The Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement today will provide a massive boost to the hospitality and tourist sector across Thirsk and Malton which has been amongst the hardest hit by coronavirus. The VAT cut, which I have been campaigning for, will support hundreds of businesses and protect thousands of jobs whilst providing another incentive for people to take their holidays in North Yorkshire. The brand new Eat Out to Help Out scheme will encourage people back into our many fabulous restaurants, cafes and pubs by giving them discounted meals from Monday to Wednesday in August. Overall the combination of a job retention bonus and a focus on skills and young people, as well as a stamp duty holiday, is just what is needed to provide businesses with the confidence to retain and hire and give the economy the kickstart it needs.
Jobs Retention Bonus Scheme
This is a one-off payment of £1,000 to businesses designed to reward and incentivise employers who successfully bring furloughed staff back to work and kept them on continuously until January.
VAT
VAT will be cut across the UK to hospitality, accommodation and attractions from 20 per cent to 5 per cent until 12 January 2021. This could support almost 2 million businesses and protect 2.5 million jobs.
Eat Out to Help Out scheme
Anyone who eats at a participating business, Monday to Wednesday for the month of August, can receive up to 50 per cent off food and non-alcoholic drinks, up to a value of £10 per person. Businesses can claim the money back from the government weekly, receiving funds within 5 working days. Guidance for businesses will be published next week.
Stamp duty
Stamp duty on all homes under £500,000 will be scrapped until 31 March 2021 to kickstart the housing market and boost confidence. This will help drive growth and create jobs and equates to an average saving of £4,500.
Upgrading the energy efficiency of homes
£2 billion to allow people to apply for a voucher to fund at least two-thirds of the cost of upgrading the energy performance of their homes – up to a maximum of £5,000. Low-income households will be eligible for up to 100 per cent of government funding up to £10,000. This measure will also reduce energy bills by up to £300 a year and help to save carbon – equivalent to a flight from London to New York.
Social Housing
£50 million to pilot new approaches for retrofitting social housing at scale – meaning warmer and more energy efficient homes.
Public Sector buildings
£1 billion scheme which will offer grants to public sector bodies including schools and hospitals to fund both energy efficiency and low-carbon heat measures.
Young people
A new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme, to give young people the best possible chance of getting a job will directly pay businesses to create new, decent and high-quality jobs for any 16-24 year old at risk of long-term unemployment. Funding available for each job will cover 100 per cent of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, for six months in total, plus an admin fee – for a grant of around £6,500 per placement. There will be no cap on the number of places available funding hundreds of thousands of new placements.
Trainees
£111 million to triple the scale of Traineeships, which consist of work experience placements, training and work preparation for 16-24 year olds. We will also increase the eligibility of Traineeships to include young people qualified up to Level 3 (advanced – equivalent to 2 good A Level passes), up from Level 2 (intermediate – equivalent to achieving 5 GCSEs at 9-4) currently.
Apprentices
Providing £2,000 to employers for each new apprentice they hire under the age of 25 and £1,500 for any apprentice aged over 25, helping more people into the workplace while developing key skills.
School leavers
£101 million to help 18 and 19 year olds to take high value courses at Levels 2 and 3 where work opportunities are not available. £32 million to recruit more careers advisers for the National Careers Service, so that it can provide advice to 269,000 more people.
Sector-Based Work Academies
Sector-Based Work Academies are short-term courses lasting up to six weeks for unemployed benefit claimants. They consist of pre-employment training, work experience placements and guaranteed interviews. These will be scaled up providing an additional £17 million to triple the number of placements available in 2020-21, supporting 32,000 more vocational training placements.
Youth Offer – Universal Credit
The Youth Offer will include: 13 weeks of intensive support – including a referral to work-related training or an apprenticeship; new Young People’s Hubs for those who need additional tailored work coach support and Youth Employability Coaches for those with more complex needs. There will be an Opportunity Guarantee to give young people the skills and confidence they need to find they job that is right for them.
