Multimillion-pound support announced for UK chemicals, ceramics firms

(Alliance News) - The UK government has announced multimillion-pound funding packages for chemicals and ceramics firms which it said will support thousands of jobs.

A GBP350 million so-called critical chemicals resilience fund is aimed at supporting "strategically important" producers and sites, while a ceramics package worth GBP120 million will back energy efficiency, decarbonisation and long-term competitiveness.

Industry and unions welcomed the announcement as a "hugely welcome step" for energy intensive-companies.

Ministers said the funding is designed to help firms stay competitive, modernise infrastructure, decarbonise, and transition their energy supplies from gas to electricity.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said: "At a time of global uncertainty, it's never been more important to ensure Britain's resilience and back the industries our country depends on, and this funding will support thousands of jobs and put businesses on a secure footing for the long term.

"This is what a strategic state looks like: acting swiftly with targeted support in the national interest and giving certainty to the industries crucial to both our everyday lives and our economic future."

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "The chemicals and ceramics industries underpin our economic resilience and support skilled jobs across the UK.

"We have the right economic plan. It includes backing those workers, backing the communities that depend on them, and backing British industry for the long term."

Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association, said: "Today's announcement of a GBP350 million fund to be made available to chemical businesses underpinning our critical national infrastructure and wider resilience is therefore a very welcome first step in turning those words into action.

"Much is needed, both in terms of policy and funding support, to address the industry's energy, carbon reduction and broader regulatory costs, and the government's additional commitment to work in partnership with the industry to tackle those huge competitiveness challenges is also encouraging."

Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national officer of the GMB, said the union has been calling on the government to step-up support for energy-intensive industry, adding: "This is a hugely welcome step in the right direction and will be reassuring to workers in our chemicals and ceramics industry that the government is finally listening."

By Alan Jones, Press Association Industrial Correspondent

Press Association: Finance

source: PA

Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.