Budget 2020: Big tax break for hiring Armed Forces veterans to get more into work
COMPANIES have been rewarded with a huge tax break if they hire armed forces veterans in a bid to get more into the workforce.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the new measures in the budget today -as revealed by The Sun earlier this week.
Read the latest Budget updates from our live blog here
Employers who bring in ex-armed services personnel won't have to pay any National Insurance contributions for their first year of work as part of a raft of measures to deliver election promises.
Mr Sunak said: "Mental health support is critical for our veterans, I will be supporting veterans with a £10million donation to armed forces Covenant Fund Trust."
"To encourage employers (to hire veterans) we will introduce a new national insurance relief."
The move is part of an ongoing government drive to better vets' plight, and will save bosses £2,000 in the tax for a worker hired on a £25,000 salary.
The budget pledges delivers on promises made by the Tories in their general election manifesto.
Treasury ministers have named Mr Sunak's first financial package as "the Manifesto Budget" after the PM directed his new Chancellor to squeeze as many election pledges into the budget as possible.
Around 15,000 sailors, soldiers and airmen leave the services every year.
The tax break will kick in from April next year.
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Mr Sunak told The Sun last week: “The UK owes all ex-servicemen and women a tremendous debt for serving our country and keeping us safe – so it is only right we help them in every possible way.
“My budget will deliver on the promises we’ve made to veterans, and the rest of the British people.”
The Chancellor will also dole out an extra £10m of additional funds to support veterans with mental health needs, to be distributed by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.
And he will commit £3m to help build a memorial to the iconic Spitfire fighter plane and all those who flew and built it in World War Two.
What's been revealed in today's Budget?
- Fuel duty to be frozen for 10th year in a row
- 2nd booze duty freeze in 20 years
- £5billion of help for flood-ravaged communities
- Millions more to get sick pay in case they need to self-isolate
- National Insurance thresholds raised for employers - and a tax cut for Brits confirmed
- Tampon tax ditched
- More measure to tackle crime and make community sentences longer
- Tax breaks for firms which hire armed forces veterans
- War on potholes with £2.5billion to fill them
- New laws to guarantee access to cash machines
- Parents of sick premature babies to get £160 a week extra help
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