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Hunt promises systematic action on work barriers
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Childcare costs to be addressed in Wednesday’s budget
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Early retirement, long-term sick also in Hunt’s plan
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Staff shortages weigh on UK’s sluggish economy
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Hunt says tax cuts must wait for repair of public finances
LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) – British finance minister
Jeremy Hunt said he would use this week’s budget plan to remove
barriers, including high childcare costs, that are stopping
people from working and causing a major problem for employers
after the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit.
Hunt – who reiterated he would not rush to cut taxes to
speed up the slow economy – pledged action on the labour market
problems that also include high numbers of people retiring early
or unable to work due to long-term sickness or disabilities.
“I will be systematically going through all the areas where
there are barriers that stop people from working who want to, so
that we can help people get back to work and fill those
vacancies for our businesses,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
Britain is the only Group of Seven nation where the economy
has not yet returned to its pre-coronavirus pandemic size, with
staff shortages weighing heavily on many firms.
The Treasury said late on Saturday that Hunt would offer
financial incentives for parents with young children, disabled
people and others to rejoin the workforce in his tax and
spending budget plan on Wednesday.
There are more than 1 million job vacancies in Britain,
while one in five working-age people is either out of a job or
not seeking one. The government said it hopes the announcements
this week will get hundreds of thousands of people into work.
The new measures will include the government paying
childcare costs up front for low-income parents rather than in
arrears, and increasing such payments, the Treasury said.
“That is a big deal and very welcome – removing a cash flow
barrier to some entering work,” said Torsten Bell, chief
executive of the Resolution Foundation – a think-tank which
focuses on issues faced by low-income households.
Hunt also plans to allow disabled people and those with
long-term health conditions to work without removing their
supplementary financial support, the Treasury said.
More training places will be made available for the over-50s
to learn skills in areas such as construction and technology.
In households with two adults on income support, both will
now be obliged to look for work rather than just one of them,
the Treasury said.
Hunt rejected suggestions that the government should
significantly loosen its post-Brexit immigration rules to ease
the labour market squeeze, saying it wanted controlled legal
migration over “filling every vacancy in our businesses with
uncontrolled migration.”
He is under pressure from many lawmakers in his Conservative
Party to reverse a sharp rise in corporation tax which is due in
April, helping to put Britain on course for its highest tax
burden in 70 years.
He told broadcasters on Sunday that he wanted to cut taxes
over the long term but once again signalled he would not be
making any big moves on Wednesday.
“A Conservative government will always cut taxes when we
can, but we won’t run out of money. We will be responsible with
the public finances,” he told Sky News.
Hunt – who was rushed into the British Treasury in October
to stop a bond market slump caused by the unfunded tax cut plans
of former Prime Minister Liz Truss – said he would also seek to
incentivise investment by businesses.
“What you will also see on Wednesday is that we have a plan
to tackle the biggest problems we face as a country whether it’s
a lack of investment, whether it’s businesses not able to
recruit,” Hunt told Sky News.
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Hugh Lawson and
Raissa Kasolowsky)
