- Central to the plan is a new Job Support Scheme and extension of Self Employment Income Support Scheme and over one million businesses will get flexibilities to help pay back loans
- The Chancellor Rishi Sunak today outlined additional government support to provide certainty to businesses and workers impacted by coronavirus across the UK.
Delivering a speech in Parliament, the Chancellor announced a package of measures that will continue to protect jobs and help businesses through the uncertain months ahead as we continue to tackle the spread of the virus. The package includes a new Jobs Support Scheme to protect millions of returning workers; extending the Self Employment Income Support Scheme and 15% VAT cut for the hospitality and tourism sectors; and help for businesses in repaying government-backed loans.
The announcement comes after the Prime Minster set out further measures to combat the spread of the virus over the winter, while preserving the ability to grow the economy.
Commenting on the latest announcement Antony Higginbotham MP:
Earlier this week I met the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to talk about how we help support our vital sectors like aerospace and auto manufacturing, including securing the 000s of local jobs that depend on those sectors. The schemes announced today do exactly that.
It's clear from the conversations I've had with local businesses that demand has fallen because of the pandemic. This new Job Support Scheme is there to step in to help cover wages, replacing furlough by encouraging business to bring people back to work. And continued support to the self-employed and those in our bars, cafes and restaurants through the VAT reduction will all ensure we go through this together.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:
The resurgence of the virus, and the measures we need to take in response, pose a threat to our fragile economic recovery. Our approach to the next phase of support must be different to that which came before. The primary goal of our economic policy remains unchanged - to support people’s jobs - but the way we achieve that must evolve.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the government has taken swift action to save lives, limit the spread of the disease and minimise damage to the economy.
Ministers have introduced one of the most generous and comprehensive economic plans anywhere in the world with over £190 billion of support for people, businesses and public services - including paying the wages of nearly 12 million people, supporting over a million businesses through grants, loans and rates cuts and announcing the Plan for Jobs in July.
The government has been consistently clear that it would keep its support under review to protect jobs and the economy, with today’s action reflecting the evolving circumstances and uncertainty of the months ahead.
