Stuart Anderson said: "Small businesses are the backbone of our rural economy, the lifeblood of the economy and the beating heart of local communities. My aspiration is for Shropshire to become one of the best places in the country to start and grow a business. Between 2010 and 2024, more than one million businesses were created, spurred by the fbiggest tax cut for businesses in a generation. With 5.5 million of them, almost every business in the country is a small business. They support 27 million jobs and account for more than half (£4.5 trillion) of annual business turnover. In concert with other partners, the Government provides a range of support to help them thrive and grow. The Government continues to improve access to finance, skills, business support and to address barriers to trade. Below, you will find a list of support available. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if I can be of any assistance."
If someone receives communication claiming to be from HMRC that asks for their personal information or is offering a tax rebate, check this website to help identify if it is scam activity: www.gov.uk/guidance/identify-hmrc-related-scam-phone-calls-emails-and-t….
British Business Bank
Established in November 2014, the British Business Bank is the UK Government’s economic development bank. Its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver, and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government. It has provided over £12.4 billion of finance to over 96,000 small businesses including over 100,000 Start Up Loans sfince 2012. Start Up loans provide up to £25,000 per director to support entrepreneurs to start and grow a business, with pre- and post-application support to new entrepreneurs, including a year of free business mentoring for successful applicants. 15,000 Start Up Loans worth over £100 million have now been issued to young business founders aged 18-24 since 2012, with almost a third of recipients leaving unemployment thanks to this scheme. Its Finance Hub provides a comprehensive guide to small businesses access the right type of finance, whether looking to start-up, scale, or grow a business. It provides independent and impartial information about finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success.
Midlands Engine Investment Fund II
The Government has also increased the British Business Bank’s regional financing programmes by £1.6 billion. This includes the £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, which includes a range of finance options with loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investments up to £5 million. The Fund aims to transform finance for smaller businesses in the Midlands and realise the region’s potential to achieve economic growth by increasing the access and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive and creating new opportunities for them.
Announced at the Spring Budget 2024, the Government is providing £200 million of funding to extend the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) until the end of March 2026 as it transitions to the Growth Guarantee Scheme. It is a government-backed loan scheme designed to support access to finance for UK businesses as they look to invest and grow. The scheme offers a 70% government guarantee on loans to SMEs of up to £2 million in Great Britain. The extension will help support 11,000 SMEs access the finance they need, with an average loan of £230,000.
Local Growth Hub
Find out how your Local Growth Hub can help you with advice and support at any stage of your business journey. The network of 38 Growth Hubs across England provides access to information and advice to all businesses in their local areas, regardless of size or sector. They simplify the local business support landscape, bringing together organisations from across the public and private sectors to develop and deliver integrated national and local business-facing programmes, services, and campaigns. Shropshire Council has received Department of Business and Trade funding of £1.2 million since financial year 2021/22 for the Shropshire Growth Hub. Growth Hubs provide local business support and advice, to help drive regional economic growth. Growth Hub support is available across England and businesses of all sizes and sectors can contact their local Growth Hubs, including in rural areas.
Services include:
- One to one advice sessions
- Business takeaway workshops
- Help accessing funding and finance
- Networking and outreach programme
- Specialist support package (2/3 hours - limited availability)
The Marches Energy Grant (MEG) offers free advice, energy assessments and grants for energy efficiency and renewable energy measures to SMEs from all sectors in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. The funding is also available to support community buildings. As well as the grant funding, the project will also run related networking and webinar events for SMEs and other organisations. Assessments are for SMEs who wish to use their energy more efficiently, reducing costs and improving environmental credentials. Grants worth up to £60,000 are available for eligible businesses. Up to £100,000 in match funded grant is also available to eligible businesses implementing eligible energy efficiency measures through the pilot Business Energy Advice Service fund (this excludes renewable energy projects).
UK Shared Prosperity Fund
Over £12 million has been allocated to Shropshire from the UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund. Invest in Shropshire's UK Shared Prosperity Fund has provided £95,000 to support a community facility to support local artisan makers and producers on Bridgnorth high street which had previously stood empty.
