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North Yorkshire cycle hub up for top tourism award

22 Mar 2024

Rob Brown, co-director of Dalby Forest Cycle Hub, a not-for-profit hire scheme has been nominated for the Tourism Superstar 2024 award, run by VisitEngland.
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Independent retail bodies welcome new report aimed at tackling retail crime.

21 Mar 2024

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime... Read more…

Indie retailers outperformed supermarkets in sales of organic food, wellness and beauty products in 2023.

21 Mar 2024

As reported by Healthstores UK, new data contained in the 2024 Soil Association Organic Market report shows that independent retailers delivered an impressive 10% growth in 2023, with... Read more…

Cheltenham beer shop and bar wins top UK award.

21 Mar 2024

An independent bottle shop and bar in Cheltenham has been named as the UK's Independent Beer and Wine Retailer of the Year 2024 at the Drinks Retailing Awards. 
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Welsh Government Announce £20m Future Proofing Fund for Retail Businesses in Wales

21 Mar 2024

A number of organisations, including Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association), other trade associations, BIDs and unions have met with officials from the Welsh Government to... Read more…

High Street Faces 'Unprecedented Challenges' says Trade Association

21 Mar 2024

The British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira) has reacted to data released by PwC and the Local Data Company exploring the state of the UK retail landscape.
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Greeting Card Association expresses concern on new evidence Royal Mail prioritising parcel deliveries over letters.

6 Mar 2024

The Greeting Card Association has reacted to a BBC Panorama programme lifting the lid on Royal Mail management prioritising parcel delivery over letters, which it says are in contradiction of... Read more…

Kate Bush named as Record Store Day ambassador.

4 Mar 2024

Pop star Kate Bush has been announced as an ambassador for this year's Record Store Day, on 20 April.
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Shortlist for Independent Bookshop of the Year 2024 revealed.

4 Mar 2024

The British Book Awards has announced its shortlist for Independent Bookshop of the Year. 
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Local Bike Shop Day 2024 confirmed for Saturday May 4th.

4 Mar 2024

The ACT is happy to confirm the date for Local Bike Shop Day 2024 as Saturday 4 May, the weekend of the early May Bank Holiday.
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Government will deliver a "tapered" end to furlough scheme

Posted on in Business News, Cycles News, Political News

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised there will be no "cliff-edge" cut-off to the government's job retention scheme to support workers through the coronavirus pandemic. MPs have been looking at ways to wind down the scheme & ease people back into work in a "measured way".

The latest government figures showed that 6.3 million workers were having 80% of their salaries, up to a maximum of £2500 per month, paid by the Treasury at a cost of £8 billion to the taxpayer.

Speaking to ITV News, the Chancellor acknowledged such a level of expenditure was not "sustainable" in the longer term. He went on to say:

"To anyone anxious about this, I want to reassure that there will be no cliff-edge to the furlough scheme. I'm working as we speak to figure out the most effective way to wind down the scheme and ease people back into work in a measured way.

"As some scenarios have suggested, we are potentially spending as much on the furlough scheme as we do on the NHS for example.

"Clearly that is not a sustainable situation which is why, as soon as the time is right, we want to get people back to work and the economy fired up again."

The news comes after the Liberal Democrats called for a "tapered" end to the programme, which consists of the Treasury paying 50% of salaries for the first month after people return to work, falling to 30 per cent after the third month before employers pick up the full bill after the fourth.

Acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said "The government furlough scheme has done a good job at helping thousands of businesses through the lockdown, but the shadow of lockdown will be long, and the ‘new normal' will be extremely challenging,"

"Businesses and their staff need time to plan, and confidence the government will be there, ready to support."

Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank which proposed the job retention scheme, said that despite the high cost to the taxpayer, it was a price worth paying.

"The 6.3 million jobs being furloughed shows in stark terms the scale of the economic shutdown that Britain is living through," he said.

"If this kind of volume of workers stay on the scheme for several months, the cost will run into the tens of billions of pounds. And that is a cost very much worth paying.

"Even despite mass furloughing, unemployment is still soaring, with over two million new claims for benefits coming though.

"This should remind us how badly needed the retention scheme is, but also that we are likely to be living with the legacy of high unemployment that coronavirus has given Britain, long after it has been phased out."

 

 

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