The Chancellor announced his summer statement yesterday in Parliament. He’s focused on job creation, the hospitality sector, the green sector and homeowners.
Around £30bn of spending has been announced and there will probably be more in the Autumn.
And whilst the measures announced are needed to boost the economy, he also warned that there will hardship ahead. We think now is the time, if you can, to be bolstering your business. Maybe look at taking advantage of the KickStarter scheme to give you an extra set of hands, ensuring it survives through the recession. Or think about taking an apprentice on with the additional grant funding provided.
You can read the full speech here, but we have summarised the main points below.
Job retention bonus – no limit!
The first thing he announced was a job retention bonus for furloughed staff.
If you continuously employ previously furloughed staff through to January you will receive a £1,000 bonus for each employee in February.
You need to pay them an average of £520 / month from November to January. There is no limit on the number of employees you can claim for.
Kickstart Scheme for under 25’s
If you create additional jobs in your business, the government will pay the first 25 hours / week for 6 months to anyone you take on aged between 16 & 24 who is on universal credits.
You must provide training and support to find a permanent job.
The government will pay 25 hours at national minimum wage plus an amount to cover overheads. This means someone who’s 24 will have an employment grant paid of about £6,500. Employers will be encouraged to provide extra hours.
We think this is a great opportunity to bolster your business and we will be putting more ideas out around this.
Apprentice grants
To try and boost apprenticeship positions they will pay £2,000 for each new apprenticeship position created in your business in the next 6 months.
There’s also a new £1,500 payment for apprentices taken on who are aged 25 or over.
Traineeship grants
If you take on trainees, you will be paid £1,000 for under 25’s and £1,500 for over 25’s.
Buying a new home? (Potentially) save some cash!
You pay stamp duty on property purchases above £125,000 for your main residence.
The government have increased the threshold to £500,000 between now and 31st March 2021.
This will eliminate stamp duty if you buy between now and then on transactions up to that value. Just watch for house prices creeping up, the Office for Budget Responsibility have said prices may be pushed up.
VAT reduced on hospitality
VAT has been reduced for food, accommodation & attractions from 20% to 5% from next Wednesday for 6 months. The week lead time is presumably to give retailers time to lower their prices accordingly!
Eat out to help out
During August the government will pay 50% of diners food bills from Monday to Wednesday up to £10 max per head. Restaurants can register from Monday and apply weekly for their grants to be paid 5 days later.
Disclaimer
This email has been produced from what we heard in the speech followed by reading on the gov.uk website and news bulletins too. The detail may change the above and we will amend appropriately if it does.
What are your thoughts on the measures announced yesterday? Are you thinking of taking advantage of anything here?
As always, drop us an email if you have any questions and we’ll look forward to hearing any feedback or questions from you!