• The Chancellor of the Exchequer presents the UK Autumn 2024 Budget
• The Government announces PISCES sandbox exemption from stamp duty and SDRT
• The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures publishes draft guidance on nature transition planning

Chancellor announces the long-awaited UK Autumn 2024 Budget

On 30 October 2024, the Chancellor presented the long-awaited UK Autumn 2024 Budget – Labour’s first Budget in 14 years. Our private client and tax teams have published the following analysis of the changes:

The Autumn Budget 2024: a private client perspective

The Autumn Budget 2024: a business and corporate tax perspective

The Autumn Budget 2024: employment tax update

Government announces PISCES sandbox exemption from stamp duty and SDRT

As we have previously reported, in March 2024 the Treasury consulted on the creation of a new private securities trading framework, to be known as the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (or PISCES). The PISCES framework will be trialled initially within a time-limited “financial market infrastructure sandbox”, allowing the Government to flex financial markets and company legislation to see whether the concept works.

On 30 October 2024, as part of the Autumn Budget, the Government announced that HM Treasury will be able to introduce secondary legislation exempting transfers on a PISCES platform, as well as onward transfers to end purchasers resulting from trading on a PISCES platform, from stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax. The exemption will be time limited to the duration of the PISCES sandbox. 

A response to the March 2024 consultation will be published in due course, ahead of laying a statutory instrument before Parliament to establish the PISCES sandbox.

Access the HMRC policy paper.

Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures publishes draft guidance on developing a nature transition plan

On 30 October 2024, at COP16, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) published a discussion paper setting out draft guidance for organisations that are developing nature transition plans in line with the TNFD’s disclosure recommendations.

As we previously reported, in September 2023 the TNFD published a set of disclosure recommendations that encourage organisations to report on their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. Reporting against the TNFD Recommendations is currently voluntary for UK businesses. The TNFD Recommendations may, however, like the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, come to be incorporated into the ISSB’s International Sustainability Standards.

The TNFD discussion paper explains that a nature transition plan should lay out an organisation’s goals, targets, actions, accountability mechanisms and intended resources to respond and contribute to the transition goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The GBF’s goals are to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and to put nature on a path to recovery by 2050. Actions in nature transition plans should prioritise real economy changes and may include: avoiding and reducing negative impacts; protecting, conserving, regenerating and restoring nature; transforming underlying systems to address the drivers of nature loss; and collaborating and engaging with indigenous peoples, local communities and stakeholders.

The TNFD’s draft guidance covers all aspects of nature apart from climate change and greenhouse gas emissions as drivers of nature loss, and natural carbon stocks, as these topics are covered in guidance from organisations such as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero.

The TNFD requests feedback on the discussion paper from all interested stakeholders by 1 February 2025. The TNFD will publish final guidance on nature transition planning in 2025.