Rachel Reeves delivered the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the first Labour Budget in 14 years, and the first delivered by a female Chancellor in the history of the role. After months of speculation about where the reported £22 billion fiscal gap would be filled, the Budget confirmed a series of tax rises weighted towards employers, investors, and property buyers, while maintaining the manifesto pledges on employee income tax, NI, and VAT.
Employer National Insurance: the biggest change
The headline measure was a significant increase to employer NICs, taking effect from April 2025:
- Rate: 13.8% → 15%
- Secondary threshold (the earnings level above which employer NI is paid): £9,100 → £5,000
Together these changes mean employers pay NI on a much wider range of each employee's earnings, and at a higher rate. For an employee earning £30,000, the employer's NI bill rises from approximately £2,881 to approximately £3,750 per year, a 30% increase in the employer NI cost of employing that person. The OBR estimated the change would raise approximately £25 billion per year.
Partially offsetting this: the Employment Allowance, which lets eligible small businesses reduce their employer NI bill, was doubled from £5,000 to £10,500, and the requirement that businesses have at least two directors to claim was removed. This protects very small employers from the full impact.
Capital Gains Tax: shares rates rise immediately
CGT rates on shares and other assets (not residential property) were raised with immediate effect from 30 October 2024:
- Basic rate on shares/other: 10% → 18%
- Higher rate on shares/other: 20% → 24%
The CGT rate on residential property was left unchanged at 18% (basic) and 24% (higher), having already been reformed in April 2024. The annual exempt amount remained at £3,000. Business Asset Disposal Relief (formerly Entrepreneurs' Relief) CGT rate rose from 10% to 14% from April 2025, and to 18% from April 2026. Use our CGT calculator for 2024-25 and 2025-26 comparisons.
Stamp Duty surcharge on second homes
The Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge for purchases of additional residential properties (buy-to-let, second homes) was increased from 3% to 5%, effective from 31 October 2024, the day after the Budget. This was a surprise immediate-effect change designed to prevent a rush of purchases before implementation. Calculate stamp duty on your purchase.
Non-dom regime abolished
The existing non-domicile tax regime was confirmed as ending from April 2025, to be replaced with a four-year foreign income exemption for new UK residents, followed by full worldwide taxation. Existing non-doms who had built financial structures around the remittance basis were given transitional arrangements.
Income tax thresholds: partial concession
Reeves confirmed that income tax thresholds, frozen since 2021, will begin to rise with inflation from 2028-29, rather than remaining frozen indefinitely as the previous government had implied. This is a welcome concession to fiscal drag concerns, though the relief is several years away.
Conclusion
The Autumn Budget 2024 delivered its tax rises through routes that technically honoured the Labour manifesto, employer NI rather than employee NI, CGT on investments rather than income tax. But the real-world consequences for employees, slower wage growth, reduced hiring, lower pay rises, mean many workers will feel the effects even without their own tax rates changing. Check your take-home pay under current 2024-25 rates.