Key points as Sunak pledges £1k for each furloughed employee brought back to work

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a “plan for jobs” to stimulate Britain’s battered economy.

Here are the key points:

EATING OUT DISCOUNT

• In August, everyone in the country will be given an “eat out to help out” discount – 50% off at participating restaurants, cafes and pubs. It applies for a maximum discount of £10 per head and can be used from Mondays to Wednesdays
• Businesses can claim the money back, with funds in their bank account within five working days
• The scheme, described as the first of its kind, is designed to help an industry employing 1.8 million people

VAT CUT

• VAT on food, accommodation and attractions will be cut for the next six months from 20% to 5% – a “£4bn catalyst” for the sector designed to protect 2.4 million jobs
• The cut – from next Wednesday until 12 January – covers food from restaurants, cafes and pubs, accommodation in hotels, B&Bs and caravan sites, and attractions such as cinemas, theme parks and zoos

STAMP DUTY HOLIDAY

• The threshold for paying stamp duty will be raised temporarily from £125,000 to £500,000 until 31 March 2021, resulting in the average stamp duty bill falling by £4,500
• The measure, designed to boost confidence in the housing market after a slump in transactions, is expected to mean nearly nine out of ten people buying a main home this year paying no duty at all

WORK

• A jobs retention bonus will reward employers who bring back workers from furlough with £1,000 per employee – it will cost £9bn if all nine million of those temporarily laid off come back to work
• Government’s furlough scheme “cannot and should not go on for ever” and will wind down through to October
• £1.2bn pledged to Department for Work and Pensions “to support millions of people back to work”
• Firms will be paid £1,000 to take on trainees, with £100m pledged to fund places in high-demand sectors such as engineering, construction and social care
• £2bn made available for “Kickstart” scheme for young people – and no cap on the number of places available
• Kickstart scheme will pay employers to create new jobs for hundreds of thousands of 16-24 year olds at risk of long-term unemployment – a minimum of 25 hours per week paid at at least the national minimum wage

GREEN MEASURES

• Green measures totalling £3bn aim to make 650,000 homes more energy efficient, save households £300 a year on bills and support 140,000 jobs
• £1bn of funding to improve the energy efficiency of public sector buildings
• A £2bn green homes grant will deliver vouchers to homeowners and landlords to make their homes more energy efficient