Autumn Budget 2024: Every Tax Change That Affects Your Money
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.