22 January 2025. This material is all available on the OBR’s website.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances in a fair way. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.
The reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief are forecast to raise a combined £520 million in 2029-30. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) certified this costing at Autumn Budget 2024 and it does not expect the reforms to have a significant macroeconomic impact. The OBR published information about the costing in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 30 October 2024. The OBR published more detail on the costings on 22 January 2025. This material is all available on the OBR’s website.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the important work the charity sector does in the UK, which is why we currently provide tax reliefs to charities and their donors worth over £6 billion per year, including over £1.6 billion in Gift Aid.
Gift Aid is intended to be claimed only on freely given donations rather than on payments for goods or services such as admission fees. This is why charitable zoos or aquariums may not claim gift aid on the price of a single admission. However, they can claim gift aid on donations that go beyond the 'goods and services' element of a single admission and are given freely to support the charity's purpose. Such charities may claim Gift Aid on the sale of a ticket where either: the ticket gives the buyer access to view charity property (which by definition includes plants and animals) for a full year; or the buyer pays a freely given 10% Gift Aid ‘premium’ on top of the standard admission price.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer.
One of the key considerations when assessing a new VAT relief is whether the cost saving is likely to be passed on to consumers. Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates. The Government therefore has no plans to introduce a new VAT relief on reuse and repair practices.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
His Majesty’s Government is aware of a total of £5,242m of public liability across all PFI contracts represented by 33 projects, where the contracting authority has indicated they do not know who the equity holders are, and 44 projects, where the contracting authority has indicated they know who the equity holders are, but have not provided data to His Majesty’s Government. To our knowledge no Special Purpose Vehicles are registered off shore.
This information is provided by the central government departments and devolved administrations that have procured or sponsored projects and represents 98.7% of PFI projects on the portfolio provided a data return in 2024. With the eight projects that did not provide a return, the most recently available data from previous years is used.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The value of those charge payments where no equity holder is listed, where the contracting authority has indicated they do not know who the equity holders are, is £5,570m across 33 projects. Where the contracting authority has indicated they know who equity holders are but have not provided the information to His Majesty’s Government, thereby making it “not known”, represents £8,872m across 44 projects. Cumulatively both represent a total value of £14,442m for unitary charge payments made on projects.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government’s Plan for Change outlines our goal to raise living standards across the United Kingdom. The measure of living standards used in the Government’s Plan for Change milestones is real household disposable income (RHDI) per person.
In the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) March 2025 forecast, RHDI per person is expected to rise over this parliament – twice as fast compared to the previous parliament, which was the worst on record for living standards growth.
The Resolution Foundation report uses an alternative measure of living standards, rather than the more widely used RHDI per person. This measure excludes some categories of income and some groups that would be included in living standards as measured by RHDI per person.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
To deliver our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000, from 2026-27.
This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we intend to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties - those with a Rateable Value of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but cover the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants, so that they can help support the viability of high streets.
The Spring Statement confirmed the spending envelope for phase 2 of the spending review, which will deliver new mission-led, technology-enabled and reform-driven budgets for departments. We will consider the full range of priorities and pressures facing departments in the round, including any impact of the higher multiplier, when setting these budgets.
The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR certification deadline refers to Policy Costing Notes. These documents outline the methodology used for costing policies. The OBR scrutinise them to determine that the costing is reasonable and central.
HM Treasury submitted notes for all policies to the OBR in advance of the certification deadline and an initial policy package was certified by the OBR.
The OBR noted in their March 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook that 'relatively small changes were made to the policy parameters of two welfare measures following the costings certification deadline', the changes to the Universal Credit Health Element, and the Universal Credit Standard Allowance.
The OBR did not certify the costings for the final policy design for these measures, although they noted that the relatively small size of the changes means they 'do not expect this will have a material impact on the costings'.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Digital Services Tax (DST) is an interim tax measure to ensure that digital services providers pay UK tax on digital services that reflects the value they derive from UK users.
The UK remains committed to reaching a global solution on the taxation of the digital economy through Pillar 1 of the G20-OECD Inclusive Framework project. It is UK’s intention to repeal our Digital Services Tax (DST) when this international solution is in place.
The OBR’s latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook publication sets out forecasts of Digital Services Tax revenues.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) applies to airlines and is the principal tax on the aviation sector. It is expected to raise £4.2 billion in 2024-25.
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced APD rates for 2026-27, including a partial adjustment to help compensate for two recent years of inflation that was higher than expected. APD rates are set in advance using forecasts of inflation, and so with actual inflation being significantly greater than forecast in 2022 and 2023, APD rates fell in real terms.
The Government is clear that APD is an appropriate tax that ensures airlines make a fair contribution to the public finances, particularly given that tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. Other countries also have different forms of aviation taxes.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Distributional analysis shows that the expected impacts of government decisions from Autumn Budget 2024 onwards are progressive and benefit households in the lowest income deciles the most, on average, as a percentage of income in 2028-29.
The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible. The increases in tax are concentrated on the highest income households. Overall, on average, all but the richest 10% of households will benefit from policy decisions in 2028-29.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government Art Collection is a working collection, used across government buildings in the UK and the global estate, which means that artworks may change their display location from time to time in response to new display steers and requests.
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Bank of England has operational independence from the Government to carry out its statutory responsibilities for monetary policy and financial stability. Monetary policy, including quantitative easing, is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England.
In a letter to the Chancellor (12 November 2024), the Governor of the Bank of England said:
“Whilst different unwind strategies might affect the timing of cash flows between HMT and the APF, they are expected to have little effect on total cost in present value terms. For example, active sales incur upfront costs, but they also reduce lifetime net interest costs from carrying gilts on the APF’s portfolio when Bank Rate is higher than coupon payments.” [1]
Since October 2022, HM Treasury has transferred £85.9bn to the Bank of England to cover losses arising from the indemnity of the Asset Purchase Facility, the vehicle used to implement quantitative easing. This covers losses incurred from net interest costs and the sale and redemption of bonds as the portfolio is unwound.
Between 2012 and 2022, the APF transferred £124bn in excess cash to HMT under the terms of the indemnity from net interest payments on purchased assets.
Data on these cash transfers between HM Treasury and the Bank of England are made publicly available by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its monthly Public Sector Finances publication. The data are available in the ONS data series ID MF7A in worksheet PSA9B.
The independent OBR provides detailed projections of the underlying losses from the APF and the impact on different fiscal metrics. As per the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook for the Spring Forecast 2025, the lifetime cost of the APF is forecast to be £133.7bn.
[1] Letter from the Governor of the Bank of England to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 12 November 2024
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)