That income tax is charged for the tax year 2021–22.
And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.
For the ease of those taking part, all Back-Bench contributions, at least at the beginning of the debate, will be six minutes, but I have absolutely no doubt that that will be reduced later on in the day.
Yesterday, we saw in black and white the impact of this Government’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, right there at the front of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s report: the UK has suffered the worst economic crisis of any major economy. The Chancellor has tried to dismiss that damning fact as a mere accounting quirk, but the OBR was clear: even when all G7 countries are measured in the same way, the UK’s economic crisis has still been the worst.
Perhaps it is understandable why the Chancellor wishes to muddy the waters on this point, because the OBR is scathing in its assessment of the reasons why we have had such a severe crisis, and he has played a leading role. In its words, the primary reason is:
“simply that the UK has experienced higher rates of infection, hospitalisations, and deaths from the virus than other countries.”
The Government were too slow into lockdown not once, but three times. The Labour party urged the Government last autumn to listen to the scientific advice and bring in a short circuit-breaker over half-term to contain the virus, but the Chancellor allegedly overruled the scientists and insisted that a lockdown was not needed. When it came, it was longer and more severe. As the OBR notes:
“The UK has spent longer in stricter lockdowns than other advanced economies”.
The fact is that the Chancellor just does not get it. He thinks that we can separate out the health crisis from the economic crisis and trade one off against the other, but failing to get on top of the public health crisis only makes the impact on jobs and businesses worse. The OBR was clear on that point:
“a greater prevalence of the virus also raises voluntary social distancing which…account for around half of the total decline in economic activity associated with the pandemic.”
It is a pleasure to respond to the hon. Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds) in this Budget debate. I think it is fair to say that, since the start of the pandemic, our priority as a Government has been to protect the lives and livelihoods of people right across this country. That is why my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, over the last year and again in this Budget, have taken unprecedented steps to support British people and businesses, including help for those who need it most. That includes further measures using our fiscal firepower to revitalise our economy, get people back into existing jobs and encourage investment to help create new jobs.
Let us remind ourselves of the steps we have already taken. Through the furlough scheme, we have supported more than 11 million jobs. This unprecedented cushion of support has helped millions of people who could otherwise have been made redundant to stay connected to their employers. Through the self-employment income support scheme, we have helped more than 2.5 million self-employed workers with grants and business loans, as well as targeted support for those on benefits.
Not everyone was fortunate enough to be furloughed, though, and through the £20 a week increase to universal credit, we ensured that those who faced a drop in earnings or were newly out of work received extra support during this difficult period. I am proud of our swift action at the start of the pandemic and throughout to support an extra 3 million people through universal credit and other benefits. That has been thanks to the hugely dedicated staff of the Department for Work and Pensions, which I consider to be the Department of Wonderful People, who delivered that support competently and compassionately.
The Secretary of State will have seen the evidence that disabled people have seen a big increase in their grocery costs during the pandemic, and yet people claiming employment and support allowance have had no extra help at all. Why have they not been supported?
As the right hon. Gentleman will be aware, and as the Chancellor has said repeatedly, there was a specific reflection at the time of introducing the extra £20 a week uplift to recognise the issues regarding people who were newly unemployed. I am conscious that the right hon. Gentleman’s Select Committee is undertaking an inquiry on people with disability and employment, and we will provide evidence in due course, when we can perhaps discuss that matter further.
I would like to reinforce what my right hon. Friend said about the fantastic work of her departmental officials. The fact that her Department has not been in the headlines much over the last months is due to the efficiency of her officials. When some of those officials are looking for a transfer, might she recommend that they go to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, to try to imbue that department with some efficiency?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for highlighting the really good work undertaken by officials. I would also like to thank my ministerial team, because we have worked together to do this. Indeed, arm’s length bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive have also done really good work in trying to ensure that workplaces are safe, helping employers to ensure that that is the case and minimising the transmission of this wretched coronavirus that we have endured. I will bear in mind his thoughts, but I do not think it is in the interests of the DWP to take on the DVLA as well.
Last week, the Prime Minister set out the road map that will lead us out of lockdown and back to the way of life that we are all eager to enjoy. As we all play our part in controlling coronavirus, and after a particularly wretched winter, we are ratcheting up for what I hope will be a spectacular summer. But we know that recovery will not be instantaneous for everyone, which is why the Prime Minister said explicitly that we would not just pull the rug out from under people’s feet as we start to see light at the end of the tunnel. That is why yesterday my right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out targeted measures in the Budget that would deliver on that commitment to help people and businesses through these next few months as we open the economy and deliver on our plan for jobs, helping people who are still impacted by coronavirus to get back into work.
