Jobs at risk as firms beg ministers to defer tax bills

BRITAIN’S manufacturers have pleaded with ministers to defer their tax bills immediately before they are forced to lay off thousands of skilled workers.

Trade body Make UK said it has been picking up ‘distress calls’ from manufacturers across the country over the past week as their orders have collapsed.

It reiterated concerns raised by other major business groups, including the CBI and UK Hospitality, that the Government’s £350bn rescue package is welcome but that loans and grants will not get through quickly enough.

Make UK represents about 20,000 firms from the car manufacturing giants and smaller firms in their supply chains to makers of food, fashion and medical equipment.

Chief executive Stephen Phipson said: ‘There are alarm bells going off right across the manufacturing sector, with the prospect of substantial lay-offs.

‘Order books are collapsing and this is creating immediate cashflow issues for companies which need addressing within days not weeks. We need urgent measures which will have an immediate impact on the ability of companies to stay afloat during this crisis and retain staff.’

The group has urged ministers to immediately defer VAT, PAYE, and National Insurance payments for at least three months.

But it said these tax ‘holidays’ should be extended as required to ease the cashflow problems facing huge numbers of firms.

A survey of manufacturing firms published earlier this week showed even before the escalation of the Covid-19 crisis, export orders had fallen sharply, while domestic orders were enduring their worst run since 2015.