BWF writes to Chancellor with wish list from the joinery sector

In the BWF’s latest submission to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, BWF Chief Executive Iain McIlwee has outlined proposals to ensure that the joinery industry can benefit from growth and called upon the chancellor to recognise the value of reforming current VAT and business rates policies in order to get Britain building and reduce the trade gap.

The letter, which was sent in advance of the Autumn Statement on December 5th, urges government to put measures in place to improve finance for manufacturers and ensure that poor cashflow doesn’t starve companies of the resources they need to grow.

BWF Chief Executive Iain McIlwee commented

“This year’s Autumn Statement must be about broadening the scope and sustainability of recent growth.  Policies like Help-to-Buy have been great at getting housing moving, but there remain some key questions – what happens when these schemes run out and are they driving price over supply?  Beyond housing, we need to support growth in areas like commercial and private housing RM&I.  This will be driven by confidence and through reform of outdated VAT and Business Rate policies.

"Access to finance is also critical, but we need to encourage investment to drive efficiency, embrace innovation and increase capacity in terms of both equipment and people – we simply cannot allow a situation where late payment is being used as a finance source upstream, leaving suppliers starved of the vital resources they need to invest in growth.

"We have an industry strategy for construction now that is designed to be a partnership between industry and government – for this to work we need to ensure that the principles are threaded through government policy and be reassured that Treasury are committed to supporting these principles – without this commitment, it is simply another sop to the construction sector.”

You can download the letter to the chancellor here.