AUTUMN BUDGET 2025 – CPI’S KEY ASKS FOR THE PAPER INDUSTRY

The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) calls on Government to ensure the UK remains an attractive and competitive location for manufacturing investment. Representing a £15 billion industry that supports over 115,000 jobs, CPI stresses that spiralling costs, including energy, Business Rates, Employer NICs and water charges, threaten the competitiveness of UK paper manufacturing. With paper-based products offering sustainable, renewable, and recyclable alternatives to fossil-based materials, CPI urges a stable policy and fiscal environment that supports long-term industrial investment and recognises the sector’s critical role in delivering the UK’s circular economy and net zero ambitions.

To strengthen competitiveness and drive decarbonisation, CPI urges Government to act on energy costs, the highest in Europe, by reinstating capital support for energy efficiency through a simplified Industrial Energy Transformation Fund; and abolishing the Carbon Price Support mechanism. A new revenue support scheme is also needed to make electrification viable, alongside a Contract for Difference (CfD) style mechanism to align UK industrial electricity prices with European levels. CPI further calls for a one-year extension to the Carbon Price Floor Compensation Scheme beyond March 2026, with a successor developed from April 2027. These measures would help secure ongoing investment in UK paper manufacturing and reinforce the sector’s contribution to a low-carbon, competitive economy.