Finance Bill 2023-24 receives Royal Assent

The Finance Bill 2023-24 received Royal Assent on 22 February 2024 and became the Finance Act 2024¹. The Bill had been introduced following the Autumn Statement, which Chancellor Jeremy Hunt presented to the House of Commons on 22 November 2023¹.

Following the Chancellor's statement, the Government introduced 37 ways and means resolutions covering the measures to be included in the Bill¹. The Commons debated these on 22, 23 and 27 November 2023, and the House did not divide on any of them¹. The Bill then received its first reading, had its second reading on 13 December 2023, and its Committee of the Whole House stage on 10 January 2024¹. The Public Bill Committee stage took place on 16 January 2024, and the Bill finished that stage without amendment¹. It returned to the floor of the House on 5 February 2024 for Report Stage and third reading¹.

At second reading, the House divided and agreed the Bill by 291 ayes to 54 noes, while Drew Hendry's amendment to decline the Bill's second reading was negatived by 46 ayes to 296 noes¹. At third reading on 5 February 2024, the House divided and agreed the Bill by 283 ayes to 39 noes¹.

Among the measures in the Bill were 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 NICs), both announced in the Autumn Statement¹. The Bill also included the abolition of the pensions lifetime allowance, with HMRC publishing a tax information and impact note explaining the policy and its abolition from 6 April 2024¹. It also included the announcement that capital allowance full expensing would be made permanent¹.

Why it matters for households

The Act gives legal effect to tax measures that affect people's pay, pensions and savings. The cut to the main rate of employee National Insurance and to the rate paid by the self-employed was announced in the Autumn Statement on 22 November 2023¹. The abolition of the pensions lifetime allowance is set out in HMRC's tax information and impact note as applying from 6 April 2024¹. The Act also makes permanent the capital allowance full expensing measure, which affects how companies can claim tax relief on investment¹.

The Bill's passage through Parliament included divisions at second and third reading, with the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Labour setting out positions on measures included and not included¹. Amendments seeking assessments of the Bill's impact on climate targets, the public finances, the cost of living, lower income households, public health, inequality and poverty were all negatived¹.

What happens next

The pensions lifetime allowance abolition takes effect from 6 April 2024, according to HMRC's tax information and impact note¹. The Act itself became law on 22 February 2024¹. No further dates for related measures have been reported.