Chancellor must press ahead in support of hardest-hit firms - Chamber

The Chancellor must use Wednesday 's Budget to press ahead in offering support for cash-strapped businesses, business leaders said today.

Ahead of Rishi Sunak 's statement this week, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce is calling for a number of measures to help the hardest-hit firms.

They include:

• Immediate extension of the Job Retention Scheme while removing the requirement for NI and pension contributions on furloughed staff for businesses required to close
• Additional Grant support for the most impacted closed businesses with high overheads and organisations with limited to no access to current schemes
• Bringing forward further interest free deferral of VAT payments for Q1 and Q2 2021 while also extending existing VAT relief measures for the hospitality sector and visitor attractions through to the Autumn
• Extending business rates relief for the most impacted sectors throughout the 2021/22 financial year
• Expanding the income protection support for the self employed and directors of limited companies
• Introducing tax credits or exploring partial rent grants to support landlords in offering rent waivers or reductions to businesses in genuine difficulty
• Bringing forward short-term payment holidays for domestic mortgages and capital repayment holidays for landlords
• Support for Birmingham Airport and the associated sectors by extending the Airport Ground Operators Support Scheme for an additional 12 months

Reports over the weekend suggest Mr Sunak will announce a £5bn scheme for high-street shops and hospitality firms in England, worth up to £18,000 per company.

A £126m pot for traineeships, an 'elite ' visa to attract high-skilled workers to the UK and a “world-first ” green savings bond for retail investors are also said to be part of the Budget.

Paul Faulkner (pictured), chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said now is not the time for Government cannot rein in financial support.

"With the impressive speed of the vaccine roll out offering light at the end of the tunnel, now is not the time to turn off the spending taps and push for a period of fiscal consolidation - the Chancellor has rightly identified the pressing need to offer further support to cash strapped businesses.

"The money made available via the proposed Restart Scheme will hopefully provide a massive shot in the arm to those high street firms and hospitality businesses that have been decimated by the pandemic - as we pointed out in our Back Our Businesses Plan, now the Government must ensure that the most vulnerable businesses are able to access the grants as soon as possible to help them survive this crisis.

"Early reports also suggest an extension of the furlough scheme is likely to be announced on Wednesday which would offer much needed reassurance to those businesses struggling to retain staff and safeguard thousands of jobs across the country as we attempt to offset the worrying rise in unemployment levels the crisis has created.

"However, there 's been little leaked to the press around how the Treasury will offer support to the self-employed and those firms operating in the aviation industry that have had relatively little support during the course of the crisis.

“Attention will also turn to the Chancellor 's longer term ambitions around powering a long term economic recovery and the last thing businesses need to see right now in an increase in their cost outputs - any substantial tax rises will simply lead us to a damaging cliff edge for jobs and livelihoods.

“We hope the Chancellor uses the Budget as an opportunity to offer further evidence that the Government isn 't simply paying lip service to the mantra of 'levelling up ' as we emerge from the pandemic - investing in green technology, apprenticeships and infrastructure projects across the country as a whole will all drive productivity levels in the right direction.

"As always, the Chamber will be on hand to offer advice to firms in the region on what the latest developments from the Budget will mean for their business and how they can access further support - full details will be made available across our social media channels on Wednesday afternoon."

Click here to read Back our Businesses

Click here to access Covid-19 Support Grid.

Click here to book onto Navigating Support to Access New Talent

Click here to book onto the Spring Budget 2021 Review with Azets