The Budget 2010 contains mixed news for recruiters and the UK workplace generally. Provisions revealed on Wednesday, as outlined by Business Link, include:

Support and finance for business

·     Support for business start-ups, and small growing businesses through a temporary increase in small business rate relief;

·     Enhanced online support for SMEs from Business Link and HMRC by the end of 2011, including personalising businesslink.gov.uk for start-ups and making it easier for businesses to register for multiple taxes online with a single interactive form;

·     Continuation of the Time to Pay facility to allow businesses more time to pay their tax bills;

·     Doubling the Annual Investment Allowance to £100,000, allowing more capital expenditure to be offset against taxable profits;

·     Doubling the value of capital gains that can be made under Entrepreneur’s Relief, meaning gains under £2m are subject to Capital Gains Tax at the lower rate of 10%;

·     Launching UK Finance for Growth, responsible for streamlining £4bn of existing finance products for small and medium sized businesses, ensuring one coherent portfolio of government-backed funds supporting businesses across the country;

·     Agreement with Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to lend £105bn to homebuyers and businesses over the next 12 months of which £41bn will be lent to small businesses; and

·     A new small business credit adjudicator with powers of enforcement to ensure that small businesses have access to the finance they need and are fairly treated when applying for loans.

Innovation and research

·     A tax incentive for the development of culturally British video games, following consultation and approval from the European Commission; and

·     A £270m Modernisation Fund to allow universities to deliver efficiencies and fund extra undergraduate places

Roads investment

• £100m for repair of local and regional roads damaged by recent adverse weather, and £250m investment to improve capacity in the road network.

Taxes

·     A new 5% rate of stamp duty for transactions over £1m from April 2011;

·     Freezing the threshold for inheritance tax until 2014-15;

·     Increased penalties for those who do not comply with tax disclosure rules, and losing tax loopholes; and

·     Above inflation increases in tobacco duty and alcohol duties.

This follows previously announced measures, including:

·     From this April, a new 50% rate of tax will apply to incomes above £150,000 and from April 2011 tax relief on pension contributions will be restricted for those incomes of £150,000 and over; and

·     Employee, employer and self-employed rates of National Insurance contributions will increase by 1% from April 2011. However, the 15m people on incomes below £20,000 will not pay any extra National Insurance contributions.

Employing people

·     Extending the Young Person’s Guarantee after March 2011, to ensure that young people continue to be guaranteed a job, training or work experience if they cannot find work within six months of claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance;

·     A simplified system for working parents who claim the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit for short periods of time, such as during school holidays; and

·     People over 60, working at least 16 hours per week will be eligible for Working Tax Credit.

This builds on support that is already in place, including:

·     Increased funding for Jobcentre Plus is helping over half of all claimants to move off JobSeekers Allowance within three months; and

·     The Young Person’s Guarantee, which includes the Future Jobs Fund, is providing up to 120,000 paid jobs for young people and a further 50,000 jobs for adults in areas hit hardest by the downturn.

For more on the Budget 2010, see Recruiter’s afternoon news alert.