First, to support low-income households we will extend the temporary £20 increase to universal credit for a further six months, on a monthly basis, taking it well beyond the end of this national lockdown. Working tax credits are administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, and claimants will receive a one-off covid support payment of £500—this is largely driven by the way that system works operationally. That is in addition to all the other Government support for people on low incomes, be that support with some of the most expensive bits of the cost of living, through things such as the increase to the local housing allowance, which is going to be preserved in cash terms, or with other elements, such as through council tax support.
The Secretary of State said that the universal credit uplift would be extended on a monthly basis. Does that mean that if circumstances warrant it, the uplift will be continued beyond September of this year?
The clear intention is that this is an extension of six months, because that will take this well beyond the aspect of the national lockdown. I was particularly making the point about monthly payments because I have always been clear that this is about UC continuing on a monthly, rather than one-off, basis, and that would be the preferred approach. I am pleased that the Chancellor has agreed with me on that and on making sure we keep that regular payment uplift for the next six months.
Secondly, we have self-employed people on UC, and in addition to the further help through our self-employment income support scheme we will suspend the minimum income floor for a further three months. That means that hundreds of thousands of people will continue to receive financial support based on their current actual earnings, rather than on the assumed amounts we would normally undertake through the gainfully self-employed test.
Thirdly, the further extensions of the furlough scheme to the end of September represent a huge investment in people, keeping them connected to their current jobs and employers. I urge employers and employees to take full advantage of this additional time of furlough to get ready to return to work, and do the training and refresher courses, so they are ready to hit the ground running as their business fully reopens. Taken together, I believe that these temporary extensions will provide essential support as we move along the road map, restart the economy and transition to our full recovery.
Thanks partly to the extension of the furlough scheme, the OBR is now expecting a better jobs outlook than it was in its November forecast, with unemployment now expected to peak at 6.5% at the end of this year, instead of 7.5%, which was its previous forecast. Although that represents a third of a million fewer people than the OBR previously forecast, I fully recognise that the OBR is still predicting that, sadly, unemployment will rise by a further half a million people compared with now. As we have always said, we cannot, sadly, save every existing job, but my right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out yesterday extraordinary measures of support to help businesses stay in business and to create new jobs. The supercharged super-deduction on capital investment is exactly the kind of initiative that can stimulate businesses to invest here in Britain, leading to brand-new jobs.
Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) (Con)
Perhaps I could advise the House that this affects not only the ports in my constituency; it is also a partnership with the Ford plant in Dagenham. My right hon. Friend will be aware that there are employment challenges in that borough—it has a very high unemployment rate compared with the rest of London—and the freeport initiative opens up the opportunity for Ford to breathe life back into that site, given the redundant diesel technology that it currently produces. That will attract new investment from a global player. Should that not be welcomed?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I know how much of a champion she has been for the people of Thurrock and the surrounding areas in making sure that they have that opportunity. Indeed, there are opportunities right around the country. We will hear contributions later from Members representing the north-east, who will be championing, and are delighted by, not only the freeport in Teesside but the Treasury North campus in Darlington. I am sure that the Leader of the Opposition’s campaign director, who is now in the other place, will also be thrilled that Treasury North will be in Darlington.
Right across the country we are laying the platform for businesses to create jobs, and my Department is ready and primed—indeed, we are already delivering—as we put our foot to the floor, our pedal to the metal, on our plan for jobs. Over this year, as our economy starts to recover, my priority, and that of the Government, is getting people back into work, investing in skills and training, and helping people to get up the career ladder and increase their income.
We came into this pandemic with record high employment. That was down to successive Conservative Governments since 2010 focusing on supporting people in moving to and progressing in work, including by reforming the welfare system through universal credit, which is a Conservative benefit. Unlike the legacy benefits, whereby people would often be worse off working under tax credits and similar, universal credit is a benefit that always makes sure that work pays.
I am truly astonished that the Opposition continue to want to scrap universal credit, when it has clearly done its job of getting money into people’s pockets within days of their making a claim when newly unemployed, and given that 40% of UC recipients are working and it automatically puts extra money into people’s pockets when their hours are reduced, never mind the £20 uplift for covid.
