Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to hold a mini-Budget setting out more details of help for households and businesses with their energy bills will be announced next Friday.
The so-called “fiscal event” – promised by Liz Truss as part of her plans to tackle soaring inflation – is set to be delivered by Mr Kwarteng on 23 September.
The mourning period following the Queen’s death has left little room for the announcement. Holding it next Friday will require a one-day extension to the parliamentary session, set to end on 22 September.
Mr Kwarteng is expected to confirm Ms Truss’s plan to reverse the 1.25 per cent National Insurance rise, as well as ditching the planned rise in corporation tax. The PM has already announced that green levies on energy bills will be temporarily scrapped.
The chancellor is also expected to share more details on the plan to cap household energy bills at £2,500 for two years and provide firms with “equivalent” support for six months – including details of how much the plan could cost.
But anxious business owners may hear more details before 23 September. A separate announcement on the business support scheme is expected in the middle of next week, possibly on Wednesday or Thursday.
Business leaders have expressed concern in recent days about the lack of clarity over the equivalent support for companies, which are also struggling with already-soaring bills.
Downing Street said more details about the scheme for businesses will come in the middle of next week. No 10 also pledged to backdate energy costs for firms if there is a delay to getting the complex scheme off the ground.
It follows a report in the Financial Times that some business chiefs were told the scheme may not be up and running until November, after the 1 October energy price cap rise.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said on Thursday that the forthcoming recess period for party conferences should be cut short to push on with business following Elizabeth II’s death.
He told Times Radio on Thursday it is his “expectation” that the break will be slimmed down – saying he would “certainly expect” a debate on energy bills before conference season kicks off on 25 September with the Labour event.
No 10 also said it is actively looking to curb the time MPs will spend away from the Commons over the coming weeks. The PM’s official spokesman said: “We are looking at changing the recess dates.”
With the government’s chief whip has to work on details with the Commons authorities, MPs look set to sit a day longer than planned before breaking for recess for Mr Kwarteng’s mini-Budget.
Ms Truss is expected to head to the UN general assembly in New York next week, and new health secretary Therese Coffey is also planning to set out the government’s priorities for the NHS when the Commons resumes.
As well as sitting for a day longer than planned on 23 September, MPs could be asked to return more swiftly after the party conferences.
MPs are currently scheduled to return on 17 October, but with the Tory conference finishing on October 5 and the SNP’s on October 10, there is scope for them to hurry back sooner.
Meanwhile, the new chancellor has sparked outrage after it emerged that he is considering ditching the cap on bankers’ bonuses introduced after the financial crash of 2008.
The Treasury says no decisions have been taken, believes Mr Kwarteng is said to believe the rules make it harder to attract top staff to the City of London.
Unite leader Sharon Graham said people would be “appalled and angry”, while the TUC said the move would come as real-term pay cuts are imposed on public sector workers and “millions are struggling to keep their heads above water”.
Andrew Sentance, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, questioned the move when the government wants “pay restraint in the public sector” adding that “the timing would be very bad if they did it now”.
