Day: March 31, 2023

A new campaign to help businesses, charities and public sector bodies increase their energy efficiency and drive down bills by making simple changes at low-to-no cost has been launched by the UK government today.

The campaign, targeted at small and medium sized businesses, will offer guidance on how organisations can make significant savings while cutting emissions, from installing light and heating timers, to turning down boiler flow temperature and changing light bulbs.

Many organisations are already aware of ways to boost their energy efficiency and have put these measures into practice. However, a substantial number of businesses are missing out on huge potential savings, due to a lack of information on how to cut down on their energy costs.

For many companies, a 20% cut in energy costs represents the same bottom-line benefit as a 5% increase in sales. A new website will help organisations access simple, low-to-no cost advice, outlining a range of possible actions, from having better sight of current energy use to upgrading and modifying equipment.

Examples of businesses already benefiting from energy efficiency measures:

• LED lighting allowed a carpark in Bedford to cut their average annual lighting costs by 50%. Lurke Street Multistorey Carpark installed lighting throughout their premises in 2017, replacing older, less energy efficient lighting. By installing a smart meter they were able to actively track and compare year-on-year savings – on average £50,000 per year – allowing them to build business cases for further investments.
• Marlec Engineering, a wind turbine manufacturer in Corby, switched to energy saving lighting as part of a range of measures to make their business premises more energy efficient. The company replaced T8 Fluorescent lamps with new, energy saving LED tubes. The lighting did not reduce light levels in the office and achieved a 60% saving on lighting costs.

To make sure as many businesses as possible know about the campaign, it will be promoted through partnerships with the British Chambers of Commerce and Federation of Small Business and paid advertorial across TV, radio, social media and more.

It follows the launch of the government’s £18 million ‘It All Adds Up’ campaign last year. This provides similar advice for households, saving them hundreds on their energy bills, and saw UK sales of ‘draught protection products’ on eBay double shortly after the launch.

Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance Lord Callanan said:

Falling wholesale energy prices are welcome news, but this in no way changes our firm, long-term commitments to vastly boost UK energy efficiency across industry and households.

From today businesses, charities and public sector bodies can access helpful and practical advice on simple actions they can take to substantially reduce their energy use – and potentially increase profits.

Not only will this help lower operational costs by up to hundreds of thousands of pounds, but smarter energy use will help us deliver on our critical pledges to cut demand by 15% and reach net zero by 2050.

The new site also offers guidance on taking full advantage of the government’s range of energy support schemes available, such as the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme, which offers a unit discount on bills, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers grants to help make installing heat pumps and biomass boilers as cheap as a gas boiler.

Adrian Dennis, Managing Director of Marlec Engineering, said:

Our business works with an absolute focus on sustainable energy solutions. We’ve invested in electric company cars and eco-friendly packaging. But upgrading to LED lighting is low-cost, and one of the simplest ways to promote sustainability in-house and save money on utility bills. We’d encourage other businesses to upgrade as well.

Energy Bills Discount Scheme

From today organisations across the country will start receiving money off their energy bills through the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme. It comes as wholesale gas prices are at levels not seen since before Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, with eligible UK businesses, charities, public sector bodies and others to receive the discount until 31 March 2024.

Customers do not need to apply for the universal discount, with suppliers automatically factoring it into the bills of all eligible non-domestic customers.

The new scheme replaces the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which by late March had paid out £5.6 billion – around £35 million a day to cut energy costs for businesses.

Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability Amanda Solloway said:

This government will always be unapologetically pro-business. We’ve spent over £5 billion to protect against disruption to UK industry at the hands of Putin, saving many businesses around half on their wholesale energy costs this winter.

The new level of support offered today reflects a substantial drop in global energy prices – now at their lowest level since before Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

We will continue to firmly back UK industry and are making sure those unable to cut back on their energy use continue to be shielded.

