Chancellor sets out further support for industry in budget announcement

3 Mar 2021

Commenting on the Chancellor’s budget announcement today, Nigel Jenney, Chief Executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium said:

“FPC welcomes the extension of measures such as the Job Retention Scheme, grants for High Street businesses and restart grants. It’s good to see the Chancellor recognises that there is a long way to go for many businesses to start to recover from the pandemic.

However, those wholesalers which supply into the hospitality and foodservice sectors will still be reliant on their local authority to dispense available funds to those businesses which it deems need support. This could become a lottery for some businesses rather than a sure-safe means of protecting businesses from going over the cliff edge in the coming weeks.

Without guaranteed financial support some wholesale fresh produce, flower and plant businesses won’t be there to supply their customers when they want to restock and re-open. We ask all local authorities to be mindful of the wholesale and foodservice fresh produce businesses which supply their restaurants, pubs, hotels, hospitals and schools.

We also encourage market landlords to support their tenants proactively by influencing their local authorities to prioritise the sector and provide the necessary support consistently.”