As of today (8th July 2020) the chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a new plan for jobs whilst delivering his Summer Economic Update in Parliament. All these new measures are being designed to support jobs in all parts of the country and to give businesses the confidence to retain jobs and hire new employees.
Since March 2020, the Government have been implementing various other measures to help businesses with schemes like:
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
- Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
- Deferral of VAT payments
- Deferral of Tax payments
- Business rates relief
- Business support grants
- Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan
- Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme
These schemes have helped to keep businesses in business and employees employed.
Today the Government have announced even more measures to help businesses and we have detailed them all out below.
Job Retention Bonus
The government will introduce a one-off payment of £1,000 to UK employers for every furloughed employee who remains continuously employed through to the end of January 2021. Employees must earn above the lower earnings threshold of £520 per month on average between the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the end of January 2021. Payments will be made from February 2021. Further details about the scheme will be announced by the end of July 2020.
Kickstart Scheme
The government will introduce a new Kickstart Scheme in Great Britain, a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality 6-month work placements aimed at those aged between 16 – 25 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment. Funding will be available to cover 100% of the relevant Nation Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus the associated employer NI contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions.
Payments for employers who hire new apprentices
The government will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire under 25, and £1,000 for each new apprentice they hire over 25 from 1st August 2020 to 31st January 2021. These payments are in addition to the existing £1,000 payment the government provides for new 16-18-year-old apprentices.
High Quality traineeships for young people
The government will provide an extra £111 million this year for traineeships in England, to fund high quality work placements and training for 16-24-year olds. This funding is enough to triple the participation in traineeships. For the first time ever, the government will fund employers who provide trainees with work experience, at a rate of £1,000 per trainee.
Eat Out to Help Out
In order to support around 130,000 businesses and to help protect the jobs of their 1.8 million employees, the government will introduce the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. This scheme has been put in place to encourage people to return to eating out. This scheme will entitle every diner to 50% off their meal on Monday – Wednesday in participating restaurants in August 2020. The discount is capped at £10 but can be used unlimited times. The discount can be used on any eat-in meal (including non-alcoholic drinks). Any participating restaurant will be fully reimbursed for the 50% discount.
Temporary VAT cut for food and non-alcoholic drinks
From 15th July 2020 to 12th January 2021, to support businesses and jobs in the hospitality sector, the reduced rate of VAT of 5% will apply to supplies of food and non-alcoholic drinks from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafes and similar premises across the UK. This is expected to help boost cash into those business and not expected to make dinning out cheaper for individuals. Further guidance will be released on this by HMRC in the coming days.
Other measures
The government will provide an additional £32 million funding over the next 2 years for the National Careers Services so that 269,000 more people in England can receive personalised advice on training and work.
Job finding support service – The government will provide £40 million to fund private sector capacity to introduce a job finding support service in Great Britain in the autumn. This online, one-to-one service will help those who have been unemployed for less than three months increase their chances of finding employment.
Temporary VAT cut for accommodation and attractions – From 15 July 2020 to 12 January 2021, to support businesses and jobs, the reduced (5%) rate of VAT will apply to supplies of accommodation and admission to attractions across the UK. Further guidance on the scope of this relief will be published by HMRC in the coming days.
Temporary Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) cut – The government will temporarily increase the Nil Rate Band of Residential SDLT, in England and Northern Ireland, from £125,000 to £500,000. This will apply from 8 July 2020 until 31 March 2021 and cut the tax due for everyone who would have paid SDLT. Nearly nine out of ten people getting on or moving up the property ladder will pay no SDLT at all.
All of these extra measures released by the government have been put in place to help the UK economy, busiesses and keep people employed. If you have any queries about any of this then please get in touch.