London
Budget 2010 announces further action the Government will be taking in London, including:
Families
- To increase the support available to families with young children and to continue to drive progress in tackling child poverty, from April 2012 the Child Tax Credit for each child aged 1 and 2 will be increased by £4 per week. Around 120,000 families in London are expected to benefit.
- To encourage people to save for the future, the first Saving Gateway accounts will be available in July 2010, offering people the chance to receive 50p from the Government for each £1 they save. 1,060,000 people in London are expected to benefit.
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Additional payments alongside the Winter Fuel Payment will be repeated in 2011. Payments will be worth £100 for households with someone aged 80 or over and £50 for households with someone over female State Pension Age. 850,000 households in London will benefit, of which 200,000 contain someone aged 80 or over.
- On 11 March the Chancellor launched Moneymadeclear nationally, providing free impartial information and guidance on personal finance issues online and over the phone in London. The service has been piloted in the North East and North West since last April and the Government and the FSA have together committed £20m for the service in 2011 enabling it to help one million people by March 2011.
- Continued support to homeowners by freezing the interest rate used to calculate Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) payments at 6.08% for a further 6 months, until December 2010. Based on the most recent available regional data, the number expected to benefit in London is 24,600.
Business
- HMRC will continue to offer the Business Payment Support Service allowing viable businesses in temporary financial difficulty to spread their tax payments over an agreed timetable. 33,300 arrangements have been reached through this Time to Pay scheme with businesses in London to allow them more time to pay their tax.
- A temporary increase in the level of small business rate relief, enabling Eligible businesses occupying properties with rateable values up to £6,000 will pay no business rates for one year from 1 October 2010. Businesses with rateable values up to £12,000 will receive significant reductions. This measure will benefit over half a million small businesses in England, including many small businesses in London.
- £60 million for infrastructure development, to meet the needs of offshore wind turbine manufacturers looking to locate new facilities in the UK. The wind energy industry employs around 14,800 people in London.
These schemes build upon actions and investments that are already being undertaken in London to support businesses and families, including:
Families
- All 18-24 year olds who have been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for 6 months or more now have access to the Young Person's Guarantee, providing a guaranteed job, work experience or training. It is estimated that 54,460 people in London are benefiting. And from next month, participation will be mandatory.
- Around 940,000 families and 1,700,000 children are benefiting from the January 2009 increase in Child Benefit.
- Alongside this year’s Winter Fuel Payment, households with someone aged over 80 have received an additional payment worth £100, and households with someone aged over 60 have received an additional £50. Around 840,000 households in London have benefited, including 200,000 households containing someone aged 80 or over.
Business
- Over 33,100 agreements, worth nearly £700m, made through the Business Payment Support Service have enabled businesses in the region to spread their tax payments over a timetable they can afford.
- The Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme enables up to £1.3bn of bank lending to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK, the scheme has, to date, meant that nearly £102.9m of eligible applications from 869 firms in London have been granted, are being processed, or assessed.
- The Pre-Budget Report 2009 announced that the temporary increase to the threshold for empty property relief (EPR) will be extended for a further year. For 2010/11, the threshold at which an empty property becomes liable for business rates will be £18,000. This is estimated to cover 61% of empty business properties in the region.
Investment
- Nearly £100m invested to benefit 35 further education colleges in London, including refurbishments to Westminster Kingsway, and Lambeth colleges, plus the building of a new technology centre at the College of North West London.
- Improvements to over 27,000 homes in London assisted through the Government Decent Homes initiative.
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