Dhara Vyas, Deputy CEO at Energy UK, said:

Despite recent falls, wholesale gas prices are still high by historical standards, making this is a difficult time for businesses up and down the country. Energy suppliers are working with businesses to come up with innovative solutions that will help customers afford their bills while providing improved customer service and information. But high prices cannot be solved by industry alone, so we’re pleased government and industry have worked together to ensure delivery of this critical, extended support is on time. We particularly welcome the launch of a business energy campaign will help reduce bills now and protect against future crises.

Meanwhile, eligible energy and trade intensive industries will be able to apply for a higher level of support through a GOV.UK portal later this month. This is expected to save some businesses 20% of predicted wholesale energy costs.

Domestic heat networks will also receive a new, sector-specific support rate. This will make sure these customers do not face disproportionately higher energy bills under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme than those supported by the Energy Price Guarantee.

The discount is expected to be reflected in bills from May onwards, with support backdated to 1 April.

Minister Solloway met with Ofgem, energy suppliers and others earlier this week to discuss what more suppliers can do to help business customers fixed into long-term contracts at high prices – especially those in sectors currently facing challenges.

Non-Standard Cases

The government is today announcing further that non-domestic energy support will be extended and eligibility expanded to include customers receiving energy from non-licensed suppliers through the public electricity or gas grid.

These customers will be able to apply for Non-Standard Cases support under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme covering similar levels of energy costs from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

Non-Standard Cases support will also be expanded to include non-domestic customers who receive electricity or gas from license-exempt suppliers via private wire or pipe and where prices paid are pegged to wholesale energy prices. This wider group can apply for backdated support under the Energy Bill Relief Scheme as well as under the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme.

Further information about how eligible customers can apply will be provided on GOV.UK in due course.

Notes to editors:

Business Energy Efficiency campaign

Advice offered on the new government website will be continuously updated with sector-specific guidance, successful case studies and any new, relevant schemes. Key actions advised include:

• Undertaking an energy review
• Installing SMART meters
• Reviewing tariffs
• Installing light timers and changing lightbulbs
• Timing heating and turning down boiler flow temperature

Energy Bills Discount Scheme

From today, all eligible non-domestic customers who have a contract with a licensed energy supplier will see a unit discount of up to £6.97/MWh applied to their gas bill and a unit discount of up to £19.61/MWh applied to their electricity bill.

This will be subject to a wholesale price threshold – £107/MWh for gas and £302/MWh for electricity. This means that businesses experiencing wholesale energy costs below this level will not receive support.

These businesses will receive a discount reflecting the difference between a price threshold and the relevant wholesale price. Some Energy and Trade Intensive Industries will receive a higher level of support. The price threshold for this element of the scheme will be £99/MWh for gas and £185/MWh for electricity. This discount will only apply to 70% of energy consumption and will be subject to a ‘maximum discount’ of £40.0/MWh for gas and £89.1/MWh for electricity.

The Energy Bill Discount Scheme will be delivered through regulations made under the Energy Prices Act 2022. The Regulations are expected to be made in late April 2023 and the scheme will not be finalised until they are made.

• Further information on the Energy Bills Discount Scheme can be found here.
• Further information on the Energy Price Guarantee can be found here.
• Further information on the EBRS for Non Standard Cases can be found here [add link]
• Further information on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme can be found here.
• Improving the energy efficiency of homes is the best long-term method of tackling fuel poverty, and that’s why the government has committed over £6.6 billion in this parliament, with a further £6 billion committed to 2028.
• The government last month announced the allocation of £1.8 billion to boost energy efficiency and cut emissions of homes and public buildings across England.

Energy Price Guarantee

Households will not feel the full force of Ofgem’s new Price Cap – at £3,280 from today –after the Government announced a three-month extension of the Energy Price Guarantee from April to the end of June – meaning the typical household bill will remain at the yearly equivalent of £2,500. The Guarantee protects customers from increases in energy costs by limiting the amount suppliers can charge per unit of energy.