Before I introduce Alison Thewliss, who is joining us remotely, I have some practical notes for those who are also joining remotely. Whatever device you are using, you should have a band at the bottom of it that informs you of the time limit. Currently there is a six-minute time limit on Back-Bench speeches from speaker No. 4, who is the person following Alison Thewliss. Just to the side of that, there is a timer. Because the time limit is six minutes, which is a luxury in recent times, please try to resist the temptation to stretch it beyond that, as you will not be allowed to do so. If your speech happens to be in front of the timer, then please use another timing device. For those who are joining us physically, the timer will be shown in the usual manner.
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It is a damning report card. Coronavirus may have closed large parts of our economy, but this Government crashed it.
Yesterday’s Budget was an opportunity for the Chancellor to make amends, to end the irresponsible decision making that has defined the past year, and to reverse the economic mismanagement that has defined the past 10 years. It should have been a Budget to rebuild the foundations, but it merely papered over the cracks. After the year that we have just had, it should have put the NHS and social care system front and centre, rewarded our key-worker heroes, and set out a plan to strengthen a system too often horribly exposed by the virus. But incredibly, the Chancellor made just a single mention of the NHS and said nothing whatever about social care. Worse still, despite saying that he would be honest with the country about the challenges that we face, he buried a planned cut of £30 billion in resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care in the fine print of the Red Book.
We know that, when it comes to the pressures on our NHS, this coming year will look different from the last—thank goodness—but it is extraordinary to think that there will be no ongoing costs, either as a result of the pandemic or of the backlog and waiting times that have built up. More than 4.5 million people are currently on the waiting list for treatment—the highest number on record. The Government are burying their heads in the sand, and it will be our NHS staff who feel the pressure from that denial of reality. Those cuts are an appalling reward for workers who have given absolutely everything over the past year to help our country through this crisis. It is hard to think of a greater long-term challenge than that of social care and yet, despite being almost two years on from the Prime Minister saying that he had a plan to fix the crisis in social care once and for all, this Chancellor and this Government had absolutely nothing to say about it.
As with health, so with education: the Government have planned zero additional covid-related spending for schools this coming year. It is extraordinary to believe that there will be no extra costs for our schools as they try to support a generation of schoolchildren who have missed such a chunk of their education.
That sums up this Budget: nothing to say on the biggest issues the country is facing; out of touch with what people are going through right now; and absolutely no plan for what to do next.
Let us take the jobs crisis. The Department for Work and Pensions should be straining every sinew to help get people into work, yet the kickstart programme that the Secretary of State oversees is helping just one in every 100 eligible young people. The restart programme for the long-term unemployed has not even begun and will not be operating at full capacity until this time next year, by which time unemployment is expected to have hit over 2 million. This Budget should have been a moment to get a grip on these failing schemes, to supercharge them so that they were doing everything possible to help those who have lost their jobs, and to give people a genuine jobs promise, as Labour has urged. But what did we get? We got tinkering around the edges with traineeships and apprenticeships, when we know that £330 million of apprenticeship levy funding is still sitting unspent, and a two-year programme to pilot the use of new technologies to help people find work. That is not a plan. That does not come near the scale of the response needed to help the 1.7 million people who were already out of work, or the hundreds of thousands more who risk losing their jobs in the months to come. Can the Secretary of State honestly look me in the eye and say that this amounts to a plan for jobs?
Moreover, where will the new jobs come from? With the hosting of COP26 this year and the eyes of the world upon us, the UK has an enormous opportunity to show how an active Government making smart investments can help us emerge from the economic crisis and meet our net zero ambitions at the same time. Labour has called for £30 billion of investment to be accelerated into the next 18 months to support the creation of 400,000 new green jobs, but, unbelievably, yesterday’s Budget took us backwards. The Government have actually cut half a billion pounds of capital investment from their plans for the coming year, and the green homes grant, the flagship programme of the Chancellor’s summer statement last year, seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth, after more than 75% of its funding was cut and it was found to have been costing jobs.
We needed a plan both to create the jobs of the future and to put in place employment programmes worthy of their name, to help get people into work. We got neither. So instead, the OBR predicts that we are on course to see unemployment rise to 6.5%, with more than 2 million people out of work. What is the Secretary of State choosing to do, just at the moment that the furlough scheme is set to end and joblessness peaks? She is going to cut £20 a week from social security, right when people need it most. She is going to take our out-of-work support back to the lowest level since the 1990s—to cut the lifeline. Is she happy with the Chancellor’s decision to extend the uplift to universal credit by only six months? Does she believe that that is in the best interests of people in this country, both in and out of work, who rely on that money? Is she happy with the decision to give those on working tax credit a lump sum of £500 and then nothing further? I ask, because she has previously said that there were big downsides to a one-off payment, and that previous experience is that,
“a steady sum of money would probably be more beneficial to claimants and customers”.
