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<p>Farmers are eligible to the same support as any other member of the public. The
Government recognises the challenges facing households due to elevated costs of living,
so has taken action so has taken action at Spring Budget 2023 to go further to protect
struggling families.</p><p> </p><p>The Government extended energy support by keeping
the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 for three months from April, saving households
an additional £160, bringing total Government support for energy bills to £1,500 for
a typical household since October 2022.</p><p> </p><p>Alongside this, further steps
are being taken by the Government to support households with the rising cost of living
by ending the premium paid by over 4 million households using prepayment meters across
the UK, introducing 30 hours of free childcare per week for working parents with children
aged 9 months up to 3 years in England alongside a substantial uplift to the hourly
rate paid to providers and market reforms, cancelling the planned increase in fuel
duty and keeping rates at current levels for the next 12 months, and increasing Draught
Relief.</p><p> </p><p>This is in addition to the benefits uprating and support for
vulnerable households announced at the Autumn Statement, which included new Cost of
Living Payments in 2023-24, helping more than 8 million UK households on eligible
means tested benefits, 8 million pensioner households and 6 million people across
the UK on eligible disability benefits. The Government also announced at the Autumn
Statement additional support to help with the cost ofrtgar household essentials, through
the Household Support Fund in England.</p><p> </p><p>Taken together, support to households
to help with higher bills is worth £94 billion, or £3,300 per household on average,
across 2022-23 and 2023-24 – one of the largest in Europe. The Government’s successful
economic strategy will provide further help. The Bank of England forecast that inflation
will fall to 5.1% by the end of 2023, before falling close to target by the end of
2024.</p><p> </p><p>Hard-working people are the backbone of our economy. That is why
last year the Government increased the national insurance starting threshold by £2,690,
taking around 2.2 million working people out of paying national insurance. It is now
possible to earn over £12,500 a year without paying any tax or national insurance. While
the Government has prioritised Cost of Living support for those most in need ensuring
we act in a fiscally responsible way, significant universal support has been made
available, for example through the Energy Price Guarantee.</p><p> </p><p>As we move
away from the EU’s bureaucratic Common Agricultural Policy towards a new system of
rural payments, the Government recognises that the Agricultural Transition will create
challenges for some farming businesses. To support these changes, and to give farmers
the best chance of benefiting from our reforms, we are providing support to build
resilience during the early years of the transition.</p><p> </p><p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-free-business-advice-for-your-farm"
target="_blank">Future Farming Resilience Fund</a> is designed to provide free business
support to up to 32,000 farmers and land managers in England during the early years
of the agricultural transition (until 2025). Initial feedback from participants indicates
that the support on offer has helped them identify alternative options to increase
income and/or reduce costs and diversify activities and income streams and consider
options for succession planning.</p><p /><p>One of the key required outcomes for Resilience
Fund is that farmers’ mental health and wellbeing are supported. Some delivery providers
are offering this support from in-house experts and others are signposting support
available from external expert services. We have worked with the Yellow Wellies charity,
to provide advice and information on how to identify potential mental health issues
and provide tools for addressing them.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Prime Minister
set out a new package of support for farmers to help strengthen the long-term resilience
and sustainability of the sector and provide greater stability for farmers following
a difficult period caused by global challenges. Many farmers have also already applied
for £168 million of grant funding available this year to support investments in productivity,
animal health and welfare and the environment.</p>
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