Sunak’s support package ‘ won’t protect our firms’
A LEADING Yorkshire business figure has warned that new support grants offered by Rishi Sunak will not be enough to protect firms in the region during a period of “non- existent demand” after months of stop- start coronavirus restrictions.
Beckie Hart, the director of Yorkshire and the Humber Confederation of British Industry, said the Chancellor’s job- retention scheme needed to be extended to the end of June as well as further measures to offer businesses some “muchneeded breathing space”.
Mr Sunak announced on Tuesday that up to 600,000 retail, hospitality and leisure sites will be able to claim a one- off grant of up to £ 9,000. The programme will cost the Treasury £ 4.6bn and is aimed to help support the nation’s high streets as new lockdown measures announced on Monday take hold.
Mr Sunak also confirmed a further £ 594m for local authorities and devolved administrations to support businesses not eligible for the grants.
The latest payments will be based on the size of each store, pub, cafe or hotel tied into the business rates typically paid by each business. The smallest sites will be able to claim up to £ 4,000 and medium- sized ones up to £ 6,000. However, he stopped short of extending the business rates holiday and cuts to VAT – two of the key demands from industry pressure groups. Business leaders said small firms that do not have premises or those that are less than a year old have had no support from the Government and many enterprises were facing a struggle to survive. Ms Hart, inset, told The Yorkshire Post that extending the job- retention scheme to the end of the second quarter “would help firms to plan ahead and shape their investment intentions”. She said: “Businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber have strained every sinew to make it through the ordeal of 2020 and these early days of 2021 have offered no respite. Yet this remains a diverse region, which has much to offer as we look to rebuild and work towards net- zero.
“With the vaccine roll- out now under way and accelerating, there really is a brighter future within reach. It is vital businesses receive the support they need during this painful period to ensure livelihoods are protected and the recovery is delayed for as short a time as possible.”
June Smith, the regional director in the North for Make UK, which represents engineering and manufacturing firms, said the impact of the third lockdown at a time when manufacturers were unravelling the implications of the Brexit deal for their businesses meant they needed “clarity and certainty” of the available support for at least the next six months.
And Carolyn Frank, the development manager in North Yorkshire for the Federation of Small Businesses, added that many small businesses and self- employed workers were “really struggling now both with their mental health and financially, with unmanageable debt and reduced, or no income”.
She added: “The small- business sector counts for 60 per cent of privatesector employment and must be protected to avoid widespread economic failure.”