The UKSPF Small Business Grant Scheme offers grants of between £2,000 and £10,000 to purchase new equipment or make improvements to business premises. The Innovation Voucher Grants are part of this programme, a fully funded initiative developed to help you improve your leadership skills, enabling you to foster innovation and drive business growth.
Shropshire Manufacturing Growth Programme aims to support SME manufacturing businesses in understanding their short, medium and long term improvement goals, while helping them create obtainable outcomes such as improved productivity, competitiveness, sustainability, job creation or adopt new products or services through the use of digital adoption.
The West Midlands SME Grant Programme is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and offers grant support of £5,000 - £100,000 for existing SMEs, based within Birmingham, Solihull and the Shropshire Council areas. Grants can cover projects which expand and grow a business, capital equipment, inward investment, developing new market opportunities, innovation, new product development, increasing the productive capacity of new and existing premises through new property builds, refurbishment, extensions and digital projects. The £110 million Rural England Prosperity Fund helps new and existing rural businesses develop products and facilities of wider benefit to the local economy as well support new and improved community infrastructure.
Shropshire Growth Leadership Programme provides support to a group of business leaders to upskill their capabilities and leadership skills through workshops, one-to-one mentoring, and the development of a growth action plan. Additionally, the beneficiaries will have the opportunity to apply for an Innovation Voucher grant of up to £2500 (50% match funded).
Sustaining Shropshire is a new project which provides free expert support to entrepreneurs and to small and medium sized businesses, in Shropshire’s flourishing agri-tech and food and drink sectors, to develop pioneering new ideas and boost sustainability. This project is fully funded by the UK Government through the Shropshire Council UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and follows on from the success of the AGRI Project. Applications for the 4th cohort of the 8-week programme, starting 8th January 2025, are now open.
Get the support your need to accelerate your entrepreneurial journey with one-to-one support and interactive small group sessions delivered by industry experts from across the agricultural sectors. Learn from industry experts to:
- Craft a robust business plan
- Define your vision and mission
- Understand your customers and competitors
- Market analysis and positioning
Shropshire Chamber of Commerce have been funded to deliver the following projects:
- Active Leadership Programme offers leadership and upskilling training to businesses. Managers can access £4,500 worth of funded training, coaching, and mentoring to become better leaders and improve business productivity.
- Team Upskilling Programme consists of half and full day courses covering a variety of subjects including using Microsoft software, social media, and creating better sales opportunities.
Silverpreneurs® delivers a unique programme specifically designed for the 50+ age demographic, supporting them with entrepreneurship beyond their corporate careers. This programme works to inspire and empower the over 50’s, who are looking to start or develop their business as part of an experienced and supportive business community. This programme is a fully funded 8 week programme which will be delivered through a combination of virtual and in-person 1-2-1 and group sessions, where you can learn, grow and share your journey and experience with the group.
The Shropshire Start Up Programme supports individuals and new enterprises (trading for less than 12months) through a Masterclass programme of business support, advice and knowledge. Businesses who engage with the programme can go onto access individual mentoring and start-up grants of £1,000 to £5,000 (50% match funded). Business consultants Good2Great, based at The Printworks in Bridgnorth High Street, has helped around 1,000 new companies to develop over the last decade. Now it has been awarded a grant to run the Shropshire Start Up programme from Shropshire Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation. The programme received £286,923 of funding and will assist start-ups until March 2025. Anyone wishing to find out more about the Good2Great start-up programme for new businesses should email [email protected].
The Employer Disability Support Service works with employers of all sizes across Shropshire. Their aim is to help businesses become more confident and competent in recruiting, employing, and retaining people with disabilities; long term health conditions; and mental health conditions.
Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
The Government has expanded the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) to help more UK start-ups to raise higher levels of finance. In April 2023, the amount of SEIS funding that companies can raise was increased from £150,000 to £250,000 and the annual investor limit was increased from £100,000 to £200,000. The eligibility of the SEIS was also expanded as the limit on the age of a company’s trade was increased from 2 years to 3 years and the company gross asset limit was increased from £200,000 to £350,000. These changes increase the generosity and availability of the SEIS whilst ensuring it remains appropriately targeted at those very early-stage companies that investors view as the highest risk. Companies that outgrow the SEIS can utilise the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) to raise further finance. On 6th September 2024, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme were both set to end on 6 April 2025 and have now been extended by ten years to 5 April 2035. Both schemes have already seen significant success with over £41 billion raised through the schemes since the EIS was launched in 1994. The schemes continue to generate vast amounts of investment, with £2.9 billion of funds raised across the schemes in 2022-23 and 1,280 companies using the EIS for the first time over this period.
Home Building Fund
The Home Building Fund for SMEs is designed for housebuilders based in England that are struggling to access finance from traditional lenders. Loans can be tailored to individual circumstances and used to meet the development costs of building homes for sale or rent. Financing is also available to support community-led housing projects, serviced plots for custom and self-builders, off-site manufacturing, new entrants to the market and groups of small firms working in consortia to deliver larger sites. In December 2024, the Fund is being extended beyond March next year to secure millions of pounds worth of loans and investments for small housebuilding firms who would otherwise be unable to access lending elsewhere. The extension will support the delivery of around 12,000 additional homes – on top of the 42,000 homes the Fund is already on track to deliver.
Business Rates Relief
For 2025/26 the Chancellor announced a package worth over £1.6 billion:
- The small business multiplier will be frozen at 49.9p.
- The standard multiplier will be uprated in April in line with September’s CPI figure (1.6%), increasing the multiplier from 54.6p to 55.5p.
- The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief scheme will be extended for one year for 2025/26, retaining the existing eligibility criteria but reducing the level of relief to 40%, up to a cap of £110,000 per business.
- From April 2025, charitable rate relief will no longer be applicable to private schools.
The Chancellor also announced that, in order to create a fairer business rates system and level the playing field for the high street, the government intends to introduce two permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026/27. The government intends to sustainably fund this by, from 2026/27, applying a higher multiplier to all properties - including distribution warehouses used by online giants - with a rateable value of £500,000 or above.
To support the transition, the Chancellor announced a 40% relief for retail, hospitality and leisure, up to a cap of £110,000 per business. The small business multiplier will also be frozen next year to protect against inflationary increases. This support is worth almost £2.4 billion over the next five years. One third of business properties will continue to pay no business rates because of Small Business Rates Relief.
Cutting Taxes
The last government cut and simplified self-employed taxes from 6 April 2024, with the main rate of Class 4 self-employed NICs cut from 9% to 8%, and the outdated and needlessly complicated Class 2 self-employed NICs abolished. These cuts benefited around 2 million self‑employed people, with the average self-employed individual on £28,200 seeing a saving of £350 in 2024-25. In 1 April 2024, the last government increased the VAT registration threshold for small businesses for the first time since 2017, raising it from £85,000 to £90,000. It also increased the deregistration threshold from £83,000 to £88,000 - taking around 28,000 small businesses out of paying VAT altogether.
At the Autumn 2024 Budget, the new government announced that the rate of employer National Insurance will increase by 1.2 percentage points, to 15% from 6 April 2025. The Secondary Threshold – the level at which employers become liable to pay national insurance on each employee’s salary – will reduce from £9,100 per year to £5,000 per year. The smallest businesses will be protected as the Employment Allowance will increase to £10,500 from £5,000 and be extended to all eligible employers by removing the £100,000 cap, allowing firms to employ up to four National Living Wage workers full time without paying employer National Insurance on their wages. Capital Gains Tax (CGT) will increase from 10% to 18% for those paying the lower rate, and 20% to 24% for those paying the higher rate. These new rates will match the residential property rates, which will unchanged at 18 for the lower rate and 24% for the higher rate. To encourage entrepreneurs to invest in their businesses, Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) will remain at 10% this year, before rising to 14% on 6 April 2025 and 18% from 6 April 2026-27.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has launched a digital tool to help businesses estimate what registering for VAT may mean for them. The VAT Registration Estimator has been developed after feedback from small businesses suggested an online tool would be helpful to show when their turnover could require businesses to register for VAT and its effect on profits, as well as linking to further information about the registration process. It is also a useful tool for businesses operating below the threshold and considering voluntary registration.
