BALI welcomes positive forecast and support for education, but more is needed to deliver business certainty for the future

With today’s Spring Statement, BALI welcomes the reaffirmed commitment to delivering education, and particularly the importance of apprenticeships. BALI is working with government on numerous opportunities for education in the sector, including the Youth Guarantee, which aims to deliver training and a fully subsidised paid job for six months for qualifying 18–21-year-olds.

The chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced that inflation has fallen and living standards and the economy continues to grow. While this is positive for households, businesses are still struggling with the impacts from increases to National Insurance and changes to income tax and business rates, which put pressure on businesses. Long-term stability is welcome, however, more must be done to support businesses that are struggling with increased costs and employment pressures in the short to medium term.

While unemployment is set to rise to 5.3% this year, according to the OBR, it is still first-time job seekers who face some of the biggest barriers to entering the workplace. The landscaping sector has the potential to deliver ‘green’ jobs, from entry level to highly skilled workers, however, government support often does not extend to the landscaping sector. BALI continues to call on government to ensure that funding support includes the landscaping sector, as many of our members want to grow their businesses, but struggle with cost of labour and accessing appropriately skilled staff. Where the landscaping industry is supporting the delivery of government housing, infrastructure, and community targets, it should be able to access similar support around skills and employment offered to the construction sector.