Social Enterprise UK chief blasts Autumn Budget

The chief executive of Social Enterprise UK has slammed Philip Hammond for relying on ‘old-fashioned and failed economic ideas’ following his Autumn Budget.

The Chancellor gave his final Budget before Brexit in Parliament yesterday, which included £900m in business rates relief for small businesses and £650m to rejuvenate Britain’s high streets.

But Social Enterprise UK’s Peter Holbrook (pictured) criticised the Chancellor for not using the Budget to help social enterprises.

‘The Chancellor had an opportunity to back social enterprises which share growth by paying their staff fairly and reinvesting their profits back into their communities,’ said Mr Holbrook.

‘Unfortunately, he decided to rely on old fashioned and failed economic ideas.

‘If we want to build an economy that truly works for everyone, we need to back a different type of business. There is little in this Budget to give people confidence that we are heading towards anything other than simply more of the same.’

The chief executive of the Association for Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), Vicky Browning said the role of charities in the Budget was reduced to ‘welcome, but somewhat scattergun announcements’ about specific pots of money for specific causes.

‘The tone of the Budget felt out of touch with a sector whose leaders are telling us about rising demands for services and that many of the people they work with do not see the economic up-turn that has been much discussed by government,’ said Ms Browning.

And the chair of the Local Government Association, Lord Porter said that while the Budget shows the Government has started to listen to the its call for desperately-needed investment in local services, it still ‘falls short of what we need in the long-term’.

‘Investing in local government is good for the nation’s prosperity, economic growth and the overall health and wellbeing of the nation,’ said Lord Porter.

‘We now look forward to working with the Government to ensure the forthcoming Spending Review delivers a truly sustainable funding settlement for local government, and its adult social care Green Paper puts social care on a firmer, long-term financial footing for the people who depend on care and support.’