Spending plans for transport, health and education have already been leaked to the press along with plans to increase the National Living Wage and minimum wage for UK workers, with the boost taking effect from April 1, 2022.
The Treasury has also said that it is ending the public sector pay freeze.
On the housing front, it has been confirmed that the Treasury is allocating £1.8bn for the building of around 160,000 homes on brownfield sites in England.
The chancellor is also expected to confirm £65m for the digitising of England’s planning system.
In other areas it has been announced that £6.9bn will be spent on train, tram, bus and cycle projects whilst some £5.9bn will be made available to NHS England to tackle the patient backlogs.
It has also been announced that some £2.6bn will be spent on creating 30,000 new school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Additionally, £1.6bn will be made available over three years to roll out new T-levels for 16 to 19-year-olds.
What to look out for
Despite the number of leaks that have come out there could still be some surprises in the Budget with a u-turn on universal credit having already been tipped this morning.
On the property front measures that could be announced include:
- A further extension to the temporary stamp duty nil rate band for residential property, which currently stands at £125,000.
- The introduction of a land tax to encourage developers to build instead of land-banking.
- Incentives to regenerate the high streets and allow mixed-use developments.
- Greater tax incentives and policies designed to help insulate 22 million homes as identified in the National Retrofit Strategy (NRS).
- Greater funding of the Building Safety Fund.
Sunak is expected to deliver his speech at around 12:30 pm after Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQ’s) which takes place at midday.
