Policy Update 19th September 2023

Welcome to this week’s policy update. As ever please do get in touch with me, [email protected], if you would like to discuss the following, or other, business issues, put forward your views and/or provide real life examples that we can use in lobbying activity. ?

The team at British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) continue to be out and about working on your behalf. ?This week:

• BCC Director General Shevaun Haviland is meeting with the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Rt Hon Anne Marie Trevelyan MP to discuss international skills development.
• Shevaun will be a keynote speaker at the UK Independent Agency Conference.
• BCC Chair Sarah Howard MBE will be attending the Hong Kong Association Lunch.
• The BCC will be taking part in a meeting of the UK Domestic Advisory Group on EU trade. Key issues to be raised will be implementation of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), future VAT changes, and regulatory co-operation.

Last week, Shevaun met with:?

• Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves?and the?Shadow Business & Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds?to brief them on our policy priorities ahead of the Autumn Statement.?
• Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business & Trade Gareth Davies?to update him on our policy work and priorities.
• Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer, discussing a range of issues including tax-free shopping, tourism levy’s and LSIPs.

Also last week, the BCC:

• Spoke with Business Minister Lord Minto on principles for regulation affecting business and the approach SMEs most want to see to help business growth at this stage.
• Took part in a roundtable with officials on the UK-Switzerland trade negotiations and how SMEs can get the best trading terms which benefit them.
• Discussed taking forward our Trade Manifesto into implementation with UK government officials dealing with policy on the UK’s services trade.
• Took part in an enquiry by the UK Trade and Business Commission on Regulatory Alignment and UK-EU trade. You can watch William Bain’s evidence here:?Live evidence session: UK-EU Regulatory Alignment and Youth Mobility Schemes - YouTube.

BCC held the inaugural meeting of the new Business Council in the House of Lords last Thursday alongside the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove and the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. The meeting was chaired by our President, Baroness Martha Lane Fox and they were very pleased to be joined by some of the Chairs of the five challenges of our Future of the Economy project, as well as of course twelve of the thirteen business members.?You can read more here: New Business Council Ushers In Partnership Era (britishchambers.org.uk). ?

The first meeting of the BCC Workplace Equity Commission is being held this week. Convening national experts, business leaders and representatives from the UK and international Chamber networks, the group will produce recommendations for Government and business to progress the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda in the workplace. The Commission will examine workplace equity from several angles including age, disability, race, gender and LGBTQ+, while also considering the interconnectedness of these factors. It will also look at how employers can be supported to unlock the talent and potential of all individuals in the workplace. The Commission is part of BCC’s three-year workplace equity campaign, the inspiration for which came from the findings of Chambers’ International Women’s Day research, published last March, that surveyed 4,000 people. The inquiry will run over 12 months. Members include Stonewall?Chair Iain Anderson, Ayesha Hazarika MBE, Women of the World founder?and CEO Jude Kelly CBE,?and Scope CEO Mark Hodgkinson. You can read about all of the Commission members here. #

The latest ONS trade data for July 2023 was released last week. You can access the data here: UK trade - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) and read BCC’s analysis here: STEADY JULY FOR UK TRADE - WITH EXPORTS UP (britishchambers.org.uk). ?

The September Labour Market Briefing has now been shared. This contains the claimant and employment data released recently by ONS, together with the latest available data on job postings, NEETS, business start-ups and active companies.? Thanks as ever to Ginny Murphy of Cumberland Council for producing this. Key local headlines are:

• The number of payrolled employees increased again to 223,654 in contrast to a very slight fall nationally.? However, compared to a year ago, payrolled employment growth in Cumbria has been slower than nationally (1.3% v 1.5%) although this varies between the two unitary areas – Cumberland 1.7% annual growth, Westmorland & Furness 0.8% annual growth.
• Median payrolled earnings in Cumbria in August were ￡2,145 which is 95% of the UK average.? These data are not available for the unitaries, however median pay is above the national average in Copeland (113%) and Barrow (106%) but well below in Eden (88%) and South Lakeland (89%) (NB: these figures are influenced by full-time / part-time patterns of employment). ??Payrolled earnings growth has been stronger in Cumbria over the past year than nationally (8.0% v 6.7%) and has been particularly strong in Barrow (10%) and Copeland (9.8%).
• There were 6,660 claimants actively seeking work In August, a decrease of 125 from July which is in contrast to a slight rise nationally.? The claimant count fell in the former districts of Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland, was unchanged in Eden and rose in Barrow and South Lakeland.? The claimant rate was 2.2% in August, unchanged from July and is lower than the national rate of 3.7% in all the former district areas.
• There were 36,513 claimants of Universal Credit in August (seeking work, in work, not available for work), an increase of 357 from July and 2,123 more than a year ago.? The number of claimants in the searching/planning/preparing conditionality groups fell by 127 but the number in the working conditionality group rose by 280 and the number with no work requirements rose by 202.? The UC claimant rate in Cumbria was 12.2% in August which is lower than the national rate of 14.9%.
• There were 354 young people (aged 16/17) classed as NEET in July, up by 17 from June.? The NEET rate in Cumbria was 3.5% compared to a national rate of 5.4%.? The participation rate of young people in Cumbria in education or learning was 89.1% compared to 91.4% nationally (88.7% in Cumberland, 91/9% in Westmorland & Furness).
• There were 13,533 active online job postings in August, 1,587 more than the July total.? However, the number of new job postings fell by 91 suggesting that recruitment activity is continuing to slow somewhat.
• There were 578 small business start-ups in the quarter ending July which is 28 fewer than last quarter but 51 more than the same quarter last year.
• There were 30,810 active companies in Cumbria at the end of August, 64 more than in July.? 184 businesses were newly recorded as dissolved/in liquidation during August.
• In August, 6.7% of Cumbria’s businesses on the Red Flag Alert system were rated as having financial red flags which is lower than the national average of 10.4%.

