FDF’s Spring Budget Submission

Overview of the Recommendations:

Drive growth and productivity

1. Ensure the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is sufficiently funded given its new responsibilities – critical for UK food safety and innovation.
2. Broaden the eligibility criteria and accessibility of R&D tax credits and grants to incentivise healthier product innovation.
3. Establish a UK-wide Reformulation for Health Programme.
4. Target financial incentives through a Food and Drink Manufacturing to increase the uptake of robotics, automation and digital technologies.
5. Reform the Apprenticeship Levy to allow use of levy funds on shorter, modular training. To widen Apprenticeship participation, remove the functional English and Maths skills requirement.
6. Make ‘not for EU’ labelling optional in Great Britain rather than mandatory.
7. Work with us to set up a dedicated UK trade information portal to support SMEs.
8. Deliver the UK’s Single Trade Window (STW) in a timely manner, using international best practice.

Creating a Sustainable Food System

1. Simplify the application process and increase the future budget of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF).
2. Expediate the consultation process on the future phase of the Climate Change Agreements and include decarbonisation in future targets.
3. Work with industry to deliver a world-leading Extended Produced Responsibility (EPR) scheme.
4. Set out a timeframe for implementing consistent collections in England (with equivalent policies in the Devolved Nations) by October 2025, including plastic films collections by no later than March 2027.
5. HMRC to allow mass balance accounting to unlock investment in chemical recycling.
6. UK Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) must go ahead as soon as practically possible with alignment on scope and date across UK.