The Guarantee is just one element of support offered by the government to household this winter, having stepped in to pay around half of the typical bill. Other support has included £400 payments towards bills through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. To date £5.5 billion has been paid out through the Energy Price Guarantee and £9.4 billion through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

• the new business tax year comes in today 1 April 2023, with a new regime to boost investment and spur UK growth
• £27 billion cut to corporation tax, via Chancellor’s new full expensing policy, expected to boost investment by 3% in each of the next three years
• other tax changes coming into force include more business rates relief, extension to the fuel duty cut and a £450 income tax cut for carers

The package, announced at Spring Budget, comprises 100% full expensing and a 50% first-year allowance. It will mean the UK has the most generous capital allowance regime in the OECD worth £27 billion over the next three years, amounting to an effective £9 billion a year tax cut for companies.

The OBR expects this regime to boost investment by 3% over three years.

To mark the milestone, Financial Secretary to the Treasury visited Brompton Bikes in Greenford, London, who’ll be using full expensing to stimulate their growth.

Victoria Atkins, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“We are determined to make the UK the best place in the world to do business, which is why from today businesses can start to benefit from the raft of tax cuts on offer to boost their growth.

“With full expensing, the more a company invests the less tax they’ll pay, and I encourage companies of any size to take full advantage of this world-leading reform.”

With the new 25% corporation tax rate coming in for the top 10% most profitable companies from today, and the super-deduction ending yesterday, the Chancellor used his Spring Budget to ensure that the UK’s tax system fosters the right conditions for enterprise, investment and growth.

Full expensing lets companies deduct 100% of the cost of certain plant and machinery investments from their profits before tax. It is available from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026. It provides the same generosity as the super-deduction, saving firms up to 25p in every £1 of qualifying investment and is for main rate assets – such as construction, warehousing and office equipment.

The 50% First-Year Allowance lets companies deduct 50% of the cost of other plant and machinery, known as special rate assets, from their profits during the year of purchase. This includes long life assets such as solar panels and lighting systems.

Minister Victoria Atkins visited Brompton Bikes in Greenford this week to see how these capital allowances will be used to help the firm invest and grow. The minister toured their factory, viewing a brand new state-of-the-art Autobraze machine and the production line. She also met a selection of 15 trainees currently on Brompton’s training programme.

Phill Elston, Operations Director at Brompton Bicycle, said:

“The announcement of a super deduction replacement is great news for us. In previous years it has meant we could invest significantly in our production capabilities, upgrading equipment and building a more progressive factory; which has seen us move from making circa. 45,000 bikes per year in 2019, to around 100,000 bikes per year in 2022.

“Our mission is to improve how people travel around cities, which in turn creates happier communities, and the new expensing scheme helps to accelerate that goal.”

Other tax measures taking effect today include new domestic and ultra-long Air Passenger Duty bands.

For passengers flying in economy class, the new domestic band will be set at £6.50, a 50% cut to bolster UK-wide connectivity, while the new ultra long-haul band will be set at £91, meaning those who fly the furthest will pay the greatest level of duty.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:

“Transport binds the United Kingdom together, and this cut to Air Passenger Duty will make travelling between our family of nations easier than ever.

“Boosting transport links between our four nations sustains jobs, creates opportunities and is an essential part of this Government’s plan to grow the economy.”

Further tax measures include:

• To help household budgets further, the planned 11 pence rise in fuel duty has been cancelled, maintaining last year’s 5p cut for another twelve months, saving a typical driver another £100 on top of the £100 saved so far since last year’s cut.
• More business rates relief, as part of the Chancellor’s £13.6 billion package from 2022’s Autumn Statement. This includes the freezing of the multiplier and the introduction of 75% relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, helping the high street to thrive and compete with online firms.
• Extending creative sector reliefs: theatres, orchestra and museums and galleries will benefit from a further 2 years of tax relief rates of 45%/50%. The museums and galleries exhibitions tax relief sunset clause will be extended for a further 2 years to allow these organisations to fully benefit from the extension of the highest rates.
• The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), an existing measure which also supports business investment, has been increased permanently to £1 million today. This covers the investment needs of 99% of UK businesses.
• Rebalancing the rates of Research and Development Expenditure Credit and the R&D SME scheme to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent as effectively as possible. As a result, today the UK now offers the joint-highest uncapped headline rate of R&D tax relief support in the G7 for large companies.
• The government also committed to considering the case for further support for R&D intensive SMEs, and at Spring Budget announced that from today there will be an increased permanent rate of relief for the most R&D intensive loss-making SMEs. To support modern methods of innovation, for accounting periods beginning on or after today, businesses will also be able to claim for the costs of datasets and cloud computing under the R&D tax reliefs.
• Expanding the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) to help more UK start-ups raise higher levels of finance. This package will help over 2,000 start-up companies access finance.
• Expanding the availability and generosity of the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) scheme which will widen access to CSOP for growth companies and simplifying the process to grant options under the Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) scheme.

