Budget Statement March 3rd 2021

Here is a summary of the main points taken from the statement, along with some GLLEP specific announcements.

Covid19 Support

• Furlough extended to September with tapering of scheme. This means workers will be guaranteed 80% of their salary for a further three months after the potential lift on restrictions in June. This is a positive measure which will at least in part mitigate the risks of an unemployment 'cliff edge' when support comes offline and will enable business to gradually ramp up their trade. Currently around 13% of eligible employees (63,000 people) in Greater Lincolnshire are on furlough
• Increasing the scope of the Self Employment Income Support to include 600,000 newly self-employed who were originally not eligible for state financial help. Almost 30,000 self-employed people in Greater Lincolnshire have claimed against the scheme to date.
• A £5bn restart grants scheme designed to track against the restart roadmap: up to £6k grants for non-essential retail businesses to help reopen; up to £18k for hospitality businesses.
• Extension to the VAT cut to 5% for hospitality, accommodation and attractions across the UK until the end of September, followed by a 12.5% rate for a further six months until 31 March 2022.
• A new mortgage guarantee scheme will enable all UK homebuyers secure a mortgage up to £600,000 with a 5% deposit.
• A new UK-wide Recovery Loan Scheme to make available loans between £25,001 and £10 million, and asset and invoice finance between £1,000 and £10 million, to help businesses of all sizes through the next stage of recovery.
• Six-month extension of the £20 per week Universal Credit uplift in Great Britain, with the Northern Ireland Executive receiving additional funding to match the increase. A one-off payment of £500 to eligible Working Tax Credit claimants across the UK.
• 130,000 small and medium sized businesses will be supported through the new Help to Grow scheme, providing the digital and management tools needed to innovate, grow and help drive recovery.
• A new super-deduction will cut companies’ tax bill by 25p for every pound they invest in new equipment meaning they can reduce their taxable profits by 130% of the cost.

Employment and Skills

• Extra measures to support long term unemployed through the Kick-start scheme for the under25s and Restart scheme for older workers. This will help provide a boost to the 13,000 people in Greater Lincolnshire who have been out of, but seeking work for over 1 year.
• Extension of the apprenticeship hiring incentive in England to September 2021 and an increase of payment to £3,000.
• Additional £126 million for 40,000 more traineeships in England, funding high quality work placements and training for 16-24 year olds in 2021/22 academic year.
• A new £7m “flexi-job” apprenticeship programme in England that will enable apprentices to work with a number of employers in one sector.

GLLEP Specific Announcements

• Town Deals: all six of our bids are listed amongst the 45 Town Deals sharing investment of just over £1bn. No specific details available yet as to the specific allocation to each Town Deal bid. Skegness, Mablethorpe, Boston, Lincoln, Scunthorpe and Grimsby all expecting.

• Upgraded ports infrastructure to attract investment in offshore wind: The government will make an offer of support, in principle, to the Able Marine Energy Park on Humberside following the conclusion of the competition to upgrade ports infrastructure for the next generation of offshore wind. The £76m bid Able UK have submitted a bid for the BEIS Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme.

• Freeports:
  • The Humber Freeport bid has been successful. Subject to agreeing the governance arrangements and successfully completing business cases, the Freeport will begin operation from late 2021. The Government will legislate for powers to create tax sites in Freeports.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Levelling Up Fund

• UK Shared Prosperity Fund – Prospectus for the £220m UK Community Renewal Fund released alongside Budget. Supporting communities to pilot new programmes and approaches as government moves away from EU Structural Funds. Government has already identified 100 priority places on an index of economic resilience to receive capacity funding.
• Levelling Up Fund – prospectus launched alongside the Budget; £4.8bn fund which will invest in infrastructure such as town centre and high street regeneration, local transports projects and cultural and heritage assets. The prospectus will provide guidance on the process to submitting bids and how they will be assessed