Chancellor George Osborne delivered his Autumn Statement on 3 December 2014.  Please see below some key points.

State of economy

• 3% growth forecast in 2014, up from 2.7% predicted in March
• Inflation predicted to be 1.5% in 2014, falling to 1.2% in 2015
• Unemployment set to fall to 5.4% in 2015

Stamp Duty

• Reform of stamp duty on residential property so that rates apply only to that part of the property price that falls within each band
  • % on first £125,000
  • 2% on £125,001 to £250,000
  • 5% on £250,001 to £925,000
  • 10% on £925,001 to £1,500,000
  • 12% on anything higher than £1,500,001
• Stamp duty will be reduced for 98% of house purchases   

Fuel Duty

• Fuel duty to be frozen

Savings and pensions

• Spouses will be able to inherit their partners’ ISAs tax free upon their death
• ISA threshold increases from £15,000 to £15,240 in April 2015

Taxation

• Personal tax allowance to increase to £10,600 on 6 April 2015
• Higher rate income tax threshold to rise to £42,385 on 6 April 2015
• Air Passenger Duty to be scrapped for under-12s from 1 May next year and for under-16s the following year

Businesses

• Employer NICs up to the upper earnings limit will be abolished for
  apprentices aged under 25 years from April 2016
• The annual £2,000 Employment Allowance for employer NICs will
  be extended to care and support workers from April 2015
• A full review of the business rates system will be carried out

The full statement can be found here – https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/382327/44695_Accessible.pdf