Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has revealed a package of measures to boost business investment and cut business taxation.

Help for business was a key part his Autumn Statement he delivered to the House of Commons today in a growth-focused strategy.

One of the key investment changes was to make ‘full capital expensing’ permanent (it was due to expire in 2026) to encourage firms to invest by allowing them to offset investment against corporation tax.

Mr Hunt said that encouraging more firms to invest would help boost business growth and spur productivity improvements. He said UK productivity in both the public and private sector needed to improve.

Key business taxation changes:

• The Chancellor announced permanent Full Expensing: Invest for Less for those investing in IT equipment, plant, and machinery, a tax cut of £11 billion a year
• Tax to be cut and simplified for 2m self-employed. From April, Class 4 NICs for the self-employed will be reduced from 9% to 8% and no self-employed person will have to pay Class 2 NICs, saving average self-employed person on £28,200 a year £350 in 2024/25
• “Biggest permanent tax cut in modern British history for businesses” to boost investment by £20 billion per year over the next decade although Corporation Tax was not cut
• Mr Hunt announced a bigger than expected 2 percentage point cut to Employee National Insurance from 12% to 10% to come into effect from January 
• The combined rate of income tax and National Insurance for employees paying the basic rate of tax will fall from 32% to 30% - the lowest combined basic rate since the 1980s
• The rate of Class 4 NICs on all earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 will be cut by 1p, from 9% to 8% from April 2024.

With Permanent Full Expensing a company can now permanently claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying main rate plant and machinery investments, meaning that for every pound invested its taxes are cut by up to 25p, the Chancellor said.

There will also be a business rates support package worth £4.3 billion over the next 5 years. This includes a rollover of 75% Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief for 230,000 properties and a freeze to the small business multiplier, which will protect around 90% of ratepayers for a fourth consecutive year.

The Investment Zones programme and freeport tax reliefs will be extended from 5 years to 10 years, and a new £150 million Investment Opportunity Fund will support Investment Zones and Freeports to secure specific business investment opportunities.

The government has also accepted in principle the headline recommendations of Lord Harrington’s review into increasing foreign direct investment. This includes additional resource for the Office for Investment, allowing it to deepen its world-class concierge offer to strategically important investors.