Immediate reaction to The Budget 2023

  Posted by: Dental Design      15th March 2023

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has today unveiled the budget for 2023.

Key points included:

• Changes to free childcare, with parents and guardians of all children below the age of five to receive up to 30 hours of free childcare per week by September 2025.
• The lifetime allowance for pensions has been abolished, while the annual tax-free allowance for pensions is set to rise from £40,000 to £60,000.
• Fuel duty is to be frozen for the next year, while the 5p cut in fuel duty has also been extended for 12 months.
• The work capability assessment for disabled people is to be abolished, as well as the separate benefit entitlement from an individual’s ability to work. This is to allow disabled people to find employment without having to worry about losing their benefits. A new universal support programme has been announced to fund additional support for disabled people looking for work.
• An apprentice scheme for over-50s looking to to re-enter the workforce, dubbed the returnership, has been created.
• An additional £400 million has been allocated to increase mental health and musculoskeletal workplace support with the aim to prevent staff being forced to leave work due to sickness.
• While corporation tax is set to increase from 19% to 25% on profits over £250,000 in April, businesses can offset 100% of UK investments against their profits, which will bring down tax bills.
• Small and medium-sized businesses will receive an enhanced credit when they spend 40% or more of their total expenditure on research and development. £27 can be claimed for every £100 spent.
• The energy price guarantee (EPG) is to be extended until the end of June.

Reacting to the Chancellor’s Budget, Iain Stevenson, head of dental at the Wesleyan Group, the specialist financial services mutual for dentists, said: “Dentists – and patients – will benefit from the government’s proposals to offer corporation tax relief on new investments. Practices are always looking to see how they can invest to improve quality of service for their patients. Under today’s measures, incorporated practices be able to offset some of their tax bills for investment in equipment.

“We’re also pleased to see increases to the annual allowance and the scrapping of the lifetime alllowance. Anything that incentivises more retirement saving is only a good thing, and this will reduce the risk of dentists leaving the profession to avoid the threat of pension tax charges. However, it’s disappointing to see that the Chancellor didn’t take the opportunity to announce any specific measures for dentistry, particularly increases to the NHS spending budget. In its current state, it’s no surprise that many dentists are questioning whether it’s feasible to continue providing NHS services, rather than transitioning to private care.”