Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced £5bn grants for businesses restarting after lockdown, a business rate holiday for hospitality and leisure and a government guarantee on 95% mortgages. The UK corporation tax rate of 19% will rise to 25% on companies’ profits from April 2023, but the rate will be reduced for businesses with profits below £250,000.
However, there was no mention of the justice system.
Chair of the Bar Council, Derek Sweeting QC, said: ‘With parts of our justice system facing unprecedented challenges, a 56,000 case backlog in the Crown Court and some victims of crime having to wait until 2023 before they are likely see justice done, it is disappointing to see no extra funding emerging from the Treasury in today’s Budget announcement.
‘The Chancellor has turned a blind eye to law and order and settled for stretching last year’s commitments to cover the future survival of our justice system. It’s not enough.
‘Although additional funding for domestic abuse is welcome, access to legal aid for the victims of this crime remains means-tested, denying the many who suffer at the hands of violent abusers living in their owns homes from gaining access to justice.’
“We are disappointed that the government has not committed to spend any more than the £450 million pledged to the justice system at the Spending Review last year.
Law Society president David Greene said access to justice has suffered during the pandemic as legal aid providers struggled to stay afloat. He urged the government to invest further in the justice system and pay legal aid practitioners properly.
Tim Snaith, Partner at Winckworth Sherwood, said the budget ‘did not have the sharp teeth so many feared’ since there was ‘no mention of a wealth tax, no wholesale reform to the inheritance tax regime, no sign of the increases in capital gains tax that were thought inevitable and an extension to the SDLT holiday’.
Claire Carey, partner, Sackers said the Budget delivered some good news for employers with the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until the end of September, but with greater financial input from employers.
Also in the Budget, the Chancellor announced the government is creating a ‘taxpayer protection taskforce’ to tackle fraudsters who have exploited government COVID-19 support schemes.
Christopher David, counsel in WilmerHale’s UK white collar defence and investigations practice, said: ‘With the government estimating that up to £3.5 billion in furlough and other Covid-related financial support may have been claimed fraudulently or paid out in error, it is no surprise that the Treasury is beefing up investment to crack down on criminal behaviour.
‘The level of resources provided to HMRC will be key to the success of the new taskforce, and whilst the figures announced appear significant, it must not result in the loss of staff from the other vital areas that HMRC covers. HMRC investigations already take too long, and the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce may lead to further delays in tax and other criminal investigations.’
