Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his first Budget last week, laying out the government’s tax and spending plans for the year ahead. The government has promised an array of spending pledges in an effort to boost the economy, but what will this actually mean for Islington residents?
People will now be able to claim statutory sick pay from the first day they are off work, even if they are not displaying symptoms of the coronavirus. This will be a welcome relief to the 21.7per cent of Islington residents who are living in income deprived households.
The self-employed also get some reassurance. They will be eligible for contributory Employment Support Allowance, which they will also be able to access from the first day of self-isolation. Good news for the 24,100 people living in Islington who were self employed last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
A £500 million hardship fund has been allocated to English councils to help the most vulnerable. Islington Council said it was not yet aware if it would receive any of this windfall or how it would be used if extra funding is received.
Islington charity Streets Kitchen has been campaigning against period poverty for a number of years, and the ‘Tricky Period Scheme’ allowed members of the public to access free period products at the Islington Central Library. So what did the chancellor have to say about the controversial “tampon tax”?
Sunak announced that the 5 per cent rate of VAT on sanitary products will be scrapped from January. Removing the tax will save women an average of £40 throughout their lifetimes – to the applause of the 118,600 women living in Islington.
In addition to scrapping the tampon tax, the Chancellor announced plans to change tax rates on alcohol and cigarettes, but will this be good or bad for local residents?
The planned increase in duty on beer, cider, wine and spirits will be scrapped as “pubs are the centre of community life, but too many have closed over the past decade,” according to the Chancellor.
Tobacco taxes will continue to rise by 2 per cent above the rate of retail price inflation, adding 27 pence to a packet of cigarettes and 14 pence to a packet of cigars.
The small pub business rates discount will also increase from £1,000 to £5,000 in order to protect local independent pubs from larger chain businesses, could this be bad news for the Angel Wetherspoons? Islington Now isn’t too worried about Tim Martin’s back pocket.
Islington had 205 pubs in 2017, a 5 per cent increase in the number of pubs over five years, according to the Greater London Authority. Despite things looking good for Islington’s pubs overall, the number of small or independent pubs across London has dropped by 50 per cent since 2001. Hopefully some of the Chancellor’s measures can address this decline.
Islington Now spoke to Jamie, the manager at The Peasant pub in Clerkenwell who welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement. “It’s great for us, it’ll really help us out with the drop in customers due to the coronavirus,” he said.
In addition to looking after our pubs, other small businesses in the borough were in the Chancellor’s crosshair and are set to get a financial boost.
Business rates for small businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a rateable value of less than £51,000 have been suspended for a year, and small firms will be able to access a “business interruption” loan of up to £1.2 million.
This will be welcome news to Islington Council who have championed small business in the past few years. The council were shortlisted for the small business awards in 2019, and the borough had the fourth highest rate of new businesses started in London in 2018.
Islington saw a 30 per cent increase in startups from 2017 to 2018, rising to 14,813 from 11,461 the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The Budget aims to protect small businesses against any potential dip in the market caused by coronavirus, and will hopefully encourage more investment in the borough.
Rishi Sunak announced a freeze on fuel duty for the tenth consecutive year. £2.5bn will also be made available to fix potholes and resurface roads over the next five years. I’m sure we can all agree that potholes are irritating, but how will the announcement affect Islington’s drivers?
Unfortunately it doesn’t look as if the freeze on fuel duty will benefit many Islington residents. Islington has the lowest level of car ownership in London at just 26% in 2019, according to Transport for London.
Islington climate groups have criticised the Chancellor’s move to protect drivers, with Islington’s XR branch saying: “The science dictates we need a massive capital investment and regulatory programme to get us to zero carbon in five years. Again, as ever, these tough and necessary decisions have been postponed.”
A £650 million package to tackle homelessness in the UK has also been announced, which will provide an extra 6,000 places in shelters for rough sleepers. Islington has seen a rise in homelessness over the past few years, with Islington council reporting 184 people deemed to be homeless in the borough from April to June 2019.
The announcement will be a welcome relief to Islington based charities such as Streets Kitchen who do their best to support rough sleepers or those at risk of homelessness in the borough.
