Supplier Council – perspectives on the recent UK budget

As a general comment, we didn’t witness the introduction of any ‘aggressive’ taxation policies for Landlords or Investors, which we take positively as the Government permitting the continued expansion of the BTR and PRS sector(s).

• Manufacturing and Product Supply – Inflation remains a concern, and with the Government forecasting rates to be north of 4% by Q2 2022, we expect an impact on pricing. Whilst the Government are forecasting a Q3 2022 peak, it is hoped that inflation can quickly return to a more stable position of sub 2% as we push through the following calendar year, yet price uncertainty for raw products remains a point of discussion, alongside ongoing logistics challenges.

• Service Sector – The service sector has been particularly hard hit by post-Brexit labour shortages, and front-line service roles in the BTR sector have suffered from competition from the hospitality/hotel sectors in particular. The announced increase in the Living Wage from £8.91 to £9.50 ph in April will see costs increase circa 6% for roles such as cleaning, security, concierge, etc. across the BTR sector. Although it’s also to be noted that these rates still fall below the newly announced “Real Living Wage” of £9.90 National/£11.10 London.

• Building Back Greener:
  • 2030 target is set out to be 46% reduction on 2018 emissions
  • £30bn of investment into the green industrial revolution
  • £620m into supporting the transition to EV’s
  • £3.9bn on decarbonising buildings
  • £1.5bn into net zero innovation
  • £1.7bn into nuclear
  • £1bn into carbon capture