Chancellor announces get-fit regime

An extra £3 billion to prepare for Brexit over the next two years and a vision of an economy that is ‘fit for the future’ were at the heart of the Chancellor’s Autumn statement.

And despite downgrading growth and productivity forecasts, after public sector net borrowing hit £8bn in October, Philip Hammond announced a raft of new investments.  Alongside the £3bn set aside for Brexit, he plans to inject £6.3bn into the NHS and £500m to support emerging technological development, such as Artificial Intelligence.

§  Growth forecast for 2017 downgraded from 2% in March’s budget to 1.5%

Housing is also in the spotlight, with £15.3 billion new financial support for house building over the next five years, with the Government setting aside £1.2 billion to buy land and £2.7 billion for related infrastructure.  The Government also announced plans to create five new so-called ‘garden’ towns, and a headline-grabbing cut in stamp duty for first time buyers.

Stamp duty is currently paid on property purchases over £125,000, with a ‘slice’ tax where buyers pay at the relevant rate for each band, rather than a flat rate across the whole amount.  With immediate effect, stamp duty is abolished for first-time buyers on properties worth up to £300,000, or on the first £300,000 of a property worth up to £500,000.

Ben Talbot, our tax expert's view is:  “The change in stamp duty has caught most of the attention.  It’s certainly a move that will be welcomed by first time buyers, but does add yet more complexity to the application of this particular tax, where we already have different rates for second home owners and landlords.

“Buyers need to read the small print before rushing out to make an offer, as there are clear distinctions on who is eligible.  It will not apply if any property has been owned at any previous time, whether here or anywhere else in the world, and it must be the only or main home for the buyer.  In a joint purchase, everyone would need to qualify as a first-time buyer.  Buyers will need to check out the detail with their solicitor, and the benefit must be claimed when the Stamp Duty Land Tax return is made to HMRC during the purchase process.”

For the NHS, £3.5 billion of new funding has been made available for upgrading NHS buildings and improving care and a further £2.8 billion has been set aside to support improvements in A&E performance and to reducing waiting times for patients.

For individuals, the basic-rate income tax threshold will rise to £11,850 in April 2018, up from £11,501, and the higher rate threshold will rise from £45,001 to £46,350.  Alongside, the National Living Wage, paid to those aged 25 and over, will increase from £7.50 per hour to £7.83 per hour from April 2018, while the National Minimum Wage will also increase:

21 to 24 year olds	18 to 20 year olds	16 and 17 year olds	Apprentices
£7.38 per hour	£5.90 per hour	£4.20 per hour	£3.70 per hour

 

In areas focused on supporting small business, the switch to link business rates to the Consumer Price Index, instead of the Retail Price Index, has been brought forward by two years, with the Government saying businesses will save £2.3bn as a result.  There will be retrospective legislation to tackle the so-called ‘staircase’ tax, which had affected the business rates bill for many small businesses in communal offices, with those having more than one office linked by a communal lift, corridor or staircase being charged more. 

Also, the VAT threshold at which registration is required will remain at £85,000, but alongside there will be a crack-down on VAT evasion online, with greater powers to make online marketplaces responsible for the unpaid VAT of their sellers. 

Other initiatives to tackle avoidance and evasion risks will see new technology for HMRC; new global rules to force the disclosure of certain offshore structures to tax authorities; and a change to international corporate tax rules to ensure globally-operating digital companies pay a fair amount of tax.

He added:  “As with the Chancellor’s previous statements, his eye is very much on managing the economy through the coming Brexit negotiations and the country’s exit from the European Union.” 

 

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This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.

 

 

 

Peanut Allergy Leads to Conviction of Manslaughter

Peanut allergy leads to conviction of Manslaughter

Eating establishments must be very careful to provide training and supervision to their staff as to the ingredients used in their meals.  The tragic case of R v Zaman illustrates the possible consequence of failing to do so.

Dafydd Roberts, criminal and regulatory solicitor for Gamlins Law comments that ‘the duty is firmly placed on the restaurant, café or pub to get it right; the consequence of not informing your customers of any particular ingredient to which they are allergic can be tragic to the customer and also very serious for the proprietor and management’.

R v Zaman

On 30 January 2014, Paul Wilson was found dead at his home in North Yorkshire. He had spent the afternoon drinking with a friend, before buying a takeaway meal from the Indian Garden Restaurant, Easingwold, which he took home and started to eat. Mr Wilson suffered from an allergy to peanut. The waiter from whom he had ordered the meal had specifically stated that it contained no nuts. Unfortunately, the meal contained substantial amounts of peanut, causing Mr Wilson anaphylactic shock, which ultimately led to his unfortunate death.

The Appellant Mohammed Khalique Zaman owned the restaurant. On 23 May 2016 in the Crown Court at Teesside he was found guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Wilson (together with a further six charges of contravening various food safety requirements. The Defendant was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.

Mr Zaman later appealed against his sentence to the Court of Appeal in London.  The Appeal Court has now held that the mitigation of Mr Zaman’s hard and successful work has necessarily to be discounted by the fact that his working practices were not short of appalling, and in any event any mitigation has to be balanced against aggravating factors.

‘In our view, Mr Zaman’s negligence in this case was not just gross; his behaviour, driven by money, was appalling. Given the very serious aggravating factors, even though the Appellant was a man of good character, we are wholly unpersuaded that a sentence of six years after a trial was manifestly excessive or, indeed, excessive at all’.  The sentence therefore will stand.