Chancellor unveils new scheme giving consumers 50% off meals out during August

During this afternoon’s summer statement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a new ‘eat out to help out’ discount for consumers, which will give them 50% off meals eaten out during August on Mondays to Wednesdays to a maximum of £10 per head.

Restaurants looking to take part in the new discount scheme will have to register with the Government. They will be able to claim the money back from the discount and the Chancellor stated that they will receive the refund within five working days. 

To further help encourage consumers to spend on food, accommodation and attractions, the Chancellor announced that the Government was cutting VAT on these products and services from 20% to 5%. The 5% VAT will start from Wednesday 15 July 2020 and will last for six months.

During the statement, the Chancellor also confirmed a temporary stamp duty threshold increase to £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland. This stamp duty cut comes into effect immediately and will last until 31 March 2021. 

To find out what stamp duty has to be paid on a property, buyers can use our stamp duty calculator. 

To help reduce the risk of long-term unemployment among young people, the Chancellor revealed the Government’s kickstart scheme. This scheme will pay businesses the wages and overheads of any employees they take on who are aged 16-24 and at risk of long-term unemployment. The jobs provided must offer a minimum of 25 hours per week paid at least at the National Minimum Wage. The Chancellor stated he expected the first employees under this scheme to start work in October 2020.

The Chancellor also stated that the Government will pay employers £1,000 to take on new trainees. As well as this, to encourage more apprenticeships, the Government will give companies £2,000 per apprentice recruited, with £1,500 given to companies recruiting apprentices aged 25 or over.

In the week leading up to the statement, the Chancellor disclosed a number of initiatives the Government would implement to help the economy recover from the Coronavirus pandemic. These include:

• Vouchers to a maximum of £5,000 for homeowners to make energy-saving home improvements increasing to £10,000 for low-income homeowners.
• £1.6bn in loans and grants to the arts and heritage sector.
• Doubling of front-line staff at job centres and recruiting extra career advisers.