Furlough scheme to be extended until September

An extension of the furlough scheme until September, a further £400m for the arts sector and £1.65bn towards the UK 's Covid vaccination rollout are among the announcements expected in today 's Budget.

The Treasury have released further details in what is likely to feature in Rushi Sunak 's Spring Budget, ahead of his speech in the House of Commons at lunchtime.

In addition to the £5bn grant scheme to help English high-street shops and hospitality businesses, he is expected to announce:

• 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 nations7
• £1.65bn towards the UK 's Covid vaccination rollout to help the country to achieve its aim of offering 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
• Cash grants under the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) are expected to be available to those who became self-employed during 2019-20

The Chancellor is also expected to announce an extension of the furlough scheme until the autumn, while more details are likely to emerge around lengthening stamp duty holidays until the end of June.

Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce said Mr Sunak must “pull out all the stops ” to protect the firms hardest hit by the pandemic.

Chief executive Paul Faulkner (pictured) said: “As is often the case in this day and age, many of the Chancellor 's plans seem to have made it onto social media platforms before being shared with those businesses and individuals they are likely to directly impact.

“As a Chamber our message for the Mr Sunak is clear - businesses form the bedrock of our economy and the Government needs to pull out the stops to protect the most vulnerable firms that have been knocked sideways by this dreadful pandemic.

“With further grants being made available for those hospitality and retail businesses that have been forced to close through no fault of their own and furlough being extended, the Chancellor seems to have instinctively grasped that the premature withdrawal of support for these firms would have a catastrophic impact on any long term economic recovery.

“While the devil is always in the detail, additional measures which have been leaked over the last couple of days all seem welcome, although concerns remain about the extent and timing of any further taxation on businesses and the lack of assistance for those who have found themselves excluded from meaningful support.

“It 's also good to see Treasury is trying to join the dots between improving management techniques and boosting productivity - something which has been at the heart of our long running Growth Through People campaign for the last five years.

“However, it 's also interesting to consider what hasn 't been leaked over the last few days and let 's hope the Chancellor uses the statement to shed light on how he intends to offer further support to those directly impacted by the Brexit transition and those operating in the aviation industry for example.

“Our policy team will be on hand this afternoon to release a snap summary of what the measures mean for businesses in Greater Birmingham and share updates on how to access the Grants listed above via our Covid-19 Support Grid. ”

Click here to access Covid-19 Support Grid.

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A Navigating Employment Support To Access New Talent event its taking place next week as part our Growth Through People campaign - click here.