Chancellor Rishi Sunak has presented the 2021 budget to the House of Commons.
The highlights of this particular buget include the retention of the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and an extension of the Furlough Scheme.
Here is a summary of the main announcements:
| • | The furlough scheme has been extended until the end of September. Furloughed employees will continue to receive 80 percent of their salary for hours not worked. |
| • | Self-employed workers will be able to claim a fourth grant from the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme worth 80 percent of three months’ trading profits at up to £7,500. |
| • | Corporation tax will rise to 25 percent from April 2023. However, there will be protection for those businesses with profits of less than £50,000. |
| • | Business rates relief for the hardest hit sectors, such as retail and hospitality has been extended for three months. |
| • | Businesses investing in new equipment can offset all of the cost (with an additional 30 percent off) in a bid to encourage more firms to invest in technology. |
| • | Hospitality and tourism firms will benefit from VAT being held at 5 percent. |
Other measures announced in the Budget include:
| • | £5bn grant scheme to help English high-street shops and hospitality businesses. |
| • | An additional £400m for the arts sector – with £300m added to the existing Culture Recovery Fund, £90m for England’s museums and cultural bodies and £77m for similar initiatives in the devolved nations. |
| • | £1.65bn towards the UK’s Covid vaccination rollout to help the country to achieve its aim of offering a first dose to every adult by the end of July. |
| • | A ‘fast-track’ visa scheme to help start-up and rapidly growing tech firms source talent from overseas. |
| • | An extra £126m into the traineeship scheme, in which the government pay employers who give young people work placements. |
| • | The ‘Help to Grow’ Scheme in which thousands of small businesses will be offered free MBA-style management training. |
| • | A £150m pot to help communities take over a local pub or sports club at threat of closure. |
