Business News Round Up (26/10/2021)
Sunak promises £150 million budget boost for Scottish small businesses
The Chancellor is expected to announce a £150m fund to help thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Scotland at this week’s budget. The fund will be delivered through the British Business Bank, working with local partners, to help Scottish SMEs to invest and grow. Similar funds in England and Northern Ireland typically provide loans or invest in local companies – this can be recent start-ups looking to borrow smaller amounts to kickstart activity, or established SMEs looking for larger investments to grow their business. Details on how businesses in Scotland can access the fund will be outlined in due course. Since the start of the pandemic, the UK Government claims to have spent £352bn across the UK on support measures. In Scotland this included protecting more than 900,000 jobs through the furlough scheme, £294m in self-employment support, help for businesses and the procurement of vaccines. In addition to the £150m for Scotland, Wales will get a £130m for a new fund and the British Business Bank will receive an additional £70m to build on existing programmes in Northern Ireland.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/sunak-promises-150-million-budget-25294850
Tech must be core to a high-wage UK economy, says TechUK
An economy with high wages, productivity and innovation must prioritise tech-led growth in the upcoming UK Budget and Spending Review, according to trade association TechUK. The organisation outlined its vision for what chancellor Rishi Sunak should have in mind to realise the government’s vision for the post-Brexit economy. It noted that tech jobs account for 10% of total jobs in the UK and cited the government’s own estimates that the current workforce could be bolstered with another 678,000 tech jobs by 2025. Tech UK also noted that digitisation has significantly boosted the productivity of professions in areas such as HR, marketing and legal. Average yearly income within those areas is £62,500, which is significantly higher than the UK average, according to the association. “The prime minister has outlined a vision of a new post-Brexit economic model for the UK, driven by high wages and high productivity,” said Julian David, chief executive at TechUK. “However, we will not be able to achieve that unless businesses, especially SMEs, can leverage the UK’s tech sector to adopt productivity boosting technologies and give staff the skills to use them.”
Flex office demand in Manchester continues to surge
The launch of Hana within Baring’s Landmark comes at a period of high activity within Manchester’s flexible workspace sphere with occupiers taking space and new operators eyeing a way into the market. Hana, previously owned by CBRE but now under the stewardship of Industrious, took 32,000 sq ft at Landmark at the start of the year. More than 40% of that space is earmarked for HSBC, which is due to move in before the new year. For Barings, the decision to enter into a management agreement with Hana was about offering flexibility to potential occupiers and meeting a broad range of requirements. “We’re not going to grant five-year leases at Landmark,” said Ian Mayhew, managing director of real estate asset management at Barings.
Plan B Covid restrictions would cost UK economy up to £18bn, says leaked report
The economy will take a hit of up to £18bn if Boris Johnson implements his Plan B Covid restrictions over winter, according to a leaked government report.The Cabinet Office estimates the restrictions – which would see the government tell people to work from home and implement mandatory face masks and vaccine passports – would likely be in place until March 2022 and cost the economy between £11bn and £18bn. The bulk of this cost would come from people being told to work from home again, which would see footfall plummet in central business districts across the country. The report, leaked to Politico today, indicates that it is unknown how effective implementing these winter restrictions would be in curbing Covid case numbers. Working from home and vaccine passports would have a “moderate impact”, according to the report.