The Chancellor has announced his summer mini statement this week, and it includes a host of measures aimed at kickstarting the economy. We're going to take a look at which of these is going to impact the manufacturing sector.
The Plan For Jobs
With the "plan for jobs" the Chancellor announced several initiatives designed to help the country's Coronavirus recovery, some of the measures will directly benefit the manufacturing industry.
- To help wind down the furlough scheme, a job retention bonus has been announced. Businesses will be paid £1000 for each worker that is brought back from furlough and retained until 31 January 2021.
- £111 million has been set aside to triple the number of traineeships; businesses will be offered £1000 for each trainee that they take on. This will be capped at ten employees in this part of the scheme.
- The Government will subsidise the wages of new employees aged between 16-24 years old for six months. Under the plan, the Government will cover up to 25 hours a week at the national minimum wage with companies able to top this up if they wish.
- To encourage more apprenticeships, businesses will be given £2000 for each apprentice under 25 and £1500 for each apprentice over 25.
- The national careers service is set to benefit from an additional £32 million which will help around a quarter of a million young people.
Putting The Environment First
A "Green recovery with a concern for our environment" is at the heart of the budget,
- Tens of thousands of jobs will be created helping push on with work on £8.8 billion of infrastructure, decarbonisation and maintenance projects.
- £3 billion will be placed into an investment package, helping make 140,000 green jobs and £1 billion will be put into a project to make public sector buildings greener.
Stephen Phipson, Chief Executive of Make UK, stated
"Industry will applaud the Chancellor's bold intent which will spur the process of rebuilding business confidence and healing the economy. Manufacturers were already at the forefront of a new digital era, and the crisis has shot them forward into a future economy where there will be new jobs which will require new skills.
"As such, the emphasis on protecting jobs which already exist, while safeguarding and preparing young people with the skills for future jobs which may not yet have been invented is a strategy that companies will fully support. In particular, the funding for Apprenticeships is especially welcome and will help boost employers' investment in their future workforce.
"This is not the beginning of the end of this crisis, however, but perhaps the end of the beginning as far as the economy is concerned. Moving forward, just as IndustryIndustry has shown how flexible and innovative it can be at a time of national need, then Government will need to be equally flexible and innovative in dealing with the after-effects which will undoubtedly require further action at some stage.
"Manufacturers stand ready to work with the government to do whatever it takes to boost growth and livelihoods across the whole of the UK."