4 of the biggest budget points for UK engineering 03 Mar 2021 Professional Engineering Offshore wind, apprenticeships and innovation were big topics for engineering in the 2021 UK budget (Credit: Shutterstock) The 2021 budget was always going to be dominated by one huge issue – recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. “Repairing the long-term damage will take time,” said chancellor Rishi Sunak in the House of Commons today (3 March). Describing each one of the 700,000+ jobs lost as a “tragedy”, he announced an extension to the furlough scheme to September. Other measures for businesses included a new loan scheme and a £5bn ‘restart grant’ to help companies get back to work.