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The big question

Pleased with the Budget 2021 announcement? Was it a Budget for business, or something that fell short of expectations?

Join the conversation

@biz_cornwall /businesscornwall businesscornwall.co.uk

THOMAS SMITH

Miller Commercial

I was expecting a little more in terms of addressing the question of business rates – especially with the impact they have on the high street. While the extension of the rates holiday for retailers and leisure providers to June and a 66% discount for the remainder of tax year, it seems the Chancellor has kicked the can down the road and has not addressed the real challenge that business rates presents – that they do not accurately reflect the market conditions and they do not address the imbalance between town shopping and online retail.

TOM ROACH

PKF Francis Clark

CBILS, CLBILS, BBLS, Future Fund AIA, Small Business Grant Fund, LRSG, Lockdown Payments, ARG, Wet-led Pub Grants, SSP Rebate, CRAR (My favourite!) VAT Deferral, Business Rates, Reduced VAT rate, Eat out to Help Out, Charities Support, Culture Support, Sports Support, Zoos and Aquariums Support, TV and Films restart, CJRS, SEISS, UC increase, SDLT relief, Kickstart, Restart, Apprentice grant, Skills training…if he hasn’t done enough he’s certainly improved his scrabble scores!

KAREN LA BORDE

Cornwall Greens

While we welcome some of the measures introduced to help businesses survive in the short term, this budget showed that the Chancellor has failed to understand the gravity of the long-term problems we face.

The Government is about to host the G7 here in Cornwall and has been making

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If you’ve been running your business for a while you’ve probably learned to cope with slow and (sometimes) unreliable Internet. Maybe you’ve got little workarounds for the fact you can’t rely on your connection. You might even have convinced yourself it’s not a problem for your business.

noises about ‘building back better’ after the pandemic is over. But if it’s serious about this and really wants to show some leadership on the climate crisis, it would not be continuing to offer tax breaks on the burning of fossil fuels. Instead, it would be making sure the biggest polluters pay for the carbon they emit at great cost to us all.

KEVIN GEORGEL

St Austell Brewery

As we work through the finer detail of the Budget announcement, we feel positive about the balanced financial measures that the Chancellor has put forward. It’s clear that he recognises the importance of the hospitality sector to our economy, and the vital role that pubs play in communities across the West Country and beyond.

The extension of the furlough scheme, until the end of September, will help us to safeguard jobs and bring our teams back on a phased basis, as trade gradually rebuilds. We also welcome the confirmation of additional grants - up to £18k per pub – and the extension of the VAT cut and business rates holiday.

As a brewer, and a long-time supporter of the Long Live the Local campaign, we know that the Chancellor’s decision to freeze alcohol duty once again has also provided muchneeded relief for the industry.

PHIL SMITH

Business West

It was another extraordinary Budget from the Chancellor, reflecting what is an extraordinary time for the UK economy.

Businesses will welcome an extension of the full range of Covid-19 support measures, with the timescales longer than many were expecting. The extension of the furlough scheme, an extended and more targeted selfemployed scheme, a new tranche of business grants and a new recovery loan scheme will all continue to provide a safety net for businesses through to the autumn. There will be disappointment, however, that limited company owners appear yet again to have been forgotten.

Overall, given the uncertainty that still hangs over the ending of lockdown, the Chancellor’s approach makes good sense and contrasts favourably from the ‘stop start’ approach to previous business support extensions.

MUIR MCDONALD

Institute of Directors SW

Business leaders will be relieved that the furlough scheme has been extended further into the year.

Many firms have used the Job Retention Scheme to support their cashflow while restrictions have eaten into their revenues, and without it job losses would be even higher. By extending support until the end of September, the Chancellor has given many businesses an extra cushion as they attempt to re-scale and re-hire when the economy reopens. Hospitality and the leisure industry has been particularly hard hit in the south west and needs all the help it can get to rebuild.

Widening the eligibility for self-employed income support is also welcome step, as many have gone without significant earnings for almost a year but the Chancellor missed a trick by not providing grants for company directors who continue to be left out in the cold.

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But think of it another way; what aren’t you doing because you’ve got slow or unreliable Internet service?

Are you backing up your business-critical data? If you’re not and all your customer data is on hard drives in the office, what plans do you have in the event the hard drive fails (and they do, regularly!)? How many customers do you have to travel to see, instead of talking to them via high-quality video calls? Wasting hours driving when you could be talking to new customers.

Having fast reliable internet can change your business. Staff aren’t waiting for pages to load (how many hours a week is that?) Your business is more secure because businesscritical data is stored in the cloud. Emails and file transfers are downloaded, and data, presentations and large video or graphics packages are uploaded instantly, so you’re not sat watching the progress bar (how many hours a week is that?).

Of course, in these days of Covid and home working (which I don’t think is going to change) staff working from home also need a fast, reliable internet connection to enable them to work effectively and efficiently. This means a lot of businesses need to think beyond their own offices for fast reliable internet.

Wildanet is the Cornish broadband provider bringing superfast and super-reliable broadband to businesses throughout Cornwall. It has a range of options including discounted home connections for staff if your business is connected via Wildanet’s network.

Call 0800 0699906 to find out how Wildanet’s broadband can help your business thrive, so you can get on with doing what you do best – running your business.