Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) responds to the Autumn Budget
RICS recognises the significant challenges facing the government and the need for a difficult financial balancing act.
RICS welcomes the continued commitment to major infrastructure projects and skills across the country. The announcement of free training for all apprentices up to the age of 25 at SMEs will help young people to gain critical experience including in the built and natural environment sector. This should help expand the surveying pipeline.
The government’s continued commitment to improving the business rates system is necessary, but meaningful and wholesale reform is still needed. Business rates must be reflective of a modern economy, and those that require physical assets should only pay a fair and proportionate share of the burden.
Scrapping the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme with no prospect of an alternative mechanism has the potential to hamper the country’s ambition to tackle the UK’s retrofit burden. We must catalyse a market for retrofitting our existing homes to meet net emissions targets and create the high-paying jobs of the future.
Recent RICS research* highlights the potential risk of the application of National Insurance at a rate of 2% to landlord income. The findings indicate that these tax changes could encourage landlords to reconsider their investment in the market. This could have a knock-on effect of increased costs to tenants.
As the industry leader in valuation, RICS will ensure that surveyors’ expertise supports the fair implementation of the High Value Council Tax Surcharge.
Justin Young, chief executive of RICS, said: “The government faces many challenges, and RICS recognises the difficult balancing act it must play. There are positive moves, such as new support for apprentices under the age of 25, which should hopefully expand the pipeline of new talent into the surveying profession. It is encouraging that the Government is prioritising necessary reforms to the business rates system, and we are committed to supporting this effort through our members’ expertise.
“Whilst these changes are welcome, there are several measures which may weaken the housing market, such as raising tax on dividends, property, and savings income by 2%. Furthermore, it seems that commitments to sustainability are weakening. RICS is working with the Government to mitigate these effects and help it deliver its objectives.”
