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Action for BusinessQ3 2015

Christian SpenceHead of Research & Policy

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce


Action for Business

• Chamber Assembly met on 10 July to discuss:– Summer Budget, with focus on new National

Living Wage– Proposed EU In/Out Referendum– Skills within GM Devolution


Action for Business

• National Living Wage– Will effectively be a new National Minimum Wage

(NMW) band for those aged 25+– Will start in April 2016 at £7.20 per hour– Target to rise to 60% of median wage by April

2020 (expected to be c. £9.30 per hour)– “It’s not a living wage as we know it, Jim”– Living wage (currently £7.85 per hour, £9.15 in

London


Action for Business

• National Living Wage– Over 25s now on NMW will see pay increase from

£11,830 to £16,926 by April 2020– Osborne seeks to mitigate cost to business

through:• Increase in Employment Allowance to £3,000 per year• Reduction in Corporation Tax from 20% to 19% in April

2017 and 18% in April 2020

– Increase annual pay bill by c. £4 billion


Action for Business

• National Living Wage– Sectors most likely to be affected are retail,

hospitality, security, health and social care– GM Chamber undertaking impact study on

members in different sectors– Need to consider rises in other input costs such as

business rates and auto-enrolment– Want to be involved? Any questions?


Action for Business

• EU Referendum– Bill in parliament to force in/out referendum by

end of 2017– Cameron wants to negotiate an alternative deal

with EU first, and place new option on table for referendum

– Seeks reform on seven key areas


Action for Business• EU Referendum

– Powers flowing away from Brussels, not always to it– National parliaments able to work together to block unwanted European

legislation– Businesses liberated from red tape and benefiting from the strength of the

EU’s own market … to open up greater free trade with North America and Asia– Our police forces and justice systems able to protect British citizens,

unencumbered by unnecessary interference from the European institutions, including the ECHR

– Free movement to take up work, not free benefits– Support for the continued enlargement of the EU to new members but with

new mechanisms in place to prevent vast migrations across the Continent– “Dealing properly” with the concept of “ever closer union”, enshrined in the

treaty, to which every EU country now has to sign up


Action for Business

• Skills within GM devolution– “Devo-Manc” gave GM:• “power to re-shape and re-structure the FE provision”• “control of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers”

– Re-shape and re-structure focused around ability to alter fees to support incentivising change of provision

– AGE powers are already being used, but how wisely?


Action for Business

• Skills within GM devolution– AGE gives employers taking on an apprentice for

the first time £1,500 grant– Rochdale and Tameside have increased this to

£3,000– Is this a good use of public funding? Does this act

as an incentive or mitigate financial costs?– Could this be better spent in other ways to

support businesses to recruit young people and invest in skills?


Q & A

www.gmchamber.co.uk action for business q3 2015 christian spence head of research & policy...

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