Support for Norwich North families in the Spring Statement

In the Spring Statement, the Chancellor announced his new Tax Plan to reduce and reform taxes to support Norwich families.

The best way to help families with the cost of living is to help people into good jobs. Somebody moving from welfare to full-time work on the National Living Wage is over £6,000 better off after the announcements in the Spring Budget today. The Kickstart scheme has fully funded over 152,000 jobs for young people at risk of long-term unemployment.

Restart will help 1.4 million long-term unemployed people. The Government has doubled the number of work coaches to 27,000, providing personalised, intensive support for jobseekers as well as increasing skills spending by £3.8 billion over this Parliament (26 per cent on real terms) to help people get the jobs they want.  

The UK lags international peers in adult technical skills – just 18 per cent of 25-64-yearolds hold vocational qualifications, a third lower than the OECD average. And employers spend just half the European average on training their employees. So, the Chancellor has announced that the Government will examine whether the current tax system (including the operation of the Apprenticeship Levy) is doing enough to incentivise employers to invest in the right kinds of training.

The current VAT relief for families installing energy saving materials like solar panels, heat pumps or insulation used to be more generous. But the European Court of Justice in 2019 forced us to add complex red tape which limited eligibility, removed certain items from qualifying, and restricts VAT relief to 5 per cent. Now we have left the EU, the Government are using our Brexit freedoms to remove this 5 per cent VAT charge over the next five years, reverse the EU’s decision to take wind and water turbines out of scope, and remove all the complex EU-imposed red tape. This adds up to a £250 million tax cut for energy efficiency.

A typical family in Norwich installing roof top solar panels will save £1,000 on installation, and then £300 annually on their energy bills.

The Help to Grow: Management scheme offers businesses generous government-subsidised mini-MBAs worth up to £8,000 and Help to Grow: Digital offers businesses 50 per cent discounts on purchasing new software worth up to £5,000. Taken together, this is significant cash support for SMEs in Norwich.  

I hope you find this information helpful. The Government is committed to jobs and families, and so am I for us in Norwich. If I can help constituents with any matter, please do email me on chloe@chloesmith.org.uk or ring my constituency office on 01603 414756.