Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • News
Reports

Budget 2021: Sunak extends business rates for hospitality and announces apprenticeship boost

Open-access content Wednesday 3rd March 2021
Authors
Herpreet Kaur Grewal
Chancellor Rishi Sunak

Chancellor Rishi Sunak. – Cubanki

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced support for businesses in retail and hospitality and funding for apprenticeships in the 2021 Budget.

Delivering the Budget to Parliament today, Sunak, said eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will pay no business rates for 3 months, with up to 66 per cent relief for the rest of the year worth over £6 billion in 2021-22.

The government also extended the temporarily reduced VAT rate for hospitality and tourism.

There will be payments to firms to encourage them to take on apprentices, said Sunak. Payments that are incentives for firms to hire apprentices will be doubled, to £3,000 and there will be £126m to help people offer trainees shifts to apprentices.

This includes "flexi-job apprenticeships". The move intends to tackle growing youth unemployment. The flexi-job apprenticeships are set to be introduced from January 2022 and will allow workers to work for a number of different employers in a single sector.

The Chancellor said the Job Retention Scheme would also be extended until September.

He said the current economic forecasts show the economic response is working. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is now forecasting a “swifter and more sustained recovery” than it was expecting in November.

He said the OBR now expect the economy to recover to its pre-Covid level by the middle of next year - six months earlier than previously expected.

Rain Newton-Smith, CBI chief economist, said: “Quite simply, extending the [Job Retention] scheme will keep millions more in work and give businesses the chance to catch their breath as we carefully exit lockdown.

“The furlough scheme has been a stand-out success throughout the crisis. It’s common sense to keep the scheme going while business resilience remains so fragile for some months yet.

“As we make progress into the summer, it’s right that businesses start contributing to be part of the scheme. Meanwhile, it’s great to see more support for the newly self-employed, who have missed out over the last year.”

Atul Bhakta, CEO of One World Express, said: “The chancellor has lived up to his promise by prioritising emergency support for UK businesses. 
 
“Ongoing pressures caused by Covid-19, not to mention the additional challenges posed by Brexit, have meant that as many as 25 per cent of British companies fear they will not survive until the end of the year, according to a recent study by One World Express. So, the extension to the furlough scheme, coupled reinforced with support for the self-employed and prolonged VAT cuts, offers some welcome relief. 
 
“That said, the government still has scope to go further. Realistically, businesses will not bounce back to their pre-Covid operational capacity for some months or even years. So, the chancellor must look to develop a more long-term recovery plan, as opposed to relying on further extensions to temporary schemes to re-stimulate growth. Otherwise, the UK’s economic recovery could stagnate.”

Image credit | Cubanki
Filed in
News
Also filed in
Reports

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Regional Facilities Manager

Borehamwood
Circa £47,000 + Decent Package & opportunities
Reference
59410

Facilities Manager

Hertfordshire
Up to £75,000 + Decent Package
Reference
59408

Facilities Manager

Guildford
Up to £45,000 + Package & Opportunities
Reference
59407
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