While we are focusing on the holes that the right hon. Lady’s Government have torn in our safety net, can she explain why her Government have chosen to cut statutory sick pay in real terms next year? It was already at one of the lowest levels in Europe, and her colleague the Health Secretary has already admitted he could not live on it. It has quite clearly acted as a major barrier to people’s self-isolating when required, as the Government tacitly admitted by bringing in a whole new payments system, with its own problems. So why on earth would the Government cut that support back even further in the middle of a pandemic?
Sadly, that is of a piece with the Government’s failure to understand what so many people are going through right now. The cut to universal credit that looms in six months’ time is just one part of a triple hammer blow that the Government are hitting families with this year. They have also frozen the pay of our key workers for everyone earning above £18,000—a real-terms pay cut—and they are forcing councils across the country to hike council tax by up to 5%.
The Labour party is clear on this: this Budget was not the time for tax rises. That view is shared by a range of economic experts, from the International Monetary Fund and the OECD internationally, to the CBI here in the UK. A triple hammer blow of tax rises and pay freezes now and a social security cut later in the year is not only incredibly unfair on families who have gone through so much, but economically illiterate. It means that those families will be forced to tighten their belts, to spend less in small businesses and on their high streets, and the recovery will take longer. Of course, that has all taken place while we have seen waste and mismanagement from the Government on an industrial scale—from £22 billion on a test and trace system that has not worked for months, to procurement rules being suspended, and those who have political connections being 10 times more likely to win contracts than those who have not.
Despite that profligacy for some, there is the prospect of further pain to come for others, with the Chancellor’s decisions yesterday combining with others since the start of the pandemic to mean £14 billion-worth of cuts to planned public service spending starting next year, rising to £16.5 billion after that.
The Chancellor promised “openness” and “honesty” at this Budget. Well, let me ask the Secretary of State for some openness and honesty now. Where are those cuts going to fall? Will they be felt in fewer police officers, fewer further education opportunities for young people, poorer quality social care for the elderly? What action will the Government take to protect people when their income tax personal allowance is frozen next year, especially once the right hon. Lady’s Department has taken away £20 a year from social security, when many of those in the public sector will have seen their pay frozen, when many other people’s wages are continuing to stagnate, and when council tax has, of course, increased? Will her Government be ready to look at this issue again in the next Budget if required? Why are her Government scheduling the freezing of the personal allowance to take place before increases in corporation tax?
People have a right to know what is waiting over the horizon, because it looks an awful lot like what has come before. It looks an awful lot like a return to a failed economic model that saw us end up with 3.6 million people in insecure work, 4 million children living in poverty, and one in four families with less than £100 in savings. That economic model failed even by its own measures. Severe and repeated cuts to our public services did not result in the Government meeting a single one of their legally binding fiscal targets. They did not stop national debt rising and nearly doubling before the pandemic hit.
We cannot go back to that broken model, with its crumbling foundations. The British people will not accept it. That is why the Budget should have been a moment to lay the foundations for the long term, with a relentless focus on supporting new jobs across the entire UK, supporting our high streets to thrive, protecting family finances, and backing our key worker heroes, but here the Government were singularly lacking in ambition. Labour had called on the Government to support the creation of 100,000 new businesses over the next five years, to harness the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit and set us on the path for growth. Instead, we got a so-called super allowance for investment.
We all want to see more investment in this country, not least because the Conservatives took us into this crisis with the lowest level in the whole of the G7, but the fact is that the new allowance is just the necessary consequence of the Conservative party finally acknowledging that its 10-year experiment with slashing corporation tax until we were an international outlier has failed. Two years ago, the Prime Minister said that
“every time corporation tax has been cut in this country it has produced more revenue”.
Yesterday’s Red Book told a more accurate story, predicting that the new rate would bring in £17.2 billion a year by the end of the forecast period. That is a damning indictment of a core tenet of Conservative economic policy making for the last 10 years. The fact is that by moving the rate back up in two years’ time, aligning us with our international peers, as Labour has long called for, the Chancellor has created a cliff edge that might otherwise have prompted firms to delay investment and further damage the recovery. Action to incentivise and protect investment right now is essential; it is not innovative.