Help to Grow: Management
The UK Government’s Help to Grow: Management Course is an intensive national training programme to improve SMEs leadership and management skills, providing practical support for SMEs to upskill their staff and lead their business to its full potential. SMEs from all sectors are able to access the programme that is 90% subsidised by the Government. This has already supported nearly 8,000 businesses with the ambition to support up to 30,000 over the programme's lifetime. It is designed and delivered by entrepreneurs and industry experts at world-class business schools. Run over 12 weeks, the course includes online and face-to-face sessions, 1-to-1 mentoring and peer networking. With just one session a week, it is designed to fit around existing work and personal commitments. SMEs can apply and develop their skills in areas such as financial management, innovation, and staff engagement. Up to September 2023, the course has already supported more than 7,000 SME leaders, with 37% of the people enrolled being women. Building on its success, Help to Grow: Management Essentials launched in April 2024. This free self-guided online course is available to any SME leader or senior manager making strategic decisions, and is particularly relevant for micro businesses, people who feel they are not yet ready to embark on the full course, and those wanting a quick refresher of key management concepts. It includes bite-sized videos and online resources on different business topics.
Permanent Full Expensing
We have introduced permanent full expensing. This is one of the biggest business tax cuts in modern British history, which the OBR estimate will result in around £14 billion of extra business investment in the next five years. Over 200 business leaders – including from companies such as Airbus, Astra Zeneca, Barratt, Centrica, Ford, Liberty Steel, Nissan, Siemens and Toyota – said “this would have the single most transformational impact on business investment and growth and accelerate industry’s transition towards net zero”. It reduces firms’ cost of capital for qualifying plant and machinery investment. This means companies are rewarded with up to 25p off their tax bill for every £1 that they invest, which amounts to a tax cut of over £10 billion per year.
Permanent full expensing, including the 50% first-year allowance for special rate assets, will give companies certainty to plan long-term investments. This raises the economy’s long run optimal capital stock, which in turn increases annual business investment. It also provides further support for companies that want to decarbonise by investing in solar panels and heat pumps, and that want to invest in newer, greener plant and machinery. The OBR expect the policy to increase business investment by £3 billion per year, or additional £14 billion of investment over the forecast period. Worth over £10 billion a year, it is the biggest business tax cut in modern British history.
Defence Innovation Loans
Aimed at SMEs, DASA’s Defence Innovation Loans are designed to bridge the gap between product development and commercialisation. The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) supported by Innovate UK Loans Ltd (Innovate UK) are working together to offer Defence Innovation Loans. This service provides an opportunity for single small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with solutions to Defence themed problems to apply for a Defence Innovation Loan of between £100,000 and £1 million with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum. This loan can be used to cover up to 100% of eligible project costs to aid the commercialisation of the solution. Defence Innovation Loans were first introduced in June 2021 as a mechanism to help smaller organisations “build the business behind the innovation”. Since then, 8 companies have successfully secured a total of £6 million. Nearly all of these companies have gone on to secure further private investment worth a total of £16.9 million, creating 54 new jobs in defence innovation across the UK. Defence Innovation Loans run in cycles throughout the year; the current cycle (Defence Innovation Loans FY24/25 Cycle 3) is open from 29 October 2024 to 10 December 2024. Future cycle dates, and more information on how to apply can be found here.
Defence Technology Exploitation Programme (DTEP)
Small and medium-size UK enterprises (SMEs) are receiving funding from the Defence Technology Exploitation Programme (DTEP), which aims to improve the competitiveness of the UK defence supply chain by fostering collaboration between small tech companies and sponsoring ‘higher tier’ suppliers that already have experience of working with defence. The sponsoring higher-tier partner contributes time, effort, and resources to the SME projects. The programme allows the larger partner companies to benefit from early access to innovative technologies, materials, or processes from the partner SMEs that they can also help commercialise. DTEP is sponsored by the MOD’s Directorate of Industrial Strategy and Exports (DISE) and delivered through the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), Innovate UK, and ADS. DTEP offers grant funding of up to 50 per cent of total project expenditure for projects up to 18 months in duration – up to a £500,000 grant for a project up to £1 million. Applications to DTEP can be made by UK-based SMEs looking to form a collaboration with a UK-based higher-tier supplier to help integrate and take the novel solution to market. The key areas of interest for proposals are set out in detail on the DTEP portal and are aligned with the Defence Capability Framework. While DTEP is currently paused for new applications please check this link for future updates.
