There were few surprises in the Queen’s Speech 2014, delivered at the state opening of parliament today, with the focus on pensions reform, child care vouchers and some tax avoidance measures.
At the centre of the legislative programme, which contains 11 Bills and three draft Bills, is the pensions reform which will is supposed to give people freedom and security in retirement, essentially removing the requirement to purchase an annuity, as announced in Budget 2014.
There are also five Bills which were introduced in the last session, but not passed, including the Wales Bill giving new tax raising powers to the Welsh Assembly.
The following tax-related Bills will be discussed at the new parliamentary session:
- National Insurance Contributions Bill will tackle tax avoidance and simplify the collection of Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) paid by the self-employed;
- Pensions Tax Bill will enact the changes to the pension tax rules as announced at Budget 2014, which reforms defined contribution pension savings;
- Private Pensions Bill will introduce a ‘defined ambition’ (shared risk) pension scheme, as an alternative to other existing options, encouraging greater risk sharing between parties as opposed to the current individual investment-based pensions. The intention is that this new pension offering will operate in a similar way to schemes already running in the Netherlands and Scandinavia – this will go out to consultation but has been met with early opposition from pension groups;
- Childcare Payments Bill will introduce tax-free childcare, giving working parents a £2 contribution per every £8 spent towards childcare costs, up to a maximum of £2,000, and for working parents earning less than £150,000; and
- Wales Bill will devolve new powers to the National Assembly for Wales and Welsh Ministers over taxation.
Legislation will also be introduced to support startups and entrepreneurs through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, which will back entrepreneurs who run small businesses and those who are looking for work. It will crack down on costly tribunal delays, set a deregulation target for each parliament and help businesses get credit from banks, ensuring they can expand and create jobs.
The speech is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queens-speech-2014