The Spring Statement comes against the background of a worsening cost-of-living crisis. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) warns that living standards in Britain are expected to fall at the fastest annual rate since records began in the mid-1950s and will take until at least 2024 to return to pre-Covid levels. The war in Ukraine has made things a lot worse, but the pressures were already there. Petrol prices were already rising and in April household energy bills were set to rise in any event by 54% as a result of the increase in Ofgem’s price cap. But the effect of the war will add to those pressures, and OBR report that we could face inflation rates of 9% by the end of the year. That means a sharp reduction in the real value of people’s income.

In that context, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was under considerable political pressure in his Spring Statement. We set out below the key takeaways for both SMEs, individuals and residential landlords.