The Chancellor’s grand plan for our future recovery had two further planks, of course: the levelling-up fund and freeports. On the first, we have once again seen the Government’s true colours. They have ridden roughshod over the principle of devolution by taking away control from Wales and Scotland to determine how money can best be spent in their nations, and devised a rating system that miraculously sees the Chancellor’s own constituency, and that of the Communities Secretary, placed at the front of the queue for funding. What people right across this country need is investment in their communities, based on local need, guaranteeing local opportunities and jobs and involving local businesses in the supply chain—not largesse handed out at the whim of Conservative Ministers in Whitehall.
Eight freeports do not add up to a grand plan for our economic future. They are not the silver bullet that the Chancellor would like them to be. There is a strong chance that they do not create new economic activity overall, but instead just move it around, which might be good news for those within a freeport area, but could be bad news for those who live nearby and see local economic activity drain away, and with it jobs and opportunities. We risk more regional economic inequality, which has already risen after 10 years of Conservative Government. On the subject of inequality, yet again the Government failed to provide an equality impact assessment alongside the Budget.
The British people deserve better than this. They deserved a Budget to put our country on the road to recovery; a Budget to rebuild the foundations of our economy; a Budget with the NHS and social care at its heart; a Budget that protected the finances of families across the country who have sacrificed so much over the last 12 months; and a Budget with a relentless focus on jobs, getting people back into work and supporting the jobs of the future—not a Budget from a Chancellor without a plan who has learned nothing from the last year, or the last decade, and who did nothing more than paper over the cracks, with nothing more to offer than the same tired policies that have led to us suffering the worst economic crisis of any major economy.
I am very conscious of what the hon. Member for Oxford East said, which is why we have undertaken significant work across Government on our labour market sector plans in working through the opportunities we can create, not only by resurrecting some businesses and sectors that have been temporarily affected by the lockdowns but to bring in new jobs. I particularly commend initiatives such as the freeports, which we know will be creating tens of thousands of extra jobs right around the country. I was delighted that Freeport East was successful, as it covers the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich, one of which is in my constituency. It was a great pleasure to work with businesses across Essex and Suffolk to make that happen, particularly with the creation of a green hydrogen energy hub. That is really important investment that will be coming now thanks to the freeport initiative, and I know that the same will be happening right across the country. I can see people in this Chamber, such as my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price), whose constituents will benefit from her ports coming together to be a freeport.
We know that we have a huge task ahead of us, but I am confident that we will deliver, fuelled by the firepower of our plan for jobs. Just as we have had the jabs army putting vaccines into people’s arms, we now have the jobs army of our work coaches, with an extra 13,500 recruited to bolster our support to help get people back into work.
In the jobs market, sadly it is the hopes and prospects of our young people that have been affected more than most. That is why we launched kickstart, a scheme that helps to give young people that first key step on the jobs ladder and offers employers effectively free access to the next generation of talent, as long as they provide an additional real job and job support.
I am concerned that the hon. Member for Oxford East and the Opposition are giving kickstart a bit of a kicking. Instead of slamming it, they should be supporting it. The Chancellor and I launched kickstart in September, the first young people started their jobs in November, and since then I am pleased to be able to share with the House that around 4,000 young people have started a job, with 30,000 vacancies to be filled in the next month, and there are more in the pipeline. More than 140,000 jobs have already been approved, with agreed funding, which is more than the 105,000 that the future jobs fund of the last Labour Government created over its entire lifetime—and we have achieved it more quickly.
This is not, however, a tit-for-tat on numbers; this is about real people and helping them with their lives, right here, right now. Take Cerys, for example, who is 19 and had sadly lost her job in catering last year. With the help of her work coach, Cerys has started a kickstart job with Northam Care Trust in North Devon as a care worker. In her own words, this has changed her life. With the ongoing interest from employers and our making it even easier for them to join kickstart with direct applications through DWP, I am confident that by the end of this year, we will have helped a quarter of a million young people become kickstarters, setting them up for a great future.
With kickstart getting into the fast lane, the rest of our plan for jobs is also firing on all cylinders. Recognising that some sectors may continue to struggle, we have doubled the number of places on our sector-based work academy programme—SWAP—scheme to 80,000 this coming year. SWAPs help jobseekers to upskill, retrain and find a route into a new sector with a guaranteed interview for a real job. We are also supporting people in their job searches through our job entry targeted support—JETS—scheme and our job-finding support digital offer, which is now operating across Great Britain, helping those who need only light-touch support.
