Design Council responds to Chancellor’s Winter Economy Plan

On 24 September 2020, Chancellor Riski Sunak announced the next steps of the UK’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. In response Design Council’s Chief Executive, Sarah Weir OBE, said:

"Whilst we welcome additional measures to support self-employed people, freelancers and SMEs – who form a major part of the design sector, we know there are many others who are still unable to access such support. This must be addressed by government urgently. Design is essential to our economy, generating £85.2bn in GVA across all economic sectors in 2016, just 25% less than the entire insurance and financial services. However, projections show the pandemic could see this shrink to £42bn in the creative industries alone. This doesn’t take into account the 68% of designers operating in non-design industries such as aerospace, automotive and construction. As the government’s 2019 election manifesto made clear, design is one of the key sectors across the economy in which “we can generate a commanding lead”. Now is the time to put design at the heart of the UK’s recovery."