Chancellor Outlines 'Mini-Budget'

This afternoon (8 July), Chancellor Rishi Sunak issued a 'Mini Budget' outlining measures steps the government would take to aid the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

While many details are still to come, the Chancellor announced the following headline proposals:

• VAT: For hospitality sector, VAT will be cut from 20% to 5% for 6 months
• Furlough bonus: £1000 will be given to companies for every furloughed employee being brought back and kept through to January 2021.
• Kickstarter Scheme: For younger people, a new kickstart scheme which will directly pay employers for creating jobs for 16-25-year-olds. The funding will be conditional on firms proving they are newly created jobs. The Government will pay young people’s wages for six months, plus an amount to cover overheads. That means, for a 24-year-old, the grant will be around £6,500.
• New careers advisors: Funding will be made available for new careers advisors and traineeships.
• Skills: The Universal Skills Offer will be expanded
• Apprenticeships: for the next 6 months, the Government shall pay employers to create apprenticeships, paying £2000 per apprentice.
• Unemployment help: The government will double the number of work coaches in job centres, expand the work and health programme and develop a new scheme to help the unemployed through investing an extra £1bn in the Department for Work and Pensions
• Food vouchers: For the month of August, everyone shall be given an eat out, to help out discount. Offering customers a discount worth up to £10 per head when they eat on from Monday to Wednesday in August.

The full list of measures can be read here.