Mini-Budget: Let’s hope the Chancellor is thinking about creating real value and economic resilience for the long-term

@HMTreasury has committed to provide 30,000 new traineeships to get young people in England into work, including classroom-based lessons in maths, English and CV writing, as well as up to 90 hours of unpaid work experience.

They last from six weeks to six months and they are open to people aged between 16 and 24 starting September 2020.

Under the £111m funding boost, firms in England will be given £1,000 for each work-experience place they offer.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive £21m for similar schemes.

Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE, Director, DMH Associates & Associate Fellow, University of Warwick IER

Today @BorisJohnson set out his bold vision to create opportunity and get Britain building.

On July 8th I will deliver an economic update setting out the next stage in our plan to secure the recovery. pic.twitter.com/oQ3BEmxWbY

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) June 30, 2020

More detail will be announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday 8th July when he will unveil an economic plan to deal with the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis:

As well as navigating COVID19, the Chancellor’s financial statement on Wednesday must have an eye on the long-term and address historic productivity woes, dependencies on low-skill service sector jobs, regional imbalance and weak social mobility.

Business can help on all these fronts, but needs a helping hand from Government to take some uncertainty out of the system.

For example, let’s take tax, where two years  certainty on business tax and VAT would enable businesses to scenario plan and release capital for investment.

Regulation is in the hands of policymakers too, and a moratorium on new business regulation would free tied-up resources to focus on recovery.

Stimulus, in the form of access to grants and schemes to support innovation, battered SMEs and start-ups would be most welcome by business leaders and entrepreneurs alike.

Such measures would allow businesses to look ahead with a degree of certainty and rebuild confidence.

Let’s hope the Chancellor is thinking about creating real value and economic resilience for the long-term.

Andrew Harding FCMA CGMA, Chief Executive, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

My priority now is to protect as many jobs as possible and for those who unfortunately lose their jobs, to make sure that the support is there to help them find new jobs and hopefully better jobs as quickly as possible. pic.twitter.com/MGoJgVAy4j

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) June 26, 2020