DIY Housebuilders Scheme
The DIY Self-Build Scheme ensures that private self-builders are put in a similar VAT position as individuals who benefit from VAT zero rating when buying properties from commercial developers. The scheme allows self-builders to reclaim VAT on eligible building materials and some related services. It allows self-builders to reclaim VAT on eligible building materials and some related services when constructing or converting for domestic, non-profit, or charitable use.
Heat Training Grant
The £5 million Heat Training Grant was launched in July 2023. If you're a heating engineer, you could receive a discount of up to £500 towards the cost of heat pump training, plus support and advice when installing a heat pump for the first time. Since July 2023, the Grant has funded 1,443 courses relevant to heat pumps and heat networks. The grant is expected to support 10,000 training opportunities by April 2025.
Export Opportunities
The UK’s 5.4 million SMEs are at the centre of our ambition to reach £1 trillion in exports annually by 2030. Our Export Strategy, ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ focuses on the barriers SMEs face, helping them at every stage of exporting. In all Free Trade Agreements, the Government seeks a dedicated SME chapter and SME-friendly provisions throughout. The comprehensive offer features step-by-step guides on the great.gov.uk portal, opportunities to learn through one-to-one support from the Export Support Service with on-the-ground experts across the globe, a network of International Trade Advisers, and the Export Academy, a free training programme for SMEs and their staff, designed to give businesses the confidence to sell overseas. UK Export Finance also supports SMEs, which make up 84% of the companies supported directly with a UKEF product in 2022-23 They provide government-backed finance, insurance, and guarantees to help businesses of all sizes export and sell internationally. Launched in October 2021, the Export Digital Enquiry Service is the first point of contact for businesses seeking to trade internationally. You can also report any new trade barriers you may be facing or an issue with an existing trade barrier.
Government Procurement Opportunities
Small businesses will benefit from one of the largest shake ups to procurement regulations in UK history. Brexit has allowed us to undertake one of the largest shake-ups to procurement rules in this country’s history. The Procurement Act 2023 will streamline the public sector procurement process, making it simpler, more flexible, and more effective for companies. The Act will open public procurement to new entrants such as small businesses and social enterprises so that they can compete for and win more public contracts. Our new procurement regime means a simpler, more effective system, helping SMEs secure a greater share of approximately £300bn of expenditure every year. The Public Research Innovation and Market Accelerator Programme (PRIMA) is available for up to 15 public sector project leads to determine whether there is a market for their Knowledge Assets. The programme will span 8 weeks and give participants expert support, funding and guidance to support their innovations created within the public sector. Participants will work collaboratively and meet other likeminded individuals from across the public sector in-person to learn from one another’s experiences.
Made Smarter
We are investing £147 million through the Made Smarter Innovation programme to help forward-thinking UK manufacturers create new, green products and processes, slash carbon emissions, drive up productivity and create thousands of highly skilled new jobs across the country. In order for SME leaders to acquire the vital skills and opportunities they need to increase productivity and grow their businesses, the Government is expanding the Made Smarter Adoption, programme helping more manufacturing SMEs use advanced digital technologies.
Industrial Energy Transformation Fund
The £289 million Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) is designed to help businesses with high energy use to cut their energy bills and carbon emissions through investing in energy efficiency and low carbon technologies. The IETF launched in 2020, and is in 3 phases with £500 million of funding available up until 2028.The Spring 2024 competition opened to applications on Monday 29 January and closes on 19 April 2024. There will be a second competition window later in 2024. Phase 3 will provide up to £185 million in funding between 2024 and 2028.
