Research into Access-to-Talent Issues Faced by Scale-Ups

Research into access-to-talent issues faced by scale-ups. The Government has a public priority to make the UK the 'best place to start and grow' a business. In his Budget 2021 speech, the Chancellor set out his expectation that EMI has a key part to play in this priority action. We require research to examine access to talent issues experienced by UK 'scale-ups'. It is an HMT objective to 'increase employment and productivity' and ensure 'strong growth and competitiveness' across the UK. EMI is intended to intervene where necessary to help companies with the potential to grow and develop to do so, on the basis that this creates greater levels of innovation and employment in the UK economy, thereby supporting the government and department's wider priorities and objectives. The Chancellor has asked us to develop policy options to potentially expand the Enterprise Management Incentives scheme to larger 'scale up' businesses. He pressed for policy options for Budget 2021. However, a lack of evidence of the need for further intervention prevented us from being able to offer effective options and will prevent the delivery of future changes if, as is likely, these interact with domestic subsidy control and/or State aid rules. This research will examine access to talent issues experienced by UK scale ups, through a combination of survey data and analysis of data gathered through surveying scale-ups and start-ups as well as available data on large businesses.