Government pledges £500k to boost British services exports
Grants of up to £75,000 will be awarded to UK regulators and professional bodies as part of the Recognition Arrangements Grant programme
The government is set to provide £500,000 to help UK professionals, including auditors and accountants, export their services around the world.
Grants of up to £75,000 will be awarded to UK regulators and professional bodies as part of the Recognition Arrangements Grant programme.
The government said the fund can help them strike deals with counterparts around the world to “help make it easier, quicker and cheaper for UK professionals to have their qualifications recognised overseas”.
The UK is the second biggest exporter of services in the world, behind only the US, and the UK’s services exports are currently at a record high.
However, the government said that qualifying as an accountant or lawyer in the UK “doesn’t generally qualify you to practise abroad which means UK companies miss out on opportunities internationally”.
In light of this, it is pledging the £500,000 to help facilitate agreements which can reduce the need for professionals to gain additional qualifications in foreign countries or go through “potentially costly and burdensome bureaucracy”.
Minister for Trade Policy, Greg Hands, said: “Obtaining professional qualifications in foreign countries can be expensive and slow for professionals like lawyers and accountants who want to export their world-class services overseas.
“Part of the answer is to secure mutual recognition agreements between the UK and other countries, to acknowledge each other’s professional qualifications. This new round of funding will help open new doors for UK-qualified professionals, allowing them and their firms to focus on winning contracts, exporting their expertise abroad and growing their businesses.”
Executive director of Supervision at the FRC, Sarah Rapson, said: “The Recognition Arrangements Grant Programme has been invaluable in supporting the FRC to successfully secure mutual recognition of audit qualifications with New Zealand and Switzerland with more agreements likely in 2024.
“This will boost the UK’s audit market and further strengthen the UK’s close financial ties with key overseas markets. The funding has specifically enabled the FRC to utilise independent technical expertise to provide confidence in our assessment process and ensure UK audit quality is robustly upheld.”
