Budget announcements

27/10/21

The Government has announced a number of measures within today's budget. Selected announcements are quoted below but you can read the fiull papers at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-and-spending-review-2021-documents 

 

Education

  • a total investment of £554 million by 2024-25 to substantially increase retraining and upskilling opportunities for adults. This provides a 29% real terms uplift in adult skills funding compared to 2019-20 and meets the government’s commitment to a National Skills Fund. This includes giving more adults access to courses at Level 3 in in-demand areas such as engineering and digital skills, scales up Skills Bootcamps, supports reforms to the adult skills funding system, and invests in the skills local employers need.

  • increasing apprenticeships funding to £2.7 billion by 2024-25. Building on the measures announced at the 2020 Spending Review and Budget 2021, the 2021 Spending Review will also make further improvements to the apprenticeship system for employers. The Government aims to improve the apprenticeship system through:

    • an enhanced recruitment service by May 2022 for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), helping them hire new apprentices

    • supporting flexible apprenticeship training models to ensure that apprenticeship training continues to meet the needs of employers. By April 2022, the government will consider changes to the provider payment profiles aimed at giving employers more choice over how the apprenticeship training is delivered, and explore the streamlining of existing additional employer support payments so that they go directly to employers

    • introducing a return on investment tool in October 2022 to ensure employers can see the benefits apprentices create in their business

       

    • £2.6 billion over the 2021 Spending Review period for school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities, more than tripling current capital funding levels to over £900 million by 2024-25.

     

    Work and Pensions

    The work allowance on Universal Credit will rise by £500 and the income taper will be reduced from 63% to 55%.

    • continuing the Restart scheme to provide up to 12 months of intensive and tailored support to long-term unemployed people, with providers incentivised to help as many people as possible into work

    • funding approximately £10 million a year in the Sector-Based Work Academy Programme to continue supporting jobseekers who want to change sectors

    • funding to extend the Kickstart scheme to March 2022, which has supported nearly 95,000 young people to date, and investing over £60 million over the next three years in the Youth Offer, which helps young jobseekers gain new skills, build their confidence and find lasting work

    • over £20 million over the next three years for a new, enhanced offer for claimants aged 50 and over to ensure they receive the support they need to return to, or remain in work and benefit from fuller working lives

    • a further £90 million to extend the Job Entry Targeted Support programme for another year, continuing to provide support for those unemployed for over three months

    • £99 million over the next three years to expand work coach support in UC to help people progress once in work

    • £339 million per year for the continued funding of existing disability employment programmes such as the Access to Work scheme and the Work and Health programme

    • an additional £156 million over the SR21 period to provide job finding support for disabled people, with a focus on additional work coaches.

     

    The government has also accepted the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations for the NMW rates to apply from April 2022 including:

    • increasing the National Living Wage for individuals aged 23 and over by 6.6% from £8.91 to £9.50 per hour
    • increasing the rate for 21 to 22 year olds by 9.8% from £8.36 to £9.18 per hour
    • increasing the rate for 18 to 20 year olds by 4.1% from £6.56 to £6.83 per hour
    • increasing the rate for 16 to 17 year olds by 4.1% from £4.62 to £4.81 per hour
    • increasing the rate for apprentices by 11.9% from £4.30 to £4.81 per hour

     

    Levelling up, Housing and Communities

    • over £2.6 billion for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to help people access new opportunities across the UK. Supporting local priorities, the UKSPF will include a new initiative (‘Multiply’) to help hundreds of thousands of adults across the UK improve their numeracy skills

Topics: 
Policy