MakeUK BDO Manufacturing Outlook 2023 Q

Much of the Forecasts have chased the swell of confidence and industry has become hoarse from bellowing down the ebb of anticlimax, washing up on the shore of the passages of Whitehall, and despite only a handful 2024 eroded to just pea-sized growth prospects for of measures delivered so far, the indication that the the year ahead. [...] quarter of the year a ‘blip’, this positive signal in such an In the previous quarter, the third quarter of 2023, output important metric is an encouraging sign for the sector as it turned rapidly flat, moving on from two consecutive enters 2024 in what remains to still be a high-interest rate quarters of moderate positivity in the first half of the year. [...] under a tenth of a percentage point, the latest forecast The subsector’s output forecast has been revised for the subsector signals a decline of -5.4% in output upward by approximately a tenth of a percentage in 2023, but with a modest return to growth in 2024 of point to 7.1% growth in output for 2023. [...] PLUGGING THE SKILLS GAP AND LABOUR SHORTAGES INVESTMENT ZONES Many announcements also sought to address As a sector with significant representation throughout shortcomings in the supply of labour which is a common the supply chain in the regions, the announcement issue across the manufacturing space. [...] The sector had made calls for the government to go further including a full Manufacturers need certainty in the tax environment review of the apprenticeship levy and tax reliefs for to support their long-term investments in the UK.