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22 Mar 2024

Rob Brown, co-director of Dalby Forest Cycle Hub, a not-for-profit hire scheme has been nominated for the Tourism Superstar 2024 award, run by VisitEngland.

21 Mar 2024

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime...

21 Mar 2024

As reported by Healthstores UK, new data contained in the 2024 Soil Association Organic Market report shows that independent retailers delivered an impressive 10% growth in 2023, with...

21 Mar 2024

An independent bottle shop and bar in Cheltenham has been named as the UK's Independent Beer and Wine Retailer of the Year 2024 at the Drinks Retailing Awards. 

21 Mar 2024

A number of organisations, including Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association), other trade associations, BIDs and unions have met with officials from the Welsh Government to...

21 Mar 2024

The British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira) has reacted to data released by PwC and the Local Data Company exploring the state of the UK retail landscape.

8 Mar 2024

Daniel Blackham, editor of industry magazine BikeBiz, has been writing about his experience of completing the Cytech technical one qualification at training provider Spokes People in Milton...

6 Mar 2024

Cytech partner Activate Cycle Academy, the largest and most recognised training provider of bike maintenance and technical training courses to the UK’s cycle industry, recently welcomed a...

6 Mar 2024

The Greeting Card Association has reacted to a BBC Panorama programme lifting the lid on Royal Mail management prioritising parcel delivery over letters, which it says are in contradiction of...

4 Mar 2024

Pop star Kate Bush has been announced as an ambassador for this year's Record Store Day, on 20 April.

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Government Spending Review: The most relevant Spending Review policies to independent retailers

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News , Political News

The Chancellor presented his Spending Review to Parliament today setting out the Government's departmental spending plans for the year ahead and response to Coronavirus (Covid-19).

The full Spending Review documents are available here.

 

‘The economic emergency has only just begun'

 

Office for Budget Responsibility Highlights Economic Impact of Covid-19

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicts that the UK economy will contract by 11.3%, the largest fall in output for 300 years. It suggests that the economy will not recover to pre-crisis until the fourth quarter of 2022. Beyond this, Covid-19 will bring long term scarring effects with the 2025 economy being around 3% smaller than suggested in the March Budget. The OBR notes that borrowing is at its highest recorded amount in UK peacetime, with £394 billion borrowed equating to 19% of UK GDP, the UK Government highlights this is significant but necessary. The OBR confirmed on a more positive note that our economic response has protected jobs, supported incomes and helped businesses staying afloat during unprecedented times. The OBR has found that business insolvency has decreased on last year and unemployment is lower than many European countries including France and Germany, as well as the United States. The OBR fiscal and economic outlook is available here.

 

National Living Wage to Increase by 2.2% to £8.91 in 2021

As part of the Spending Review the Chancellor confirmed that the Government have accepted the Low Pay Commission recommendations for the National Living Wage in 2021. The National Living Wage will increase to £8.91 from April 2021. The National Living Wage will also be extended to colleagues that are 23 and 24 years old (currently only for 25 year olds). The 21 to 22 year Old Rate will increase by 2.0% to £8.36. The Government's long term target for the National Living Wage remains in place but the Low Pay Commission will continue to review the pathway to this target. In a letter to the Business Secretary the Low Pay Commission said: "we do not recommend a change to the Government's target of reaching two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, and the Commission remains fully committed to the goal of ending low pay. The increase we recommend is broadly in line with predicted wage growth, meaning progress against the Government's ambition may continue."


Business Rates Multiplier Frozen for 2021-22

The Spending Review documents confirm that the Government will freeze the Business Rates Multiplier for 2021-22, saving business £575million over the next five years. The Spending review also states that the government will clarify their position on the extension of the business rates holiday early next year: "In order to ensure that any decisions best meet the evolving challenges presented by Covid-19, the government will outline plans for 2021-22 reliefs in the New Year".

 

Funding For Safer Streets

The Chancellor announced that the Government will provide an additional £400m to recruit new police officers as part of the Government's commitment to recruit 20,000 officers by 2023. 5,000 of the target of 6,000 officers have already been recruited this year and the additional funding will provide a further 6,000 by the end of 2021-22. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) in England will have flexibility to increase funding in 2021-22 with a £15 council tax precept. If all PCCs take advantage of this, it would raise up to an additional £320m. The Spending Review confirmed increased funding for the Criminal Justice System, with more than £4bn over the next four years to deliver 18,000 additional prison places across England and Wales. There will be £275m available to manage the downstream demand impact of the additional police officers in the courts and £40m to support victims of crime as well as continued funding to progress probation reform and reduce reoffending.

 

Support for Labour Market: Restart Programme

The Chancellor announce £3.6 billion of additional funding in 2021-22 for the Department for Work and Pension to deliver labour market support. This includes funding for the a new 3-year long £2.9 billion Restart Programme to provide intensive and tailored support to over 1 million unemployed people and help them find work and a work search support measures announced in the Plan for Jobs.

 

New Levelling Up Fund Announced

The Government is launching a new Levelling Up Fund worth £4 billion for England, that will attract up to £0.8 billion for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery. This will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery. The Government will publish a prospectus for the Fund and launch the first round of competitions in the New Year.

 

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