The Agricultural Price Index (API) is a set of indices of the prices paid and received by UK farmers for agricultural goods and services.

• Treasury launches pilot of new PrizeSaver account on International Credit Union Day

• Savers who put away as little as £1 with participating credit unions have chance to win up to £5,000 a month

• Account is part of work to raise awareness of credit unions and encourage greater saving for the future

Savers could now win up to £5,000 a month with the launch of a new account with credit unions today (Thursday 17 October).

To mark International Credit Union Day, the Treasury has teamed up with 15 credit unions across Britain to launch the new PrizeSaver pilot account. The pilot will give people who open an account with participating credit unions the chance to win prizes every month and boost their savings.

Every month will see a top prize of £5,000 awarded to the winning saver, with a further 20 smaller prizes of £20 also awarded. Accounts are available now with the first wave of credit unions and the first prize-draws will take place in mid-December.

The pilot, announced at last year’s Budget, is designed to help improve people’s financial resilience by encouraging greater saving for the future, as well as raise awareness of credit unions and the services they offer.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, said:

We all know that saving for the future is important and I want to make it as easy and attractive for people as possible.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with credit unions, on International Credit Union Day, to launch the new PrizeSaver account pilot, giving people the chance to win up to £5,000 on their hard-earned savings.

Credit unions provide an invaluable service for people up and down the country and I’m pleased that together we can give more people the chance to win while they save.

Credit unions are a type of member-owned cooperative, controlled and run by members. Most either serve specific local areas or certain professions like the police. Credit unions redistribute their profits to members through interest or dividends, or by investing in new services to meet the needs of their members.

Fintech company incuto was appointed by the Treasury earlier this year to administer the pilot and work with credit unions to ensure they can operate the account. The move is part of the government’s drive to use innovative UK fintech companies to boost financial inclusion.

The PrizeSaver pilot is designed to encourage new and existing credit union members to save, starting with as little as £1 a month. The pilot also aims to attract new members to credit unions, who play a vital role in financial inclusion in particular as an alternative to high-cost lenders.

The account is partly inspired by the ‘Save to Win’ scheme in the US, which has helped credit union members save $200 million and has awarded $3.1 million in prizes nationwide.

The pilot will run until the end of March 2021 and will help inform understanding of the PrizeSaver model. The Treasury will work with participating credit unions to evaluate the success of the PrizeSaver accounts throughout the pilot, with an ambition to roll the account out more widely if successful.

Previously published copies of the monthly National Statistics publications on the activity of UK hatcheries and UK poultry slaughterhouses

Monthly statistics on the activity of UK hatcheries and UK poultry slaughterhouses.

Four pilots to encourage refugees to establish businesses have been launched across the UK today.

The pilots are part of a 1 year programme jointly funded by the Home Office and The National Lottery Community Fund, which will be overseen by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE).

The 4 programmes will be based in Bristol, Belfast, the East of England and Staffordshire.

Working directly with refugees and established local businesses, the pilots will deliver tailored start-up programmes that will take refugees from the idea stage to the launch of their business.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

The UK has world leading resettlement programmes which provide sanctuary to thousands of the most vulnerable refugees every year.

It is vital that these refugees are given the best chance to flourish. This project will help them to build businesses and make a real success of their new lives in the UK.

Mark Purvis, Deputy Director England at The National Lottery Community Fund said:

By putting people in the lead and championing entrepreneurship, this project, made possible by National Lottery players, will support refugees to fulfil their potential and thrive.

Centre for Entrepreneurs chairman Oliver Pawle said:

We are grateful for support from the Home Office and The National Lottery Community Fund in helping us realise the vision we set out in our report last year.

The Centre for Entrepreneurs is excited to work with the delivery partners over the coming year to help over 100 refugees into entrepreneurship and to prove that tailored business support strengthens integration.

Offering a good geographical spread across the country, the 4 programmes have been selected because of their track record in delivering business startup support.

The programmes will be overseen by CFE and a national expert advisory group including representatives from the Home Office and The National Lottery Community Fund, refugee entrepreneurs, and experts from the academic and voluntary sectors.

ACH will engage with over 100 refugees in Bristol and the West of England. Building on a previous research project, ACH will support refugees new to entrepreneurship; business owners ‘just about managing’ and looking to strengthen their foundations; and ambitious entrepreneurs looking to scale up.

East Belfast Enterprise will offer those taking part access to professional development sessions, enterprise training, startup bursaries and mentoring support. The pilot will provide support to develop networks within the community, so that even if self-employment is not for them people will have access to further education and other employment opportunities.

Serving the urban centres of Peterborough, Ipswich and Norwich, MENTA will provide the participating refugees access to workshops, mentoring and peer-to-peer support groups which will be led by local role models. This pilot will primarily target refugees who ran businesses in their home country, developing their expertise for the UK.

The Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce will provide comprehensive support for 40 refugees and will build on extensive experience in business support. Drawing on their networks, Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce will also deliver mentoring support via volunteer entrepreneurs. They will also share the results of the project with the network of 52 accredited Chambers of Commerce across the country.

Refugees in the UK have access to mainstream benefits and services to enable their integration and departments across government are working to ensure services meet their needs. This new pilot will allow refugees to move forward with the process of integration, which was the focus of the government’s Integrated Communities Action plan published in February 2019. In the action plan the government committed to increase integration support for all refugees in the UK, with one of the key focuses being employment.

As part of that commitment, the Home Office, in partnership with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration, Business in the Community and the Department for Work and Pensions recently launched ‘Tapping Potential’ – guidelines for British businesses on employing refugees. The government is also committed to continuing support for the Refugee Employment Network, whose vision is to enable every refugee in the UK to gain appropriate, fulfilling, paid employment or self-employment.

The pilot will cost £360,300; £210,150 will be covered by the Home Office and the remaining £150,150 will be covered by The National Lottery Community fund. The Centre is working with academic partners to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the pilot so that, if successful, it can be implemented more widely in the future.