November seems a long way away after the Christmas festivities. It was when the last ‘fiscal event’ took place – the Autumn Statement for Growth, which sets the scene for 2024 and provides an indication of what will broadly follow for local government and public services.

It was deliberately focused on engineering growth into the economy, and two big tax cuts were the headlines. Firstly, the largest ever cut to Employee’s National Insurance (NICS) is set to benefit 27 million employees. The Class 1 main rate of National Insurance will be cut by two percentage points from 12% to 10% in January 2024 with an employee earning £35,400 being £450 better off per year.