House agrees Ways and Means resolutions for Finance Bill 2023-24

The House of Commons voted on the 37 Ways and Means resolutions covering the measures to be included in the Finance Bill 2023-24 at the end of its debate on 27 November 2023, and did not divide on any of them¹. The resolutions are a procedural step required before the Government can publish a Finance Bill, and the Government introduced them following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement¹. The Finance Bill 2023-24 was then introduced and received its first reading¹.

Jeremy Hunt presented the Autumn Statement to the House on 22 November 2023¹. In his statement the Chancellor announced a cut in the main rate of National Insurance contributions paid by employees, primary Class 1 NICs, and the main rate paid by the self-employed, Class 4 NICs¹. The Commons debated the Ways and Means resolutions on 22, 23 and 27 November 2023, formally on the resolution relating to rates of tobacco products duty, while MPs debated the wider contents of the Autumn Statement and the broader UK economic and fiscal context¹.

The Library sets out the two measures that gathered most interest in the Bill: the abolition of the pensions lifetime allowance, on which HMRC published a tax information and impact note explaining the policy from 6 April 2024, and the announcement that capital allowance full expensing would be made permanent¹. An overwhelming majority of the proposals in the Bill had already been published by the Government in July 2023¹. Separate legislation was introduced on 23 November 2023 to give effect to some changes, and it undertook all its remaining Commons stages on 30 November 2023¹.

The Bill's second reading took place on Wednesday 13 December 2023¹. Drew Hendry's amendment to decline the Bill's second reading was negatived on division by 46 ayes to 296 noes, and the second reading was agreed to on division by 291 ayes to 54 noes¹. The Committee of the Whole House stage took place on 10 January 2024, and the Public Bill Committee stage on 16 January 2024, after which the Bill finished that stage without amendment¹. The deadline for Members to table amendments was Wednesday 31 January 2024¹. The Bill returned to the floor of the House on Monday 5 February 2024 for Report Stage and third reading, where the House divided on third reading and agreed it by 283 ayes to 39 noes¹. It received Royal Assent on 22 February 2024 and became the Finance Act 2024¹.

Why it matters for households

The Bill carries the tax measures announced in the Autumn Statement, including the cut to the main rate of employee National Insurance contributions and the main rate for the self-employed¹. The abolition of the pensions lifetime allowance is covered by a tax information and impact note explaining the policy from 6 April 2024¹. The tax measures in the Bill took effect through the Finance Act 2024, which received Royal Assent on 22 February 2024¹. The Library notes that the Government's Impact on Households document and HMRC's tables of tax rates and allowances for 2023/24 and 2024/25 were published alongside the Autumn Statement¹.

What happens next

The Bill has completed its passage and became the Finance Act 2024 on 22 February 2024¹. No further stages of this Bill have been reported.