Monthly Lobbying Update – April 2022

Welcome to your BOSS lobbying update for April 2022.

Political Update

The war in Ukraine continues to dominate headlines, as the UK imposes new sanctions with a focus on Russia’s biggest bank and coal and oil imports.

At home, the parties are gearing up for the local elections on 5 May. In England, more than 4,000 councillors in 146 councils are up for election in major cities including Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and all 32 London boroughs. All seats in 22 local councils will be contested across Wales and 32 in Scotland. Northern Ireland will elect its Assembly of 90 members also on 5 May, though under the mandatory coalition requirement it may take some time to form an executive.

You can use this tool on the BBC to check whether locals are happening in your area and if they are, find out who’s running.

The Lib Dems kicked off their election campaign yesterday with a pledge to temporarily reduce VAT to 17.5% (saving households around £600 a year) to help counter the cost of living crisis. Labour’s launch was last week, also focusing on household bills.

And at time of writing, the energy strategy promised today hasn’t yet been published…keep an eye on the news section of the BOSS website!

Government News

Spring Statement 2022

The Spring Statement took place on 23 March, having cemented its place in the Parliamentary calendar as an opportunity for the Government to both respond to and shape the economic environment. With recent Statements and Budgets firmly establishing a COVID-focused response, this was the first in two years to break the mould. Instead, it was heavily influenced by the war in Ukraine and its impact on the UK economy.

There were many measures which will impact business, including freezing the business rates multiplier, extending the current level of Annual Investment Allowance and increasing Employment Allowance. Visit our website for the full breakdown of the Statement, what it means for print and our media comment.

With inflation’s impact on the cost of living being a major talking point, check out our Economist Kyle Jardine’s Inflation 101 if (like me!) you need a handy explainer.

Extended Producer Responsibility

We shared the news in last month’s update that EPR implementation would be delayed. On 26 March the Government published its response to the consultation and announced that the changes being made to the plans are:

EPR will be implemented in a phased manner from 2024, rather than 2023.
Modulated feed based on recyclability will be introduced from 2025, rather than 2024.
The Packaging Waste Recycling Note (PRN) system will continue.
The threshold for producer recycling obligations and disposal cost payments will be maintained (at £2m turnover and 50 tonnes of packaging handled each year). However, a lower threshold of £1m turnover and 25 tonnes of packaging handled each year will be introduced for producers to report packaging placed on the market only.
All compostable and biodegradable packaging will be required to be given the ‘do not recycle’ label, allowing time to build the evidence that it can be safely collected and composted separately.
A Scheme Administrator (SA) will be appointed. It will start to mobilise in 2023 and will be fully operational in 2024.
The EPR scheme will be reviewed after two years of its operation.

Moving goods between GB and the EU

If you import or export to EU countries, the latest webinars from the Cabinet Office might be useful.

There’s a webinar for a range of different countries you or your customers might be trading with – click the link below if you’re doing business with that country.

They’re then broken down with further webinars covering different types of goods.

Bounce Back Loans – repayment flexibility

If you took out a Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan you’ll now have greater flexibility to repay it. You can now tailor payments according to individual circumstances, for example extending the length of the loan from six to ten years or making interest-only payments for six months. All repayments can be delayed for a further six months on top of the original one year period, meaning you can choose to make no payments on the loans until 18 months after you took it out. If your lender has not reached out to you to discuss the new flexible payment options, get in touch with them if you would benefit.

Activity Roundup

Plastic Packaging Tax

Plastic Packaging Tax has landed and with our partner BPIF, we’re still working hard to ensure affected members are informed and ready to act. You’ll find the latest updates and guidance on our website and our partner BPIF has provided links to the HMRC’s Stakeholder Toolkit and their own (much more easily digestible!) guide Plastic Packaging Tax – What is PPT?

If you have any questions please email the BPIF Plastic Packaging Tax Helpdesk [email protected].

Meanwhile, research by YouGov for Veolia has revealed that three quarters of British businesses were still unaware of Plastic Packaging Tax at the end of March.

The survey found that only a fifth (22%) of the manufacturing and retail businesses asked had already opted for recycled content in their packaging. It also found that the majority of British retail and manufacturing businesses also support an escalator in percentage of recycled content threshold (63%) and cost charge (50%) as an incentive to use recycled content.

Paper shortages ongoing

With our partner BPIF we continue to keep the Government up to date, working with both the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. We’ve passed on the latest news and our concerns. The strikes at UPM paper mills are ongoing, with a further extension announced to 30 April. The action started in January and this is the sixth time the strike has been extended. Check the March edition of this Update for more detail on our response.

Contact

If you have any other public affairs issues you’d like to discuss, please contact Carys Davis, Public Affairs Adviser, at [email protected].

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