Chancellor Delivers Spring Statement 2022

Rishi Sunak presents first government financial statement of 2022.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has delivered his Spring Statement 2022 to Parliament amid a turbulent economic backdrop at home and abroad.

With its initial forecast revised due to high global inflation, continuing supply chain pressure and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now expects UK real GDP to grow by 3.8% in 2022. GDP is then forecast to grow by 1.8% in 2023, 2.1% in 2024, 1.8% in 2025 and 1.7% in 2026.

Announcements of particular interest to the research community include:

  • From April 2023, all cloud computing costs associated with R&D, including storage, will qualify for tax relief. The government remains committed to refocus support towards innovation in the UK, ensuring that the UK more effectively captures the benefits of R&D funded by the reliefs. It recognises that there are some cases where it is necessary for R&D to take place overseas and will, therefore, legislate so that expenditure on overseas R&D activities can still qualify where appropriate
  • To support the growing volume of R&D underpinned by mathematical advances, the definition of R&D for tax reliefs will be expanded by clarifying that pure mathematics is a qualifying cost
  • The government will partner with industry and academia to create 1,000 new AI PhDs. It will invest £117 million to create the PhDs through Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), with the investment further leveraging industry and university funding. This will build on the 16 existing CDTs across the UK, to train a new generation of AI researchers to develop and use AI in areas such as healthcare, climate change and creating new commercial opportunities

Full details of Spring Statement 2022 are available at the HM Treasury website.

(This report was the subject of a RESEARCHconnect Policy Newsflash.)