On 6 April 2023 personal tax changes taking effect include removing tax-barriers that the medical community have made clear stop doctors working, delivering on the Prime Minister’s priority to cut NHS waiting lists so people can get the care they need more quickly. The pensions annual tax-free allowance will increase by 50% from £40,000 to £60,000, the Money Purchase Annual Allowance will rise from £4,000 to £10,000, and the Lifetime Allowance charge will be removed. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimate around 15,000 individuals will remain in the labour market because of the changes to the annual and lifetime allowances, many of whom will be highly skilled individuals, including senior doctors in the NHS.

Qualifying Carers Relief will be uprated with inflation from 6 April 2023 to representing a £450 per year income tax cut for carers. The uprating increases the amount of income tax relief from £10,000 to £18,140 plus £375-450 per week for each person cared for.

Further information

Major April tax changes:

Business tax:

• Business rates: freezing the multiplier for 2023-24
• Business rates: extended and increased 75% retail, hospitality and leisure relief for 2023-24
• Business rates: new transitional relief scheme
• Business rates: new supporting small business scheme
• Corporation Tax rate rise from 19% to 25%, and introduction of small profits rate at 19%
• End of the super-deduction on 31 March, and introduction of full expensing for three years from 1 April
• Extension of the 45% and 50% rates of cultural tax reliefs
• VAT threshold freeze continues
• Annual Investment Allowance at £1m level made permanent (already confirmed and in effect)
• R&D tax reliefs: The Research and Development Expenditure Credit rate will be increased and the R&D SME scheme rates will be reduced.
• R&D tax reliefs: Permanent higher payable credit rate for R&D intensive loss-making SMEs.
• R&D tax reliefs: Extending the scope of qualifying expenditures to include the costs of datasets and of cloud computing.
• Measures to reduce error and fraud in the R&D schemes.

Enterprise:

• From April 2023, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) will:
  • increase the amount of SEIS funding that companies can raise over their lifetime from £150,000 to £250,000;
  • increase the company gross asset limit from £200,000 to £350,000.
  • increase the company age limit from 2 to 3 years and;
  • increase the annual investor limit from £100,000 to £200,000.
• Company Share Option Plan (CSOP): the employee option limit has doubled from £30,000 to £60,000 and the ‘worth having’ condition, which limits which types of shares are eligible for inclusion within a CSOP scheme, has been removed.
• Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI): the process to grant options has been simplified by the removal of the requirement for a signed working time declaration and the removal of the requirement to set out share restrictions in an option agreement.

Personal tax:

• Personal tax threshold freezes continue
• 45p additional rate threshold reduction
• Cuts to AEA and dividend allowance
• Pensions tax: rise in the Money Purchase Annual Allowance, Annual Allowance and end of the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) charge (NB: LTA will be abolished from April 2024)

Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, said:

 “These changes will ensure doctors are not disincentivised from remaining in their roles in the NHS and taking on extra hours – meaning more will continue treating patients and helping to tackle the backlogs which will deliver one of our key priorities. 

 “This comes alongside our wider reforms to the NHS Pension Scheme which introduce new retirement flexibilities to support older staff meaning they can re-join the scheme and continue to build their pension, ensure the interaction between the pension tax system and inflation doesn’t impact their standard of living, and allow staff in primary care networks to access the Scheme.”

