Poll: Do you think you will be better off as a result of the Autumn Statement?

Major shake-ups of stamp duty and business rates have received a warm welcome after their announcement in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.

But there was concern over what was seen as a lack of support for smaller firms, while unions argued little was being done to tackle low wages.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "The real value of take-home pay for workers is 13 per cent below pre-recession levels, while many of the new jobs are precarious and badly paid."

However, there was a more enthusiastic response over the long-awaited revamp of Stamp Duty, which will cut the bills of 98 per cent of people buying new homes.

Nothing will be paid on the first £125,000 of the sale price, and then two per cent on the price up to £250,000 and a sliding scale above that. It will cut the cost of buying the average home by around £4,000.

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David Taylor, head of products at local building society the West Brom, said: "A progressive system of taxation for home purchases is much fairer and extremely welcome news for buyers in the region.

"It will help individuals and families buy their own home and eliminates the unfair jumps in tax that buyers have previously suffered around the top levels of each band.

"As an industry we have been calling for this reform for years and the almost immediate implementation date is an unexpected bonus."

George Osborne also announced changes to ISAs, hiking the allowance to £15,240 from next April, and revealing they will now keep their tax free status when they are passed on to spouses after the holder's death. Michael Steventon, Midlands regional chairman at accountancy KPMG, said: "The change in tax free status on ISAs and pensions will lead to radical thinking on how savings are drawn upon in the future.

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"As the tax benefits under ISAs can now be preserved after death, they are becoming as attractive as pensions. The result is that we have a genuine and real alternative to saving through a pension scheme. In particular after people turn 75, ISAs become significantly more attractive, which might lead to people deliberately channelling their savings away from pensions and into ISAs."

Businesses were happy to hear that the Chancellor was finally launching a review of the business rates system, while the Autumn Statement confirmed spending on a string of major transport projects including the widening of junction 10 over the M6 at Walsall. The president of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, Ninder Johal, said: "I appreciate the move to extend business rates support, but it is pity that we have to wait for it until 2016.

"The money for Junction 10 of the M6 is welcome, but we could do with a lot more money being spent on infrastructure in the region. A lot more has gone up north when we are at the heart of industry."

His comments came after the Chancellor had made much of plans to create a 'northern powerhouse'. Mr Johal said he was also disappointed that more had not been done to support exports. The amount announced is a drop in the ocean," he said. "The Government really needs to take exporting seriously if the economy is going to be properly re-balanced."

He said that increased funding for research and development was a good development, but was unhappy that the Autumn Statement contained nothing to address the serious issue of skills shortages and put no extra money into skills development. Mr Johal said that it was also unfortunate that the need for improved access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses had not been properly addressed.

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In Wolverhampton tax specialist Mike Lawson said an extension of the doubling of small business rate relief and a two per cent cap on business rate increases to April 2016, would be welcome news for independent shop owners, businesses operating from small office premises, local garages, pubs, restaurants, cafés and many more.

He said: "Although we'll have to wait until the 2016 Budget for the much needed full review of the business rates system, these measures go some way to help to level the playing field between businesses which operate from shops and offices and their online competitors.

"Increasing the £1,000 discount on rates for pubs, restaurants and small shops with a rateable value of £50,000 or below, to £1,500 next year is also good news and will help to encourage new businesses back to the high street.

"Many local small businesses will also benefit from the abolition of employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices aged under 25, which will boost recruitment and training opportunities for young people, whilst the continued freeze on fuel duty is a clear benefit to business owners whose service is dependent on home deliveries."

But not everyone in the business world was impressed by George Osborne's performance. John Woodward, owner of Wolverhampton-based demolition specialist C&D Consultancy, said: "No matter how you dress it up, the Autumn Statement will turn out to be a damp squib for most small businesses.

"The pledge to help SMEs with funding is worthless, as the Government's good intentions for the money never materialise.

"The banks take the money and sit on it, as they are not prepared to lend to growing businesses."