techUK Growth Plan

Ahead of the Chancellor's Autumn Budget, techUK is excited to announce our Growth Plan.

Despite tight fiscal conditions, investing in the tech sector can yield substantial returns. techUK stands behind the Government's mission to harness economic stability and grow the economy. To support delivery on this, our Growth Plan brings together some of techUK's top recommendations for growth.

Our Plan has been developed with our members and follows the launch of our UK Tech Plan (2023), and our Seven Tech Priorities Report (2024).

In this Plan, we set out how backing the UK tech sector will ensure growth for the benefit of every UK nation and region.

We call for the Government to build the right foundations, empower the competitiveness of the economy, and support the industries that will define the economy of the 2030's by shooting for the stars.

These ideas are backed by practical interventions that consider the fiscal position the Treasury finds itself in during the early stages of this Government.

The UK tech sector is the UK’s modern economic success story, with its Gross Value Add (GVA) contribution to the economy rising by over 25% from 2010 to 2019 and now exceeding £150 billion per year. techUK’s own members employ 1.1 million people and had a combined turnover of £329 billion in 2023 with an estimated annual growth rate of 10%. The UK’s tech sector has also consistently grown faster than the wider economy, with the sector reaching a combined market valuation of $1.1 trillion in Q1 2024.

Not only this, the tech sector, and digitisation, is integral to the growth of all sectors across the economy. Virtually every other business sector has a ‘growth plan’ predicated on greater digitisation and the use of new and emerging technologies like AI and the cloud. Digitisation further enables inclusion and lowers barriers to accessing often critical public services for businesses and individuals, flowing through to economic growth. This is not only directly because of investment in digital services, but due to the impact use has on total factor productivity

techUK and our members call on the Government to continue aiming high, keep pace with technological development and maintain the Government’s ambitions for investing in research and innovation to meet our economic challenges. This is a pivotal moment, and we need to send out a clear signal that the UK intends to invest in the industries that will define the next decade of the global economy.

Key actions in our Growth Plan include:

Build: get the foundations right, including the skills, digital adoption, infrastructure and investment incentives to boost productivity and enable firms to grow.

Reform the planning system to enable billions of pounds of new investments in digital infrastructure, including for artificial intelligence, across all regions of the UK.
Improve the performance of the UK’s R&D tax credit and set out a five-year plan to reform an underperforming HMRC, improve take up and expand the coverage of the R&D tax credit. This will encourage more businesses to invest in R&D and receive a return of £2.70 for every £1 spent on R&D support.
Provide a boost of up to £232 billion to the UK economy by encouraging digital and AI adoption across the UK’s SMEs. Do this by setting out a comprehensive digital adoption strategy and identifying a Minister responsible for increasing digital adoption by 2030.
Deliver the new Growth and Skills Levy and work with the tech sector to create a Digital Skills Toolkit. This will increase digital skills provision across the UK and encourage a more diverse and inclusive tech sector.

Empower: take a place-based approach to develop tech clusters and improve the quality and efficiency of our public services to deliver better outcomes for UK citizens.

Reform the processes for public procurement to create more opportunities for UK scale-ups and SMEs to access contracts to provide Government technology projects.
Deliver on the recommendations of the Harrington Review to create a more joined up investment offer with the support of Metro Mayors and Devolved Governments.
Create a Connected Hubs programme, similar to the scheme run in Ireland, opening remote and co-working locations across the UK.

Shoot for the stars: shore up the UK’s competitiveness by leveraging economic growth opportunities and capitalising on our unique advantages, including in net zero, AI and quantum.

Deliver a new AI Strategy, sitting alongside the UK Industrial Strategy, to unlock the full benefits of AI technologies, potentially raising UK GDP by 10.3%.
Establish a permanent commercialisation of Tech Taskforce within the Regulatory Innovation Office to run focused policy sprints and help commercialise new and emerging technologies.
Maintain the planned increase in the UK public R&D budget and support critical technologies such as quantum and semiconductors.
Create a tailored scale-up support offer to help close the UK scale-up gap.

The Government is currently grappling with multiple challenges, from boosting economic growth and supporting public services to tackling climate change. Despite tight fiscal conditions, investing in the tech sector can yield substantial returns. We can seize this opportunity by recognising the tech sector as a driver of growth and change, but this requires Government action to stay ambitious, keep up with technological advancements, and continue prioritising investment in research and innovation to tackle economic challenges. This is a crucial moment for the UK to signal its commitment to investing in industries that will shape the global economy over the next decade. The Growth Plan presents practical examples of how the Government can build the right foundations for growth, empower the competitiveness of the economy and support the industries that will define the economy of the 2030’s. These ideas are backed by practical interventions that recognise the fiscal position the Treasury finds itself in, in the early stages of this Government.

Julian David, CEO

techUK

For more information please contact:

Julian David

CEO, techUK

Antony Walker

Deputy CEO, techUK

Neil Ross

Associate Director, Policy, techUK

Samiah Anderson

Head of Digital Economy, techUK

Mia Haffety

Policy Manager - Digital Economy, techUK

Oliver Alderson

Policy and Public Affairs - Team Assistant, techUK

techUK's Policy and Public Affairs Programme activities

techUK helps our members understand, engage and influence the development of digital and tech policy in the UK and beyond. We support our members to understand some of the most complex and thorny policy questions that confront our sector. Visit the programme page here.