Upratings:

• Basic and new State Pensions will also be uprated by 10.1%, in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), in 2023/24 as the government delivers on the triple lock.
• Air Passenger Duty: uprated in line with forecast RPI / new domestic and ultra-long haul bands take effect.
• Aggregates levy: freeze
• VED: uprate for cars, cans and motorcycles, freeze for HGVs
• Qualifying Carers Relief: uprating to account for inflation
• Savings tax: freeze starting rate limit and ISA subscription limits
• Gaming Duty: freeze bands
• Tobacco duty: uprate by RPI+2% on all tobacco products, but increase by RPI + 6% for hand-rolling tobacco and the minimum excise tax will increase by RPI +3% this year
• Inflation-linked benefits and tax credits – e.g. Universal Credit – will also rise by 10.1% from April 2023, in line with the CPI.

• UK announces deal to join CPTPP – a major trade bloc in the Indo-Pacific which will have a total GDP of £11 trillion once the UK joins
• More than 800 businesses in Scotland exported to CPTPP countries in 2021 and could benefit after today’s announcement
• Joining the Trans-Pacific partnership, which contains some of the world’s fastest growing economies, gives Scottish companies, start-ups and farmers access to the world’s emerging middle class

The Scottish economy is expected to benefit after the UK Government today (31 March) announced the conclusion of trade talks with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a vast free trade area spanning the Indo-Pacific.

The bloc is home to over 500 million people and will have a total GDP of £11 trillion once the UK joins. Joining the bloc could boost the Scottish economy by improving businesses’ access to some of the world’s largest markets.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:

We are at our heart an open and free-trading nation, and this deal demonstrates the real economic benefits of our post-Brexit freedoms. As part of CPTPP, the UK is now in a prime position in the global economy to seize opportunities for new jobs, growth and innovation.

Joining the CPTPP trade bloc puts the UK at the centre of a dynamic and growing group of Pacific economies, as the first new nation and first European country to join. British businesses will now enjoy unparalleled access to markets from Europe to the south Pacific.

There are numerous opportunities for Scottish businesses to benefit from joining CPTPP, with more than 800 businesses in Scotland exporting £2.1 billion worth of goods to CPTPP countries in 2021.

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said:

This is an important moment for the UK. Our accession to CPTPP sends a powerful signal that the UK is open for business and using our post-Brexit freedoms to reach out to new markets around the world and grow our economy.

Joining CPTPP will support jobs and create opportunities for companies of all sizes and in all parts of the UK. It is also about giving Scottish businesses improved access to the countries that will be gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region which is projected to make up the majority of global growth in the future.

Joining the trade bloc will also mean more than 99 percent of UK goods exports to CPTPP will be eligible for zero tariffs. In the long run, it could boost the UK economy by £1.8 billion and lead to a £1.7 billion increase in UK exports to CPTPP countries as result of the reduction of barriers across goods and services according to the UK Government’s published scoping assessment.

UK Government minister for Scotland Malcolm Offord said:

Finalising this trade deal is great news for Scottish business – CPTPP countries already represent a large part of the Scottish export market. It lifts the red tape for items from whisky to textiles and produce, opening new markets and increasing the global appetite for Scottish goods and services.

Key Scottish exports such as whisky could also benefit from the removal of tariffs as a result of the agreement, with the UK having exported over £1.1bn worth of whisky to CPTPP countries in 2022 in current prices. Tariffs of around 80% will be eliminated on UK exports of whisky to Malaysia over 16 years, improving market access for Scottish exporters.

Anishka Jelicich, Director of Public Affairs at Pernod Ricard UK said:

CPTPP is a big opportunity for our Scotch whisky business. Five of our top 20 export markets are CPTPP members.

We expect tariff cuts and smoother access to some of the world’s fastest growing economies to increase exports and secure jobs and investment in the UK, with sales doubling in some markets.

