The Spending Review, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer presented to Parliament on 25 November 2020, included an additional £1 million for the UK Games Fund, rolling it over for a further year.

Ukie, which is “delighted” with the announcement, said that over the last five years the UK Games Fund has supported over 100 projects and has built a community of well over 5,000 UK games developers. This work has created jobs, enhanced skills and promoted new and diverse teams, all of which has had a significant and positive economic impact, Ukie said.

Ukie continues to argue for an expansion of the UK Games Fund to “put rocket boosters under our fantastic sector”, and says that it will “push hard for this in the 2021 Budget and Spending Review”.

To help combat the loss of jobs during the pandemic and the expectation that unemployment will rise to a peak of 7.5% (2.6 million people) by the middle of 2021, the Chancellor announced nearly £3 billion of funding for the Department for Work and Pensions to deliver a three-year “Restart” programme. The Government is also concerned with preparing people for jobs of the future. To this end the Spending Review includes £291 million for Further Education in 2021-22 and £375 million from the National Skills Fund. This will support in-demand technical courses, training boot camps, traineeships, and sector-based work academy placements. The Chancellor also announced an additional £2.5 billion of funding for apprenticeships and improving the employer experience. Ukie says that it will continue to work with the Government, and in particular through the Creative Industries Council, to ensure that the games industry is able to make full use of this support.

Ukie also notes that, buried away in the National Infrastructure Strategy, which was published alongside the Spending Review, was a rowing back on the Government’s commitment to have “full fibre and gigabit capable broadband available for every home and business across the UK by 2025”. The National Infrastructure Strategy now says that the Government is aiming for a “minimum of 85% gigabit capable coverage by 2025”. However, the Spending Review also included £1.25 billion to support gigabit rollout and £200 million for digital infrastructure programmes, such as the Shared Rural Network and 5G Testbeds and Trials.

Ukie stresses the importance of high-quality digital infrastructure to the games industry, especially as the pandemic has accelerated the trend towards working from home. Ukie says it will continue to push the Government to be ambitious on the rollout of full fibre and gigabit capable broadband to boost the productivity of the whole UK.

The Chancellor also announced that just under £15 billion has been committed to R&D spending next year. Ukie says that the games industry is naturally innovative and undertakes novel and important research and development. Further, games businesses have been leaders in the development and deployment of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and much more beyond. Ukie will continue to work with the industry to access this pot to accelerate the games industry’s world leading research and development activity.

Ukie also notes the announcement of a £45 million fund for “digital technologies and data” that will aim to drive growth while promoting safety and security.

Finally, Ukie says that the Spending Review also served as the launch for a £4 billion “Levelling Up Fund”. This Fund will invest in projects around the UK chosen by local areas and will be required to have support from the relevant Member of Parliament.

Ukie says that the UK games industry is “uniquely placed to support the Government’s ambitions for the levelling up agenda with over 20 clusters across the whole of the UK – over 55% of game development jobs are based outside of London and the South East – contributing significantly to local communities”. Ukie says it will work with interested members to “ensure that the value of games can be boosted via the Levelling Up Fund”. To read Ukie’s summary in full, click here.