The UK’s Chancellor Of The Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, yesterday delivered the government’s autumn budget statement, laying out economic plans for the year ahead. Or at least what little time the Conservative Party has left in power. It received a mixed response from the music industry.
Some measures were welcomed - particularly the extension of 75% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure companies. However, other measures long called for by the industry were noticeably absent.
Ahead of the budget, live industry trade body LIVE published its own manifesto, with a wish list of policies it would like to see both in Hunt’s budget and from the government more generally. Responding to the actual budget, LIVE CEO Jon Collins said that the organisation “welcomes the extension of the retail, hospitality and leisure relief scheme for another year”.
“Grassroots venues”, he went on, “have been operating on a knife edge so it's crucial that government continues to support this critical part of our sector with the right reliefs and funding mechanisms. The government is committed to supporting growth and innovation across the creative industries. The extension of business rates relief will be pivotal for those grassroots venues that are responsible for so much of the R&D in the live music sector”.
The Music Venue Trust also welcomed the extension of business rates relief, with CEO Mark Davyd saying that without it grassroots venues faced “the possibility of an additional £15 million in pre-profit taxation” in the midst of an already “severe crisis”.
Davyd also commended the increase in the minimum wage that was also announced this week, saying: “The grassroots sector is notoriously undervalued and underpaid, from the artists performing through all levels of roles and staffing, up to and including the venue operators themselves. An uplift to fees and wages across the sector is long overdue”.
However, he added, the grassroots music sector will need support to meet that new commitment. “We look forward”, he went on, “to working with the Chancellor, HM Treasury and Department For Culture, Media & Sport to identify the necessary funding which can deliver this statutory increase to minimum wage and extend the scope and scale of it so that everyone in the grassroots sector can be adequately rewarded for their work”.
CEO of the Association Of Independent Festivals John Rostron noted that the autumn statement did not include a reduction on VAT for ticket sales, which the live sector has repeatedly called for as a means to aid its continuing post-COVID revival.
"We support measures announced in the chancellor's autumn statement that will help businesses in the broader grassroots music sector, such as the freeze on business rates”, he said. “But, as far as independent festivals are concerned, what is urgently needed is the lowering of VAT to 5% on ticket sales. We will continue conversations with the government towards that end”.
Most critical of the budget was Night Time Industries Association CEO Michael Kill, who said in a statement: "The Prime Minister and Chancellor's rhetoric of cautiously cutting taxes over time is at odds with the reality of the challenges faced with our current record high tax burden, particularly within the hospitality, night-time economy and creative sectors. This burden is starkly evident when compared to other European countries”.
Echoing Rostron’s comments, he added: "The absence of VAT measures in the autumn statement is a missed opportunity to spur investment and growth in the hospitality, night-time economy and creative sectors. A VAT reduction, along with thoughtful considerations for rising labour costs, would deliver much-needed relief and send a positive signal to businesses, elevating confidence and fostering an environment conducive to long-term planning".
"This budget is a stark reminder of the unwillingness to acknowledge the short-term economic challenges”, he concluded, “and emphasises the lack of operational business knowledge shared by budgetary and policy decision-makers, especially at a time when the industry is in desperate need”.
While a VAT cut on ticket sales was not included, it was a budget that announced a number of other tax cuts, which many see as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak preparing his party for a general election, possibly as early as next spring.
