What the Winter Economy Update means for business

Following the Prime Minister’s announcements on 22 September, all eyes were on the Chancellor to outline his vision for further business support as we head into Autumn with additional restrictions in place. The government and the Chancellor have been adamant that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) would not be extended. But as the summer came to an end, the need to avoid a cliff edge when the CJRS ends at the end of October became evident as well as further measures to support firms with cash flow in Q3 and Q4 of this year.  

The CBI – publicly as well as behind the scenes – has been building a strong evidence base for further government support and for the past few weeks has been ensuring those messages were being heard at all levels of government. We publicly called for a successor to the CJRS, made the case for extending the loan schemes and talked about the need for further tax deferments. So