Edinburgh-based Cyacomb provides digital forensics software to help law enforcement, social media and cloud companies find and block harmful content many times faster than before, doing in minutes what can currently take days. Cyacomb are currently growing their exports to CPTPP member Canada, and actively working on expanding into Australia and Singapore – and the UK joining the trading bloc will help these efforts.

Ian Stevenson, CEO of Cyacomb, said:

As a growing business offering disruptive technology, time spent navigating the complexities of international trade is time not spent on delivering value to customers or advancing our mission.

CPTPP will simplify doing business and remove economic barriers in working with our customers in Canada, and in other markets we’re working to enter including Australia and Singapore.

CessCon Decom are based in Livingston and have an office in Brunei, where they carry out full turnkey decommissioning, dismantlement, reuse and recycling of offshore oil & gas infrastructure.

This work now contributes a significant amount to their turnover, and the UK joining the CPTPP will help them further their work there once Brunei and the UK have both ratified CPTPP, in addition to opening up new markets.

Lee Hanlon, the CEO of CessCon Decom commented:

Accession to CPTPP will create further opportunities for CessCon that were not available as part of the EU and will further extend our existing relationships with Brunei that are important to our business.

Along with the other fast developing world markets that this opens up to us, we’re excited to see the possibilities that being a member of the CPTPP opens up to our business.

Membership is a gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region, which has 60% of the world’s population and is set to account for the majority (54%) of global economic growth and around half of the world’s billion middle-class consumers in the decades ahead.

As a member of CPTPP, the UK will help influence and shape global rules for industries of the future like digital, data and services, and secure our place as a global leader in a network of countries committed to free trade.

The UK and CPTPP members will now take the final steps required for the UK to formally sign in 2023.

Background:

• The UK is the first new member and European country to join CPTPP, which is made up of 11 Pacific nations including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

• Five rounds of talks with UK and CPTPP chief negotiators took place in total, with many more negotiations alongside. More than 150 delegates from all CPTPP member countries attended for the final round in Vietnam alone.

• The UK will sign our CPTPP accession letter following legal review, in due course. This will take place on terms that are right for the UK.

• Membership will improve trade opportunities with all countries in the bloc, including the nine countries with which we already have a bilateral FTA.

• The Government has been clear that the NHS and the price it pays for drugs is not for sale in any trade negotiations – including CPTPP – and that it will not sign trade deals that compromise the UK’s high environmental protections, animal welfare and food standards.

• Joining CPTPP is a critical part of the government’s wider trade strategy, which aims to deepen links with faster-growing parts of the world beyond Europe, partnering with countries who believe in free and fair trade.

Additional benefits of UK accession to CPTPP include:

• Boosting services: The UK is the world’s second largest services provider and services accounted for 43% of our trade with CPTPP members last year. Joining the bloc will slash red tape – UK firms will not be required to establish a local office or be resident to supply a service and will be able to operate on a par with local firms.

• Increased flexibility: Modern ‘rules of origin’ could make British businesses more competitive by allowing them to trade more freely across the bloc. For example, UK car manufacturers could sell car engines tariff-free to a car maker in the bloc who could then sell those cars tariff-free to any member country. This is currently not possible under all the bilateral trade agreements the UK has in place with CPTPP members and will help exporters diversify their supply chains and create new export opportunities.

• Pro-investment: Investment between the UK and CPTPP countries is expected to increase as the agreement contains provisions to limit barriers and encourage more inward investment. Inward investment stocks to the UK from CPTPP countries were worth £182 billion in 2021.

• Cutting-edge: Remotely delivered services from the UK to CPTPP were worth £20.5 billion in 2020. CPTPP sets modern rules for digital trade across all sectors of the economy and will support UK businesses of all sizes to seek new opportunities in CPTPP markets.

• New markets: Joining means we will have a Free Trade Agreement with Malaysia for the first time, giving businesses far more access to an economy worth £271 billion in GDP in 2021.  Tariffs of around 80% will be eliminated on UK exports of whisky and 30% on UK exports of cars, helping the UK get a larger share of the market.