Autumn Budget 2024: Key Messages and What It Means for Economic Development

If you didn’t get beyond the press headlines about last week’s Autumn Budget, we’ve drawn out the key messages about what it means for local economic development. We hope you find this useful:

Productivity and growth

• Driving the growth mission and responding to the slowdown in productivity growth since the Global Financial Crisis through funding and support for research, innovation, investment trade, technology, and the low carbon economy.

Devolution and Funding Local Growth

• Integrated funding settlements for the Greater Manchester and West Midlands MCAs. Other combined authorities eligible or being considered from 2026.
• Continuation of UKSPF for a further year, at a reduced level until wider funding review.

Still to Come:

• English Devolution White Paper will set out simplified council structures, reform of the local growth funding landscape, and multi-year funding settlements to help local authorities plan for long term economic growth.
• Phase 2 of the Spending Review, due in late Spring 2025, will give more detail on how the government’s regional and local growth strategy will be integrated with the Industrial Strategy and plans for investment and infrastructure.

Sectors and Investment

• Multi-year funding strategies for priority sectors, including Aerospace, Automotive, Life Sciences, Creative Industries and Clean Energy.
• £70 bn National Wealth Fund central to strong public-private sector collaboration aimed at driving growth and crowding in private investment.
• 10 year R&D budgets to support long term partnerships with industry.

Questions remain:

• How will sector strategies align with Local Grown Plans?
• Detail needed on support for new start up and scale-up businesses.
• Detail needed on vehicles for securing private investment.

Driving Growth Across the UK, through:

• The Council of the Regions & Nations and the Industrial Strategy.
• Encouraging growth outside the South East of England.
• Continued support for Investment Zones and Freeports.

Labour Market and Skills

• Reform of the Apprenticeship Levy into more flexible Growth & Skills levy in response to calls from many businesses that the levy restricts access to wide range of training.
• Get Britain Working White Paper aimed at tackling high economic inactivity rates.

What’s Missing?

• Aside from the already established Skills England, there is very little focus on the widespread skills shortages affecting many key industries, including Construction and Clean Energy.

Clean Energy

• £100 bn investment in Clean Energy, driven by GB Energy.
• Confirmed funding for Investment Zones and Freeports, including designing tax sites in Celtic Freeport in South Wales.
• 11 new Green Hydrogen projects.

Not included:

• Further information on investment to upgrade the national grid.