SWBG blog

Reflections on the UK Budget

Our Coordinator, Sara Cowan, shares her thoughts on the UK Autumn Statement

Reflecting on the Autumn statement leaves us with mixed feelings as we look forward to what it could mean for women in Scotland. 

It’s great to hear a Chancellor call out our need to ‘invest, invest, invest’. Our public services sorely need this after years of real-term cuts and constrained budgets. It chimes with the First Minister’s recent speech also flagging the country’s need for investment in our public services. With the same message coming from Westminster and Holyrood now is the time to be optimistic about the change women can see in Scotland. 

It is critical that the coming investment is in both physical and social infrastructure to support all aspects of our economy. This means that alongside roads and public buildings, services such as education, health, social care and childcare are recognised for the critical role they play in our economy. 

With a further £3.4bn coming to next year’s Scottish budget, care services need to be included in where the money is invested. Alongside action to support the NHS in Scotland, investment must be made in preventative care. 

Our sisters at the UK Women’s Budget Group have shared their initial reaction, with more detail coming soon, highlighting the promising green shoots of change but the need for greater ambition on both changes to taxes and levels and areas for investment.  

There was disappointingly little change to social security with policies like the two-child limit and the benefits cap remaining in place, and no mention of a review of thresholds for accessing means-tested support as we called for in our Women’s Survey 2024 report. More positively, the changes to the maximum amount that can be taken from benefits to repay debt was a step in the right direction. However, the uplift of 1.7% to benefit rates alongside maintaining the sanctions regime gives little room for optimism for those who require support from the social security system. Women are more reliant on social security due to undertaking more unpaid care work. We need to see change at the UK level to ensure there’s a safety net that provides people with the essentials of life. Action in Scotland, including raising the Scottish Child Payment is vital to provide much needed additional support. 

It is good news that the minimum wage will be rising with women more likely to be in low paid employment. However, it’s necessary that the Scottish Government continues to support delivery of a real living wage to workers in Scotland as part of the process of ensuring fair work that pays. Sadly, the changes to the rate of employer’s NI contributions will, if realised, severely impact the third sector, which is already drained by the impact of standstill and/or insufficient funding at a time of increasing demand. The Coalition of Care and Support Providers have already raised the alarm, drawing attention to the implications that this could have for the provision of formal care, which of course could see increasing demands placed on unpaid carers. But with more women being employed in the third sector, the repercussions of this decision would be far more damaging.  

As a final point, the UK Budget made important steps to increase tax, including of wealth through changes to Capital Gains Tax and 50% increase in air passenger duty for private jets. This should set the tone for the Scottish Government to use powers available to it to raise further revenue in Scotland and work to tackle inequality through options at its disposal, including the need for a revaluation of property rates on which Council Tax is based and a private tax embedded as part of an operational Air Departure Tax. 

We’ll be discussing these questions and more in our upcoming webinar The UK Autumn Statement: challenges and opportunities ahead of the Scottish Budget. Don’t forget to join us. Sign up here.