James Daly MP for Bury North welcomes the Prime Minister’s major package of reforms to create up to 20,000 more apprenticeship places, cut red tape or thousands of small businesses and make the UK the best place in the world to be a female founder as the government stick to their plan to grow the economy and deliver a brighter future for everyone.
Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said:
Growing up in my mum’s pharmacy, I know first-hand how important small businesses are. Not just for the economy, but as a driver for innovation and aspiration, and as the key to building a society where hard work is always recognised and rewarded.
Whether it’s breaking down barriers and red tape for small businesses, helping businesses hire more young people through apprenticeships and skilled jobs or empowering women to start up their own businesses – this government is sticking to the plan and leaving no stone unturned to make the UK the best place to do business.
Taken together, these measures will unlock a tidal wave of opportunity and make a real difference to businesses and entrepreneurs across the country.
The government will fully fund apprenticeships in small businesses from 1st April by paying the full cost of training for anyone up to the age of 21. This £60 million investment will reduce the costs and burdens for businesses and deliver more opportunities for young people to kick start their careers.
This will remove the need for small employers to meet the cost of training and save time and costs for providers like further education colleges who currently need to source funding separately from the government and business.
The new measures also mean that large employers who pay the apprenticeship levy will be able to transfer up to 50% their funds to support other businesses, including smaller firms, to take on apprenticeships. This is up from 25%.
James Daly, MP for Bury North said:
We are lucky to have a lot of hard-working young people in Bury North, this apprenticeship reform will allow many of them to get the step up they need to start their careers.
Apprenticeships are a great way for both businesses and people new to the industry to learn the skills they need, and these new measures will help more businesses and young people benefit from them.
This government has built a world-leading apprenticeship system from the ground up - with apprenticeships now available in around 70% of all occupations. This gives our young people fantastic opportunities to kick start their careers.
The Prime Minister is also expected to announce deregulatory measures to simplify both non-financial and financial reporting for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which is expected to save thousands of businesses across the UK around £150 million and 1 million hours per year.
There will also be a 50% uplift on the outdated thresholds that determined a company’s size, set by the EU. This is due to our Brexit freedoms that mean we can raise the thresholds to ensure they’re more proportionate and better reflect the needs of British businesses. It has also allowed us to go further than the EU, who raised the thresholds by only 25%.
Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch said:
Whether it’s cutting through red tape, unlocking investment or lowering business costs, today’s announcements show that this government is committed to doing all it can to turbo-charge SMEs so that they can go further and faster than ever before
There is also expected to be an announcement of a new industry led Invest in Women Taskforce to unlock private investment in female business leaders and make the UK the best place in the world to be a female founder.
For too long, innovative, women-led start-ups have been held back due to a lack of finance and the proportion of equity capital investment going to all-female founder teams has been stuck at around 2% in the UK for the past decade.
The core aim of the Taskforce is to raise a bespoke funding pot for female-founded businesses through private capital and address wider challenges that female entrepreneurs specifically face to help unlock their potential to establish and grow their careers.
The Taskforce will be industry led and co-chaired by entrepreneur Debbie Wosskos, Barclay’s Hannah Bernard, with Small Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake, representing the government.
Debbie Wosskow OBE, co-chair of the Invest in Women taskforce and multi exit entrepreneur said:
Women leading businesses shouldn’t have to face funding challenges to build and grow their business, because of their gender.
As an experienced entrepreneur, who founded her first business 25 years ago, I know first-hand the importance of breaking down barriers and making meaningful change for female led businesses.
By putting funding front and centre of this Taskforce, we aim to make the UK the best place in the world to be a female founder.
This government has a strong record on backing businesses and driving entrepreneurship – including by cutting taxes to ensure our business rates remain internationally competitive. We will increase the VAT registration threshold to £90,000 from 1st April 2024 which will take around 28,000 small businesses out of paying VAT altogether.
We are also cutting tax for two million of the self-employed who make up the vast majority of small business owners and leaders by cutting the main rate of Class 4 NICs from nine to six percent in April. This is a tax cut of £650 for an average self-employed person on £28,000.
On top of this, SMEs will be supported to invest and grow through a £200 million extension of the Growth Guarantee Fund, helping 11,000 small businesses to access the finance they need.