Key national headlines are:

• The employment rate was estimated to be 75.5%, 0.5 percentage points lower than the previous quarter and 1.1 percentage points lower than before the pandemic.? The fall was mainly driven be a reduction in full-time self-employed workers.
• The unemployment rate (including non-claimants) was estimated to be 4.3%, 0.5 percentage points higher than the previous quarter and 0.3 percentage points higher than before the pandemic.
• The inactivity rate (those not working and not available for work) was estimated at 21.1%, 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous quarter and 0.9 percentage points higher than before the pandemic.? The increase was mostly driven by young people aged 16-24.? The number inactive because of long-term sickness rose to another record high while those inactive due to looking after family or home decreased to a record low.
• Total hours worked decreased from last quarter and are now below pre-pandemic levels again.
• Vacancy numbers (recorded via a business survey) fell again, although levels remain above pre-pandemic volumes.
• In May to July, annual growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 7.8%, unchanged from last quarter and the highest regular annual growth rate since comparable records began in 2001.? Annual growth in total pay (including bonuses) was 8.5%; this figure is influenced by NHS and civil service one-off payments made in June and July.? When adjusted for inflation, total pay for the quarter rose by 1.2% year on year and regular pay rose by 0.6%, the latter is the highest since Aug-Oct 2021.?
• The next round of inflation data is due next Wednesday and the next Bank Rate announcement will follow next Thursday.

Team Barrow and stakeholder survey. You may be aware that Westmorland and Furness Council and BAE Systems are currently working with a team of cross departmental senior officials, led by Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary. This is an important and exciting opportunity to work collaboratively with Government and the private sector to enable Barrow to be a new powerhouse for the North, expanding BAE System's defence capability and revitalising Barrow and Furness as a place where people choose to live, work and thrive.? This in turn, will have a positive impact on the whole of Westmorland and Furness and the wider region. During this process, they want to give organisations an opportunity to input, and would welcome stakeholder comments via the questionnaire accessible here: Stakeholder Survey (office.com). The questionnaire will be open until 5pm on the 30th of September 2023, and you are welcome to comment even if you have already spoken to the Council, BAE Systems or a central government representative recently. ?

Related to this we are engaging actively in the wider Team Barrow activities on your behalf.

Cumberland Council want to ensure that #Cumberland is a prosperous and happy place to live and work and want to hear from Cumberland businesses and residents. You can share your views and opinions on all things #Cumberland by booking onto an online workshop. They are ?running four virtual workshops to hear what makes you proud about Cumberland, how you feel about the area and how you might like it to develop in the future. Please register for one of these sessions so you can share your views: Cumberland Place Story Online Workshops | Eventbrite.

We have been consulted by Cumberland Council on proposed changes to parking in Workington and have fed back, having approached Workington members directly to feed into our response.

Last week we met with the Competition and Markets Authority, arranged by Defra, as part of work they’re undertaking around the challenges facing food & drink SMEs including inflation and supply chain (upwards and downwards). If you’d like to feed into this work please do get in touch with me, [email protected].

Employers are encouraged to sign up to the newly launched Homelessness Covenant to commit to inclusive and supportive employment practices that will help to prevent and end homelessness. The Covenant has been launched by the homelessness charity Crisis in collaboration with DWP and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.??The Covenant aims to support employers to:

• Provide employment and training opportunities for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.?
• Adopt fairer employment and recruitment policies and practices to support people affected by homelessness.?
• Help end homelessness in local communities through fundraising, raising awareness, partnerships and volunteering.?

You can find more information about the Covenant and sign up on the Crisis website or email [email protected]. By signing up, you’ll gain access to valuable resources, best practice approaches, and networking opportunities. You will be part of a collective effort to tackle the root causes of homelessness and provide support to those affected.?We’ve registered an interest ourselves and are looking forward to hearing more from them.

The Government has launched an important consultation on proposals to revamp the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to better reflect changes to the world of work potentially opening up new opportunities for disabled people. Supporting people into work is a key priority for this government with ￡3.5 billion of additional investment at the last Budget to get more people into work. This includes ￡2 billion targeted at those who are sick and disabled. The WCA has not been significantly updated since 2011 and among the mooted changes is refining categories related to mobility and social interaction, reflecting the increasing support for flexible and remote work arrangements by employers. Under plans included in the consultation, those identified as capable of work preparation activity under the new criteria would receive tailored support, preventing automatic exclusion from available support. The consultation is open until 30th October. You can get involved here: Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), and please do also share views with us via me, [email protected].

BCC policy team is currently in the process of reviewing our position on business rates. They would like to?arrange some discussions with businesses to get feedback on what a future system should look like. If you would like to take part please let me know, [email protected].?