Innovative UK
Innovate UK (IUK) offers extensive support services and funding opportunities for businesses of all sizes, including micro and SMEs. In 22/23, it supported 3,000 SMEs with grants, a 47% increase from 2020. UK registered businesses can apply for loans for innovative projects with strong commercial potential to significantly improve the UK economy.
Barclays Eagle Labs
Through a £12 million Government grant, Barclays Eagle Labs is boosting the growth of UK tech start-ups and scaleups for the next two years. Tap into an ecosystem connecting you to business growth experts through dedicated programmes and mentoring.
HMRC Support
HMRC is committed to helping all taxpayers pay their taxes and urges anyone having difficulty to make contact as soon as possible, to discuss the payment options that are available. If you’re finding it difficult to make a tax payment, you should ask HMRC about affordable monthly payment options, called a 'Time to Pay' arrangement. This allows people experiencing temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts in affordable, sustainable, and tailored instalments with no maximum repayment period.
The online deadline to file a tax return for the 2023 to 2024 tax year and pay any tax owed is 31 January 2025. Anyone who is unable to pay their tax bill in full, owes less than £30,000 and is eligible, can quickly and easily apply online without the need to contact HMRC directly. Those that owe more than £30,000 are still able to apply but would need to contact HMRC.
HMRC will look at what you can afford to pay and then use that to work out how much time you need to pay. These arrangements can be applied to any tax debt including all outstanding amounts overdue, such as penalties and interest. The arrangement is designed to be flexible and is not a fixed, formal contract. It can be amended over time, so it can be shortened if your earnings rise or if you receive a cash windfall (for example, an inheritance). It can also be lengthened if your essential expenses increase, or your income reduces. Over 90% of arrangements are completed successfully.
HMRC has also announced that it will rewrite guidance around the tax deductibility of training costs for sole traders and the self-employed, to provide more clarity to business on what costs are deductible. This will ensure that individuals can be confident that updating existing skills, or maintaining pace with technological advances or changes in industry practices, are allowable costs for tax purposes.
Small Business Commissioner
The Small Business Commissioner may be able to help you resolve disputes around unfair payment practices and provides advice, including on how to take action if a payment is overdue. It addresses complaints by small business suppliers about payment related issues with larger businesses. FSB research shows that every quarter in 2022, 52% of SMEs small firms in the UK suffer from late payments, meaning roughly 2.8 million small firms face this issue, with the Federation of Small Businesses describing it as one of the biggest problems facing SMEs. According to the Smart Data Foundry, it is costing SMEs £22,000 a year on average and according to FSB research, leads to 50,000 business closures a year. A new Fair Payment Code has been announced replacing the old Prompt Payment Code, and will be open to signatories this autumn. Businesses will need to prove they have met good payment standards before being awarded official code status. This will be designed to push businesses to pay faster more often, to be awarded either gold, silver or bronze status. The Code will also shine a light on those responsible businesses doing the right thing by their suppliers and small firms. The Commissioner also provides general advice and information to assist small business in their supply relationships with larger business, including advice or information that will help them to resolve and avoid disputes. Since December 2017, the Office of the Small Business Commissioner has recovered over £8 million owed to small businesses.
Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies
The Regulator is looking at showcasing the different scales of CIC’s – from small local businesses to multi-million-pound organisations and the variety & diversity of CIC activities in benefiting their community. This could include unusual CIC’s that have been quite successful that wouldn’t be perceived as CIC’s within the public eye. The Regulator is aiming to cover a broad range of beneficial activities across a wide geographical area, looking for an article of approximately 350 to 400 words. You may wish to include your experiences of being a CIC, particularly during the last year, and how the CIC model fits in with your business plan; positive achievements, significant funding, awards or anything else you feel would be of interest. We would also be grateful for high-resolution images showing the activities your CIC carries out, with your written permission to use them. If you are interested, please contact [email protected]
Apprenticeships
Over 70 per cent of careers are now accessible via an apprenticeship. Between 2010 and 2023, 7,190 new apprenticeships have been created in the Ludlow constituency (390 in 2022-23) and over 5.7 million apprenticeships have been created across England, with the number of people starting an apprenticeship up 18 per cent since then. The Government is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25. This will support apprenticeships across all employers, including SMEs where we continue to pay at least 95% of training costs.
