The number of customers who had deductions from UC posted to non-UC debts on Debt Manager in October 2022 was 776,664.

The table below shows the benefit to which the deductions were posted. Note that the total number of customers who had deduction posted, will be fewer than the number shown in the table, as some customers will have had deductions posted to more than one debt in the month of October, the period covered by the table, e.g., one debt ended, and another commenced.

Please note that the numbers provided have been rounded to the nearest 10.

BEIS does not hold data on the total debt incurred by all businesses. However, UK Finance (a trade body for the banking and finance industry) does hold end of year loan balances, both private and government-backed, and overdraft balances for SMEs only and by UK regions. SMEs are defined by UK Finance as those businesses with total annual turnover under £25 million.

The total loan and overdraft balances for all UK businesses, including large businesses, was £279bn in 2018, £270bn in 2019, and £290bn in 2020 – a 3.2% decrease between 2018 and 2019, and 7.3% increase between 2019 and 2020.

Tables 1 & 2 below provide end of year breakdowns of loan and overdraft balances for SMEs only by region for 2018, 2019 and 2020; the most recent data available. Data by constituency is not readily available.

Table 1: Total SMEs end of year loan balance (£ billion & percent change from previous year)

Source: UK Finance

Table 2: Total SMEs end of year overdrawn balance (£ billion & percent change from previous year)

Source: UK Finance

On 21 October, the Government published a consultation document outlining its proposed approach to the regulation of Buy-Now Pay-Later products. The consultation document can be found at the following link, including details on how to respond: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/regulation-of-buy-now-pay-later-consultation.

The consultation closes on 6 January. Once the consultation has concluded, the Government will review responses and consider next steps.

The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Budget 2021, the Government has extended the temporary reduced rate of VAT of 5% for the tourism and hospitality sector. This relief ended on 30 September. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5% was introduced to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This new rate will end on 31 March 2022.

This relief will cost over £7 billion and, while all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to extend the 12.5% reduced rate of VAT. The Government has been clear that this relief is a temporary measure designed to support the cash flow and viability of sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It is appropriate that as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increases, the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced and then removed in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.

The Department regularly meets with representatives from across the Hospitality sector to discuss how it can recover and build back from the pandemic and we regularly review financial and economic impacts data for sectors. We have provided an unprecedented support package of £352 billion, including grants, loans, business rates relief, VAT cuts and the job retention scheme, which hospitality businesses have access to. We have published a new Hospitality Strategy: Reopening, Recovery, Resilience to ensure England’s pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues can thrive long-term. We are also working on new rules to ringfence COVID-19 commercial rent arrears and guide tenants and landlords to agree repayment plans.

The Government has announced that it will introduce legislation to support the orderly resolution of rental payments accrued by commercial tenants affected by non-pharmaceutical interventions during the pandemic, in this Parliamentary session.

The details of the process will be released in due course. We will aim to ensure that this is an impartial and manageable process which should only be used as a last resort when negotiations have failed and providing a faster and easier resolution than through the courts.

In the interim we expect businesses that are open and trading as normal to pay their full rent unless otherwise agreed as periods of normal operation will not be covered by further legislation.

The department does not hold data from which to supply the information requested.

The department does not hold data from which to supply the information requested.

The financial reporting requirements of academy trusts and maintained schools differ and therefore are not directly comparable. In the 2014/15 academic year, 113 academy trusts reported a cumulative revenue deficit in the August Accounts Return. This represents 4% of trusts submitting a return. At the end of the 2014-15 financial year, local authorities reported 944 LA-maintained schools with a deficit revenue balance. This represents 5.3% of such schools.

Further information on the financial position of these schools can be found in the financial statements of the academy trusts or for maintained schools the Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) returns.

To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past we have created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed. The FPC has taken action on loan-to-income ratios and mortgage affordability to ensure against a significant rise in the number of highly indebted households.

The government has taken action on household debt by establishing the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed.

The Government has fundamentally reformed the regulation of consumer credit, transferring regulatory responsibility from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA regime has been designed to strike the right balance between proportionality and consumer protection. The Government has ensured that the FCA has robust powers to protect consumers.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with, and receive letters from, a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

The government has taken action on household debt by establishing the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed.

Household debt as a proportion of income has fallen to 144 per cent in Q2 2015, from a peak of 168 per cent in Q1 2008. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past we have created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed. The FPC recently re-affirmed its view that, given the actions it has taken, household indebtedness did not pose an imminent threat to financial stability.

Household debt as a proportion of income has fallen to 144 per cent in Q2 2015, from a peak of 168 per cent in Q1 2008. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past we have created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed. Alongside this, the UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in 2014.