Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has today (6 March) delivered what could be his last budget. Highlights from the annual fiscal announcement include a 2p cut to National Insurance, the abolition of non-dom status and a reduction to the higher rate of property capital gains tax.

Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the RTPI, said: “The RTPI is consistently striving to ensure a continuing pipeline of qualified planners is entering the profession. The government’s decision to provide £3m match funding for an industry-backed scheme to train planning officers shows that the government recognises the recruitment challenges faced by the profession.

“Our planning systems can become more efficient, effective, and accessible by harnessing technological innovation. Today’s announcements included a pilot of AI solutions to cut the time it takes for planning officers to process applications by 30% could well be beneficial. However, as with the implementation of any new technology, this should not come at the expense of the real-world expertise that our members provide but should support them to continue focusing on meeting local needs.

“The government has also announced a consultation on the proposed design of a new accelerated planning service in England, along with new measures to limit the use of extension of time agreements. While we believe that decision-making speed and efficiency are important, they should not be prioritised over the quality of outcomes for communities. Measuring outcomes and impact on the ground is equally important.”

Cllr Shaun Davies, Chair of the Local Government Association, said:  “We are pleased the Chancellor has extended the Household Support Fund (HSF), which has helped millions of households facing hardship. It is disappointing that we had to wait until the very last minute for an extension, and that it is only for a short period. Three-quarters of councils expect hardship to increase further in their area over the next 12 months.

“The Government needs to use the next six months to agree a more sustainable successor to the HSF. Councils need certainty and consistent funding to efficiently maintain the staff, services and networks that help our most vulnerable residents. Without this we risk more people falling into financial crisis as we head into winter.

“It is disappointing that the government has not announced measures to adequately fund the local services people rely on every day. Councils continue to transform services but, given that core spending power in 2024/25 has been cut by 23.3 per cent in real terms compared to 2010/11, it is unsustainable to expect them to keep doing more for less in the face of unprecedented cost and demand pressures.

“Councils of all political colours are starting this financial year in a precarious position, and having to scale back or close a wide range of local services, so the continued squeeze in public spending in the years ahead is a frightening prospect for communities.

“This year also saw the sixth one-year settlement in a row for councils. Keeping them on a financial drip feed in this way has led to the steady weakening of local services. Councils need greater funding certainty through multi-year settlements to prevent this ongoing decline but also to ensure key national government policies – such as boosting economic growth, creating jobs and building homes – can be achieved.”

Cllr Claire Holland, Deputy Chair of London Councils, said: “The relentless squeeze on borough finances looks set to continue.

“We’re pleased the Chancellor listened to the call made by councils and charities for an extension to the Household Support Fund. This fund enables us to provide vital assistance to low-income Londoners struggling with the cost of living.

“However, the extension is only for a further six months. This means less help for vulnerable residents just as the difficult winter months approach.

“Overall, we are left with little short-term relief and certainly no long-term solutions to the crisis in council finances. The fundamental factors driving this are the fast-rising levels of demand for services and the substantially reduced levels of resources available to us. Boroughs will continue to call for urgent reform of the local government funding system.”

Mark Perry, Chief Executive at social landlord VIVID, said: “Despite announcements around support for several specific development projects, the need for significant investment to drive the delivery of housing of all types and tenures, especially affordable homes, failed to be addressed in today’s Budget.

“Without investment across the board, from planning authorities to grant rates, and without support for a long-term housing plan here in the UK, the existing crisis will only be exacerbated to the country’s further detriment. Given that future investment in UK housing stands to generate long term economic and social benefit as well as Treasury savings, it was disappointing this wasn’t recognised in today’s Budget.”

Phil Andrew, Group Chief Executive at Orbit, said: “Whilst we welcome the extension of the Household Support Fund for a further six months whilst the cost-of-living crisis continues, we were disappointed to see that a strong focus on long-term affordable housing was noticeably absent from the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, with measures not going far enough to help unlock the much-needed delivery of new affordable homes required to tackle the housing crisis.

“We have been calling on government for a laser focus on delivering new homes to achieve better economic outcomes, safer communities, and a healthier nation since the publication of our manifesto ‘Good Housing is the Key’, a call which has been echoed by many. Only last week the NHF and Shelter became the latest to bring to the forefront the huge economic and social benefits that building new affordable homes throughout the UK offers. With an election now looming, we urge all political parties to give housing the attention it deserves.”