These schemes are working for people in every constituency. Take Marius from north London. He recently lost his job in the hospitality industry after 15 years and was worried about his future prospects. His local jobcentre referred him to a SWAP, and, after completing just a two-week course to build skills and experience, he was offered a job in the care sector.
This summer, as we restart the economy, businesses will get their restart grants, and we will also restart people’s careers. The new £2.9 billion restart scheme will provide intensive help to over 1 million jobseekers who, sadly, have been out of work for over a year. But we are also helping our jobs army with further assistance by considering new tools to help them diagnose people’s skills and help transform their lives. As part of the Budget, we are investing just over £1 million to pilot the use of new innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence tools, to match jobseekers’ skills to vacancies they may not otherwise have considered. Work coaches and test sites will start signposting claimants to these services from August.
Also in this Budget, we have brought forward some measures that we know will help people still on low incomes. In particular, we are bringing forward to next month a measure that will allow universal credit claimants who request a new advance to help them with their budgeting to spread the phasing of that support over 24 months rather than 12. That will allow them to retain, on average, £30 more per month up front. We are also bringing forward a reduction in the maximum amount that can be deducted from a claimant’s standard allowance for debts such as rent or utility bills, from 30% to 25%. We expect that that will allow more than 350,000 families with the highest levels of debt to retain up to £300 extra per year.
On top of these measures, we are going further to help some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in society. We had already agreed to have exemptions on the shared accommodation rate for care leavers and people who have been in homeless hostels from 2023, but I am pleased to say—this is thanks particularly to the Minister for Welfare Delivery, my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince), who is here in the Chamber today—that we are bringing forward those exemptions by two and a half years, so that we will provide additional housing support for care leavers up to the age of 25, and for younger claimants who have spent at least three months in a homeless hostel, from next month. That will give them the stability and the foundation to take on the opportunities that work can provide, and will provide, to help them build their future.
We have also added a further £59 million of support for local welfare provision, so that the covid winter grant scheme will be extended into the Easter period, helping the most vulnerable families with the cost of food and bills.
My right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury will respond to some of the questions asked by the hon. Member for Oxford East, but it is fair to point out to the House that, among public services, we have already allocated an extra £55 billion of support; we have already initiated, or we are preparing for, the catch-up summer for children; and we will continue to invest in our public services. We are already increasing the number of nurses. We are increasing the number of police officers. I think the public pay uplift is for those people with salaries below £24,000, not the figure to which the hon. Lady referred. We are also making sure that the national living wage rises above inflation from next month.
The hon. Lady also pointed out aspects of statutory sick pay. She will be aware that that is the minimum rate required to be paid by employers; many pay a lot more than that. However, in recognising that universal credit supports people on low incomes, the Department of Health and Social Care introduced the self-isolation payment of £500 in order to help people who need to self-isolate and would otherwise be deprived, perhaps, of a lot more of their usual income. That is a sensible approach that we have taken.
It is important to say that, of course, in order to help control coronavirus infections, we had already changed the rules so that workers could receive statutory sick pay from day one rather than the eighth day of being off work, as well as extending it to people who are self-isolating rather than just sick themselves, so we have already taken measures in that regard to help others. In addition, I think it is an estimated £3 billion of extra support that has gone to local authorities next year to help manage the impact of covid-19 across their services and on their income. Of that, half is non-ring-fenced to ensure that they can adjust to what is needed.
The hon. Lady referred to some of the extra support that will be provided for towns and other places around the country, with the new town deals that are coming, the community ownership fund—which is particularly interesting—to help communities to buy local assets such as pubs and theatres, and opening up as we get ready for the UK shared prosperity fund. We are already setting the scene with the community renewal funds and the levelling-up funds. I think those measures should be welcomed.
Let us not pretend otherwise: as we reflect on 2020 as a wretched year when many people have lost family members, lost friends and lost colleagues, there is no doubt that the British spirit has been tested, but the response has been remarkable and, frankly, typical of the Britain I love. Our focus, with the successful vaccine roll-out, should be on giving hope and confidence to millions of families and businesses that there genuinely is light at the end of the tunnel. While the focus has rightly been on the jabs army, we are mobilising our jobs army to help people to get back into work as we speed towards our recovery.
This Budget builds on what is already one of the most generous and comprehensive economic packages in the world to provide further support and protection. We are ratcheting up our support. We will be super-charging skills. We will rebuild, revitalise and regenerate our economy and level up across the country. I am really looking forward on 21 June to toasting the victory of the vaccine over the virus, when we will get back to normal, building back better and building back fairer, with a brighter future for Britain.