CPA urges Treasury to help hard-pressed hirers
9 March 2022
Ahead of the Spring Statement taking place later this month, the CPA has written to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging the Treasury to address economic concerns faced by the industry.
In particular, the association has made a strong plea to for an extension to the Super Deduction Allowance (SDA) and to make it permanent.
The letter states: “The CPA has very real concerns about how our members can plan for the future and invest in new technology and equipment, while simultaneously, dealing with the removal of the red diesel rebate that comes into effect at the beginning of April.
“Cost pressures within the construction industry continue, alongside the impact of Covid-19 and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine providing greater uncertainty for businesses.”
CPA chief executive Kevin Minton highlights four key areas that the chancellor should consider ahead of the spring statement on 23 March:
• To boost business investment and encourage the uptake of cleaner, greener plant, it is vital that hirers can claim the SDA, which they currently cannot.
• To extend the SDA and make it permanent. It is currently due to expire in 12 months’ time. This would help hirers purchasing equipment, including those looking to invest in electric or hydrogen powered machines.
• To delay the removal of the red diesel rebate for construction users given the current wider global uncertainty and continued volatility of oil prices.
• To instigate a fuel buy-back scheme for smaller companies affected by the removal of the rebate who serve customers in both the agricultural and construction sectors. This would partly offset the unrecoverable administrative costs caused by the loss of the rebate.
In the letter, Kevin Minton states: “Over the course of the last two years during the pandemic, the plant-hire industry has played a vital role in supporting the national effort in supporting the healthcare system, working at often breakneck speed by helping to build the ten Covid-19 temporary critical care hospitals throughout the UK.
“Projects that normally would take years of planning and development were being delivered in days. Our members, alongside their partners from right across construction and the NHS, worked together to tackle the biggest civil emergency since the Second World War. Yet as we look to recover and get back to business as usual, the sector is facing cost pressures that for some companies, might prove too much to bear.”
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