Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced a freeze on Insurance Premium Tax in the Budget.
In other changes, firms with turnovers under £58,000 will not have to register for VAT after the 1 April, and 13,000 businesses will be eligible to benefit from simplified VAT accounting.
The Chancellor also announced plans to relocate 20,000 public service jobs out of Whitehall, and a reduction of 40,000 staff posts at the Department of Work and Pensions. 10,000 employees will be given new duties, but the cuts will result in a fall in staff numbers at the DWP to 100,000 by 2008. The current staff level is 130,000.
