Temporary VAT cuts From 15 July 2020 to 12 January 2021, the reduced rate of VAT will apply to: • supplies of food and non-alcoholic drinks from restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés and similar premises across the UK • supplies of accommodation and admission to attractions across the UK. Comment The reduced rate is 5%. The reduced rate currently applies to a restricted range of goods and services such as electricity and gas for domestic and residential use. The rate reduction is rather more than some commentators were predicting. Further guidance on the scope of these reliefs will be published by HMRC in the coming days.
Direct Air Capture - new Research and Development funding of £100 million will be available for new clean technology looking to capture CO 2 from the air. Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund - a scheme to help landlords improve the least energy efficient homes will be established with a project starting with £50 million for decarbonising social housing in 2020/21. Construction Talent Retention Scheme - to help retain skills within the construction sector, the Construction Talent Retention Scheme will support the redeployment of workers at risk of redundancy, matching workers to opportunities across the UK. Short termHome Building Fund extension - an injection of £450 million development finance is to be made available to small and medium sized housebuilders to support the building of around 7,200 new homes in England. A part of the fund will be reserved for firms using innovative approaches to housebuilding. Planning reform - new legislation will be introduced in Summer 2020 to make it easier for buildings to be converted to different uses, including housing, without the need for planning permission. Essential Maintenance of the School and Further Education (FE) Estate - additional funds and the bringing forward of already committed funds to carry out urgent and essential maintenance and improve the condition of the School and FE estate. Prison, Probation and Court Service investment - funds have been made available to maintain and improve the prison and court estates and to fast-track the digitalisation of courts and prisons in England andWales. Protecting jobs The focus of the Chancellor’s statement for job protection was on the hospitality and tourism sectors. He emphasised that: • these sectors are amongst the highest employing sectors across the UK • although firms have received support, the nature of their businesses means that as a result of lockdown many of these businesses still face great challenges • workers in the hospitality sector are disproportionately young, with fewer qualifications and are more likely to be unemployed for a long time if they lose their jobs. Such workers are also likely to be female or from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. In the next step towards recovery, the government considers the best way to secure jobs in these sectors is to support demand for these businesses. Measures will therefore be introduced to encourage people to return to their normal habits and make the most of the reopening of businesses within these sectors. The following measures will be introduced.
Eat Out to Help Out In order to support around 130,000 businesses and to help protect the jobs of their 1.8 million employees, the government will introduce the Eat Out to Help Out scheme to encourage people to return to eating out. This will entitle every diner to a 50% discount of up to £10 per head on their meal, at any participating restaurant, café, pub or other eligible food service establishment. The discount can be used unlimited times and will be valid Monday toWednesday on any eat-in meal (including on non-alcoholic drinks) for the month of August 2020 across the UK. Participating establishments will be fully reimbursed for the 50% discount. Pre-announced measures The second phases of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-employment Income Support Scheme will continue to provide support to businesses and employees. Business owners need to claim for these schemes and we summarise the main points here. Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) Phase 2 The CJRS was released in the first wave of the package of measures designed to help protect jobs and prevent redundancies at the start of the pandemic. Phase 1 of the scheme ran from 1 March to 30 June 2020 with employers having until 31 July 2020 to make the claims for the period to 30 June 2020. On 1 July 2020 phase 2 commenced. Under the Flexible Furlough Scheme, for claim periods starting after 1 July 2020 employers can bring furloughed employees back to work for any amount of time or on any shift pattern, while still being able to claim the government grant to cover the cost for the hours not worked. From 1 July 2020, only employees previously furloughed are eligible under the revised flexible scheme and the rules change slightly each month until the scheme closes on 31 October 2020, making it no longer possible for claim periods to overlap calendar months. Claims can only be made for a period of at least seven days, except where the period includes the first or
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