Industry calls for Government to set 15% GDP target for UK manufacturing to deliver £142 billion for the UK economy
Make UK forecasts such growth would result in a £142billion boost for the UK
economy
9 in 10 manufacturers think Government should introduce a national
target to grow manufacturing’s share of GDP
Over half of companies (52%) say they are planning to grow their
business by over 20% in the next 5 years
Around a quarter (24%) intend to expand their business by up to 20%
and one in five (18%) have plans to grow up to 10%
By growing their business over one in five (21%) said employment
would increase by over 20%
Nearly one in five (19%) said staff numbers would grow by up to 20%
and a third (35%) said employment would increase by up to 10%
To fulfil these ambitions Government needs to create the right
business environment
46% said greater incentives to investment would help them grow their
business including extending the super deduction and permanent
increase of the Annual Investment Allowance
28% said greater investment in apprenticeships would make a big
difference to their ability to grow while 23% said improved
infrastructure would kick-start growth
On the UK’s first National Manufacturing Day, Make UK is calling on Government to set an
ambitious target for the country’s manufacturers to deliver a 15% share of UK GDP, up from
10% this year.
To mark the day, Make UK has published a short bulletin, Manufacturing: State of the
Industry, the Potential for Growth which suggests that growing manufacturing’s contribution
from the current 10% to 15% of GDP would deliver £142 billion to Britain’s economy and
would help to achieve the Government’s desire to level up large swathes of the country.
Today Make UK calls on the Government to work with industry to develop a reinvigorated
Industrial Strategy to help turbo-boost untapped potential. This comes as these latest
figures, reveals that just 75% of companies have not heard of the Government’s ‘Plan for
Growth’, which Ministers heralded earlier this year as the replacement for the long-awaited
Industrial Strategy, which laid out a long-term growth plan for manufacturing in the UK.
Manufacturers have told us they are ready to grow, but they cannot do this alone – they
need the right support from Government to create the correct business environment to
enable companies to thrive.
When we asked manufacturers to pick the top three initiatives to help them grow their
business in the next five years, companies put incentives for investment top of the list, with
investment in apprenticeships second and stronger local industrial strategies coming in third
place for 27% of manufacturers. Greater support for exports was also seen as key, with 22%
of companies surveyed telling us greater power for local leaders making good local decisions
for business was key.
To kickstart growth ambitions across Britain’s manufacturing sector and give companies the
confidence to make bigger and bolder decision, Government should:
Make the Annual Investment Allowance increase permanent
Expand the R&D tax relief scheme to include capital expenditure
Reform the Apprenticeship Levy to make it work better for business
Create a business rates scheme that helps, not hinders business investment decision
Deliver simple bespoke export support to business including improving access to
local market knowledge in new export markets
The super-deduction should also be extended to kick-start investment until a generous and
long-term capital allowance scheme is introduced. This could be a permanent increase to
the Annual Investment Allowance or full expensing, as currently proposed by the Treasury.
Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK said:
“Government has already identified manufacturing as a growth sector and has done much
to support it, firstly through incredibly challenging environment of the pandemic and with a
series of measures to help the sector bounce back as trade started to normalise.
“However, to further tap into the growth, agility and resilience Britain’s manufacturers have
shown over the last two years, imaginative solutions are needed to make sure the full
potential is reached. It is not an overly ambitious target to say that manufacturing can grow
to deliver 15% share of UK GDP, but Government does need to help companies be confident
enough to make big investment decisions by helping with some key incentives such as
making the Annual Investment Allowance increase permanent and expanding the R&D tax
relief scheme to include capital expenditure.”
Some 13% of manufacturers told us that help for investment in digital technologies would
also enable them to speed up their growth plans. Cutting edge technologies such as 3D
printing, artificial intelligence (AI) among others are transforming the sector, with
investment turbo-boosted during the pandemic. Lower costs, increased productivity and
achieving carbon emission reduction are some of the benefits manufacturers are already
seeing, but help for companies to further invest in capital equipment to speed up
decarbonisation would also simultaneously deliver a productivity boost through better,
more efficient processes and equipment.
Companies also cited difficulty in accessing finance as a major barrier to growth.
Britain’s manufacturers are already major players in the global export market, but to help
speed up expansion into new lucrative global markets, Government should quickly expand
its export support programme to give on-the-ground advice in new markets to help
companies make the right export decisions and get the most from the available
Read the full report here: https://www.makeuk.org/insights/publications/manufacturing-state-of-
industry-the-potential-for-growth