Cem Savas, CEO of real-time property operations pioneer Plentific, said: “It’s positive to see the government’s proposals to invest £800m in technology in the Spring Budget, connecting communities and boosting public sector productivity. The power of AI is being harnessed to speed up processes, recognising patterns in MRI scans for the NHS, digitising the justice system, triaging calls to the Police and reducing application workloads for planning officers. The payback more than doubles the initial funding within five years, mirroring the huge returns on investment we are seeing working alongside social landlords and Local Authorities, utilising technology for good across the UK housing sector.”

Nicholas Harris, Chief Executive of Stonewater, said: “The Chancellor’s confirmed cut to National Insurance rates will feature in the post-Spring Budget headlines, however for a large number of our customers across the country, this is another headline that will have little positive impact on their overall household income.

“The cost-of-living crisis and high inflation continues to be more deeply felt by the UK’s poorest households, so the Government needs to ensure that any changes they make are positively affecting customers of all income levels, particularly those currently hardest hit.

“At Stonewater, we’re committed to supporting all our customers who face financial hardship, whether through our charity foundation, Longleigh, or through financial advice from specialist organisations we partner with.

“Stonewater continues to be committed to reducing carbon emissions and improving the energy efficiency of our homes. However, with over 30,000 of our homes being at least a decade old, we, and other providers in the sector, face an increasingly difficult challenge to playing our part in hitting the government’s 2050 net zero-carbon target.

“The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund is supporting housing providers on this journey, but much more will be needed to decarbonise all our homes. Without an acceleration of the Fund, with a national retrofit plan that considers both nationwide and localised support, and the strengthening of the renewable technology workforce, many of our customers will be living in expensive to heat homes with high energy bills for years to come.

“We recently launched the Greenoak Centre of Excellence, which aims to identify the most effective routes for the housing sector to achieve net zero-carbon. We would urge government representatives, as well as other housing providers, to commit to engaging with the initiative so we can collectively discover and determine the best practice for decarbonisation for the sector, our customers and the planet.

“The need for us to make our stock more energy efficient in order to benefit our customers continues to weigh heavily on us.”

“Despite the recent Ofgem announcement of the reduction of the energy price cap coming into effect from April 2024, many of our customers will still not see the benefit. Customers who receive their energy supply through a communal system continue to be exposed to higher costs as their supplies are deemed as commercial use.

“We’d like to see a change to the system to help support our affected customers, especially those in retirement or supported living schemes that can least afford it, so they too can begin to see the benefit of a reduction in energy prices and be better protected from the cost-of-living challenges they face.”

Sarah Coles, Head of Personal Finance at Hargreaves Lansdown: “After months of speculation, Jeremy Hunt’s tax cut bonanza in the Budget will take the form of a 2p National Insurance cut. It’s not so much a rabbit pulled out of a hat as a slightly tatty-looking ferret dragged from a box, labelled ‘rabbit’. It’s better than nothing, but it’s a scaled-down, less attractive option than the income tax cut that has been discussed for well over a year. Hunt just has to hope it doesn’t bite.”

Adam Scorer, Chief Executive of National Energy Action, said: “In less than four weeks nearly all energy crisis support comes to an end, with the Household Support Fund only continuing for another six months. But today the Budget has done almost nothing to help fuel poor households. Energy prices may be reducing but bills will remain almost 50% higher than pre-crisis levels. Cost-of-living payments and energy crisis rebates are a thing of the past and six million households across the UK will suffer in fuel poverty, struggling to stay warm at home.”

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “The Chancellor has once again ignored calls to revitalise long-term investment in quality rented homes in favour of tinkering at the margins for short-term gain.

“Increasing taxes on holiday lets and cuts to Capital Gains Tax will make no meaningful difference to the supply of long-term rental properties. Meanwhile, those reliant on housing benefits still do not know if their benefits will be frozen from next year or not.

“With an average of 11 tenants chasing every home for private rent, social housing waiting lists at 1.3 million, almost 110,000 households in temporary accommodation and the number of first-time buyers slumping, the Budget needed to tackle the housing crisis once and for all.  What we got was a deafening silence.

“This was a missed opportunity to make providing new homes to rent and buy the priority it desperately needs to be.”