- Published
Businesses across Yorkshire are urging Chancellor John Healey to cut National Insurance (NI) contributions for under-25s in his first Budget.
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Businesses → publish → Budget
West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, which represents 5,000 employers in the region, said the reduction would help tackle the "youth unemployment crisis".
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reduction → represent → crisis
Healey will deliver his first Budget on 28 October, but has refused to rule out tax increases after acknowledging that government borrowing costs were at "historic highs".
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costs → deliver → highs
Some businesses have told the BBC they were still struggling after the "shock" increases in employers' NI contributions in 2024 and were hoping for tax reliefs.
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they → tell → reliefs
Aqila Choudhry, the managing director of Leeds-based care home provider Love in Care, said businesses had already been struggling with rising costs over the previous decade, and that Labour's first Budget in 2024 had made things worse.
"The shock of the increase in National Insurance contributions [for employers] in 2024 really hit everyone as it was not expected and the impact is still being felt," she said.
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she → manage → everyone
She said businesses needed help if they were to "survive, sustain and grow", adding that they "desperately need no more tax rises".
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they → say → rises
Choudhry also backed calls by the chamber to reduce employers' NI contributions for under-25s, which she said would help address the issue of young people not in education, employment or training.
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she → back → education
Ken Murray, principal of York College, also wants to see more support for young people entering the job market.
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Murray → want → market
He would like to see further education colleges be able to claim a rebate on VAT, which he said would help address funding disparities between them and academies and free schools.
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he → like → them
Sixth-form colleges providing free education to students aged 16 to 18 cannot currently reclaim VAT through the government's rebate scheme.
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colleges → provide → scheme
"We could spend more money on young people so they can do what they need to do in the community and make sure we are challenging those not in education, employment or training and get them onto high-quality jobs," said Murray.
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Murray → spend → jobs
He said "more flexibility around money that is currently ring-fenced" could support colleges help young people into education.
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colleges → say → education
Currently there are pots of money for free courses for unemployed people to support them to find work, but uptake was "really low", said Murray.
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Murray → be → work
"If people are in employment and they're trying to upskill that is really tricky for us to find funding, so the free courses for jobs money could maybe be spent helping people do that," he said.
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he → try → that
Meanwhile, Martin Greenhow, who runs bars in Harrogate, Leeds and Sheffield, said the hospitality sector had "been reeling since Covid".
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sector → run → Covid
"People's behaviour changed, they're working from home, they're not socialising in the same way," he said.
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he → change → way
Greenhow said the National Insurance increase for employers had been "a bitter pill", adding: "It directly led to us making people unemployed."
He believes the government should change income tax thresholds so people have more money left to spend in businesses such as pubs, restaurants, cafes and shops.
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people → say → pubs
"People don't have the money in their pocket they once did and if they don't have it they can't spend it with us in hospitality or in retail," he said.
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he → have → retail
Greenhow also called for action to address business rates and said he was "desperately hopeful" the government would reduce VAT for the hospitality sector.
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government → call → sector
"That reduction doesn't just line people's pockets, it allows businesses to survive that are going under, it allows others to expand and make investment and employ more people, meaning fewer people claiming benefits," he said.
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he → line → benefits
The chancellor's options for raising money are limited as Labour's 2024 manifesto pledged not to increase income tax, National Insurance and VAT, the three big revenue raisers.
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manifesto → raise → tax
In a speech in September, he said: "My defining mission as chancellor is growth, good growth in every postcode.
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mission → say → postcode
"And I've set out today the way this government will set about it: more devolution, more public leadership and control, more investment, more innovation, more jobs."
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government → set → it
The Aporia
