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£250m government boost to take superfast broadband further and faster
An extra £250 million of government money for superfast broadband will help business start-ups and job creation in some of the South East’s hardest- to-reach rural areas.
Culture secretary Maria Miller has announced that the nationwide rollout is a key part of the Government’s long-term economic plan to secure Britain’s future by providing better access to superfast broadband, and in allocating funding the Government has worked to ensure as many families and businesses as possible benefit.
Local projects in the South East will now receive additional funding from a £250m pot, with the hardest-to-reach locations among those who stand to benefit most. This funding is in addition to the £1.2 billion already invested by central and local government and will ensure 95% of UK homes and businesses have access to superfast broadband by 2017.
The current rural programme will deliver returns of £20 for every £1 invested, representing tremendous value for money. As well as improvements in the productivity of broadband firms, faster broadband will create an additional 56,000 jobs in the UK by 2024, and the work involved in the current roll out is expected to provide a £1.5b boost to local economies, with approximately 35,000 job-years created or safeguarded over the period to 2016.
By 2024, the Government’s current investments in faster broadband will be boosting rural economies by £275m every month, or around £9m every day.
Over 10,000 homes and businesses are now gaining access each week, with this figure expected to reach 40,000 per week by summer this year. There are strong economic growth and efficiency reasons why local authorities should contribute
towards the cost of rolling out superfast broadband, and the additional £250m will be awarded on a match-funding basis.
Indicative funding for local authorities in the South East are as follows (figures in millions):
Berkshire Councils
Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Kent and Medway West Sussex Oxfordshire
Total
Superfast broadband allows families to use multiple devices simultaneously, so while parents are streaming a movie or their favourite television programme, their children can be uploading photos and videos to social media sites while downloading the latest track from their favourite artist. Businesses also stand to benefit from the roll out, which will facilitate video conferencing, boost processing power and increase productivity.
Miller added: “Superfast broadband will benefit everyone in the South East - whether they need it for work, to do homework or simply to download music or films. Thousands of homes and businesses now have access and it is helping people with their everyday tasks. We want to make sure that Britain is one of the best countries in the world for broadband, and the extra £250m we are investing will help ensure communities around the UK are not left behind in the digital slow lane.”
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said: “This government’s long-term economic plan is accelerating the roll-out of superfast broadband, to help narrow the digital divide and boost local growth. We are offering additional central government funding to councils
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – APRIL 2014
who want to work with us to help increase internet speeds for their local residents and local firms.”
Government also recently committed £10m to look at ways to reach those areas in the ‘final 5%’.
3.56 8.74 0.65 5.6
0.86 2.15
21.56 Details:
www.gov.uk/dcms
SSP reforms to impact businesses
From April 6, businesses lose the right to reclaim any statutory sick pay (SSP), which could result in some small businesses having to close, warns accountancy firm Baker Tilly.
Currently, employers pay a worker who has signed off sick £86.70 per week in SSP, and pay a replacement worker to cover the absence. Once the SSP exceeds 13% of the total national insurance bill for the period, employers can recover it under the Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS) – a relief scheme for small employers who cannot afford the SSP cost when too many workers are off sick.
However, from April 6, employers will have to pay the replacement worker’s wages and the SSP with no right of recovery. The PTS is being abolished to fund a new Health & Work Service, an occupational health service for small businesses to which any worker off sick for four weeks must be referred, once it is up and running, in late 2014 or early 2015.
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