Today the Chancellor set out a series of tax and economic measures in the Spring Budget 2017. From a sport and recreation perspective the key elements of his announcement include:
Business rates
The Government has listened to the concerns raised by us and many other sectors about proposed increases in business rates and the impact on local businesses including community sport and recreation clubs. The Chancellor has announced a consultation on more frequent revaluations and a package of relief measures totalling £435m. The measures include:
· £110m additional funding to assist businesses losing Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR). Under the proposed arrangements, businesses losing SBRR will see increases in bills capped at a maximum of £50/month,
· A £300m discretionary relief fund for local authorities to support the hardest hit.
While this is welcome, we remain concerned that not all sports clubs will receive support through these measures and that many may still be hit by significant increases in business rates.
Soft Drinks Industry Levy and school sport
The Chancellor confirmed the Government will fund Department for Education (DfE) with the full £1billion committed under the Soft Drink Industry Levy (SDIL) to fund school sport and healthy eating, despite falling projected revenue from the levy as a result of product reformulation. This is a very welcome guarantee of considerable funds to make sure children and young people will have access to high quality school sport and we look forward to working with the Government and our members to make the best use of this funding.
Corporation tax and grassroots sport
Government has confirmed it will provide corporation tax deductibility for contributions to grassroots sports, including spending by sports governing bodies. In a welcome move – and following pressure from the Alliance – Government has also announced that the legislation been amended to extend deductibility for subsidiaries wholly owned by sports governing bodies.
Other announcements
Independent businesses below the VAT threshold have an extra year, until April 2019, before Making Tax Digital is mandatory. Making Tax Digital is part of the Government’s plan to modernise the tax system. This is a welcome step – particularly for many small, unincorporated grassroots sports clubs – and will provide extra time to prepare for digital record keeping and quarterly updates.
Commenting on the Budget, Emma Boggis, CEO of the Sport and Recreation Alliance said: “We welcome the Budget announcements made today and in particular the guarantee of £1billion soft drinks levy funding for DfE. This is a significant commitment to improving the school sport offer which we must capitalise on as a sector.
“We are also pleased Government has listened to us and extended corporation tax deductibility for grassroots contributions to subsidiaries of sports governing bodies. This will provide welcome flexibility and is a boost to grassroots investment.
“The additional package of reliefs announced to address business rates increases is also encouraging but we will need to analyse the proposals in more detail to see how many grassroots clubs will benefit.”
Member Budget Briefing Spring 2017
The Sport and Recreation Alliance and the physical activity sector have published an open letter to the Government on the impact of Pathways to Work on disabled people and activity levels across the UK.
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Here, we seek to update you on some of the key workstreams we’re focused on, as well as provide an overview of the ways in which you, our members, can foster more inclusive, equitable, and diverse environments for your organisations, including advertising some of the training options we provide (at discount!) and job postings too.
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Here is an end-of-week wrap on some key workstreams we’re undertaking for you, our members, that we want to bring to your attention. It covers a number of important pieces of information for consideration or action.
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