We have removed the limit of funding 10 apprentices a year in SMEs and made it easier to register to take on an apprentice. On 18th March 2024, we announced a new £60 million fund to enable small businesses to hire up to 20,000 new apprentices - including paying the full cost of training for anyone up to the age of 21 from 1st April. Businesses can use the Apprenticeship Service to find out about funding to pay for apprenticeships.
From the start of April, the Government will also increase the amount of funding that employers who are paying the apprenticeship levy can pass onto other businesses. Large employers who pay the apprenticeship levy will be able to transfer up to 50% of their funds to support other businesses, including smaller firms, to take on apprentices. This will help SMEs hire more apprentices by reducing costs and enabling more employers to get the skilled workers they need while unlocking more opportunities for young people in a huge range of sectors, industries, and professions. As of December 2023, 530 employers including ASDA, HomeServe and BT Group have pledged to transfer over £35.39 million to support apprenticeships in businesses of all sizes since September 2021.
In September 2024, the government announced a new growth and skills levy which will replace the existing apprenticeship levy and include new foundation apprenticeships. The new levy will also allow funding for shorter apprenticeships, giving learners and employers greater flexibility over their training than under the existing system – where apprenticeships must run for at least 12 months. The training eligible for funding under the new levy will develop over time, informed by Skills England’s assessment of priority skills needs.
It All Starts with Skills
The Government’s flagship Skills for Life campaign, ‘It all starts with skills', launched on 4th January 2024. It invites young people, adults, and businesses to make the most of their potential by engaging in the range of government skills and technical education offers that are available. The Government has created a new digital front door through which can be used to access information about skills, training options, and careers. The campaign is built on the idea that skills can help everybody and every business to realise their full potential, but unless you seize the moment and do something about it now, that potential may never be realised.
Disability Confident Scheme
The Government has already succeeded in meeting its target of getting one million more disabled people into employment by 2027 – reaching the milestone five years ahead of schedule. We are supporting employers via Disability Confident to increase their understanding of how to recruit, retain, and support disabled employees and those with long term health conditions - ultimately closing the disability employment gap. The scheme provides employers with the skills and knowledge to remove barriers that might be preventing disabled people, neuro-divergent people, and those with long term health conditions from accessing employment and allows them opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. As of 31 January 2024, there were over 19,000 members of the Disability Confident scheme across the UK with an estimated 11.5 million paid employees working in their organisations. To gain Disability Confident status, members must commit to changing behaviour and cultures in their own businesses, networks, and communities, and taking the lead on inclusive recruitment practices. On 9th April 2024, the Government published a new Disability Confident guide for managers get the most from the scheme.
Brexit Pubs Guarantee
More than 38,000 pubs are benefitting from six-month freeze to alcohol duty until 1 August 2024. Under the Guarantee, the duty on a draught pint will always be lower than its equivalent in a supermarket. And the new alcohol duty system implemented in August of this year included a new Draught Relief that provides a significant duty discount on beers below 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) sold in containers of 20 litres or more in the on-trade. At the Budget on 30th October, the Chancellor cut alcohol duty on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year and is equivalent to a 1p duty reduction on a typical pint. This reduction increased the relief available on draught products to 13.9%.
Workplace Charging Scheme
The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) offers businesses, charities and the wider public sector grants of up to £350 per socket for the costs of the purchase, installation, and infrastructure up to 40 charging sockets for their employees and fleets. As of 1 July 2023, 46,172 workplace installations have benefited from this scheme.
Business Support Helpline
The Government also provides a range of other support and guidance to help small and medium-sized enterprises grow. Contact the Business Support Helpline for general advice and support and speak to someone over the phone or online. This Government-funded helpline provides free advice and support for all businesses in England – including start-ups.
Find a Grant
Interested parties may find it helpful to access the developing ‘Find a Grant’ website, where more grants are being added all the time. Over £7.5 billion of grant awards have been advertised through it with over 200,000 users signed up to it. You can also visit the 'Help to Grow' campaign website - a digital one-stop shop to help businesses find the support they need.
