The Chancellor’s budget, which was announced on Wednesday, contains some good news for small and medium businesses in Leicestershire. The Business Gateway is keen to ensure that local businesses are aware of the positive changes that affect them and has produced a list of the main points that are relevant to SMEs and Microbusinesses.
There is good news for businesses keen to go green and investment that will create green jobs in the region. Leicestershire retail, leisure and hospitality sector received a 50% business rates cut to help it continue to recover after lockdown. Pubs also receive a boost with a duty reduction for draught beers.
Leicester’s theatres, museums and galleries get a welcome extension to tax relief which will also double for a period of time. For young people seeking employment and local companies looking to expand, apprenticeship funding has been increased along with the national minimum wage. The logistics and haulage sector which has been under strain recently also gets some relief in the form of investment in driver facilities and a tax freeze.
Dr Nik Kotecha OBE, Chairman of Morningside Pharmaceuticals, said: “It’s a landmark budget from the Chancellor today, covering a number of very important parts of the economy, where extra investment and rate reliefs will stimulate growth now and well into the future.
“The Chancellor’s £7 billion tax cuts in Business Rate Relief for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure sectors – the largest in 30 years – will go a long way to supporting areas of the economy which have been most significantly damaged by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. As Chairman of Leicestershire’s Innovation Board, I was particularly pleased to see that there was also an important focus on nurturing innovation.”
Investment expert, Lawrie Chandler of Edale, who is delivering the Business Gateway’s Access to Finance webinar programme, added: “Small businesses should also be pleased to see an extension to the Recovery Loan Scheme. It was due to close in December but has been extended to June 2022, so businesses have more time to take advantage of this source of low-cost loans to help them grow.”
Lawrie is leading a Business Gateway webinar on this topic on 4 November. Interested businesses can book their place here: https://bit.ly/3FJRI8F
Budget headlines that benefit Leicestershire’s small and medium businesses include:
– making business rates fairer and timelier, reviewing them every three years
– an investment relief to encourage businesses to invest in greener technologies.
– a new 50% business rates discount for the retail, leisure and hospitality sector, up to £110,000.
– cutting the main duty rate on alcohol from 15 to 6%
– a 5% reduction in the rate of duty on drinks from draught barrels of over 40 litres
– extending tax relief for museums and galleries to March 2024.
– Doubling tax relief for theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries
– Increasing apprenticeship funding to £2.7bn in 2024/25.
– £30bn to create new green industries of the future
– Planned rise in fuel duty scrapped.
– Investment relief to encourage businesses to adopt green technologies such as solar panels.
– Funding to develop more green transport options, including zero emissions vehicles.
– new funding to improve lorry park facilities, the suspension of the HGV levy will be extended for a further year until 2023 and vehicle excise duty will be frozen for HGVs
– £6.1bn to boost the number of zero-emission vehicles, develop greener planes and ships, and encourage more trips by bus, bicycle and foot.
– £620m of new funding for public charge points and targeted zero emission vehicle grants
– The National Living Wage will increase by 6.6% to £9.50 per hour.
