The Mayor and city leaders deliver on plans to boost London’s growth – but urge more government support

• The Mayor of London and London Councils mark one year since launch of London Growth Plan with a call to Ministers to support businesses.
• London leaders have made significant progress, including millions committed to develop high streets and infrastructure and ensuring Londoners can access the skills employers need in a fast-changing jobs market.
• However, businesses are still struggling with soaring costs and London is urging government to re-examine business rates thresholds.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Chair of London Councils Cllr Claire Holland have hailed the progress made in boosting the capital’s economy in the 12 months since the launch of London’s Growth Plan, as they urge Ministers to take action to ensure economic growth can continue.

Last February, the Mayor and London Councils launched London’s Growth Plan with London’s growth agency London & Partners, businesses, universities and others, with the aim of helping to create 150,000 jobs by 2028 and boosting the capital's economy by £107 billion by 2035.

The plan focused on supporting high streets and businesses, developing infrastructure, boosting innovation and ensuring Londoners have the skills employers need to continue competing in a global workforce.

The Mayor, London Councils and London & Partners have brought together key leadership organisations to drive forward a shared growth mission for the first time, led by a Growth Mission Board made up of representatives from boroughs, business sectors, universities and trade unions.

Key achievements since the London Growth Plan launched a year ago include:

• The Mayor and London Councils launched the Inclusive Talent Strategy, to support Londoners into good jobs and address skills shortages, removing employment barriers for underrepresented groups - including disabled people, ethnic minorities, and older workers - while strengthening skills in sectors like AI and green tech. To support the delivery of this work, the Mayor has announced an investment of £147.2m to kickstart a skills revolution in London.
• Sadiq announced a new Future of Work Taskforce to identify what skills employers need to ensure London can continue to compete in a global market. A new £20m pot of funding is being allocated to take forward recommendations from the Taskforce and roll out free AI training to all Londoners later this year. 
• At least half of London’s boroughs – and two sub‑regions – have launched or refreshed local growth plans over the past year, embedding the ambitions of the London Growth Plan at a local level. A key focus has been strengthening business support for London’s small and medium‑sized enterprises, and supporting residents to access London's exciting employment and skills opportunities.
• Since its launch, London & Partners’ Grow London Local programme reached more than 37,000 entrepreneurs. In Q3 (Oct-Dec 2025), the programme reached over 31,000 entrepreneurs and helped over 5,000 to access business support.  
• London boroughs are accelerating efforts to revitalise local high streets, creating safer, more vibrant neighbourhoods and boosting opportunities for residents and businesses. In Islington, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) supported the Council to launch Jeans Café, a surplus‑food café powered by donations from local businesses and run by local chefs – that has already served 900 low‑cost meals and involved over 500 residents in community food and low‑waste workshops. In Richmond Upon Thames, UKSPF investment is supporting public realm upgrades to the local town centre, including the first Centre Stage Festival in 2025, which turned the high street into a traffic‑free cultural space and boosted local trading by a third.
• Seven London boroughs will each receive £1.5m during 2025-26 and 2026-27 under the Pride in Place Impact Fund. The fund can be used to create and improve community places, enhance public spaces and revitalise high streets and town centres. In Croydon, the funding will deliver park improvements across the borough, including community spaces, upgraded play facilities, and safter lighting and paths.  Alongside this shorter-term funding, the government has committed up to £20m to be invested in Harold Hill East in Havering and New Addington North in Croydon for longer term investments over the next decade.
• The Mayor is supporting these local area improvements through the new £20m High Street Support Fund. £12.4m has been invested into improvements in five key London high streets, already underway (Hoxton, Neasden, Lewisham, Ilford, and Croydon) and the Mayor is also offering 12 boroughs £50,000 to develop a strategy for their own local economy – alongside supporting them to manage empty high street units and bring them back into use, or auction them off.
• The Mayor’s record £1.16 billion funding from City Hall has doubled the number of police officers in the West End and brought in an extra 90 officers in hotspot areas across the capital to tackle antisocial behaviour, thefts, phone robbery and shoplifting in key areas – resulting in an 89 per cent increase in the number of shoplifting cases being solved in London. In South London, Croydon is deepening partnerships with the Metropolitan Police and the Business Improvement District to trial facial-recognition technology as a deterrent to repeat offenders – alongside joint patrols and better business-police coordination.
• The Mayor continues to invest in vital new infrastructure for London, as partners secure the Government’s commitment to extend the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead. This project will create thousands of jobs and bring much-needed housing, development and revitalisation to the local area.

However, despite the progress made by partners in delivering these commitments, businesses across the city still need more support.

Sadiq is urging Ministers once more to re-examine business rate thresholds which would better support small and medium sized firms in central and inner London.* Small and medium sized firms account for 20 per cent of all businesses and provide 40 per cent of all jobs yet only a small proportion of those are eligible for small business rates relief (SBRR). The Mayor believes Government should consider reforming it to recognise the impact of higher rents and costs in London and ensure it is targeting support effectively and is still fit for purpose.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “A year ago we launched a bold plan to turbocharge economic growth and prosperity in the capital. Working together with councils and businesses, our goal is to grow the economy in every corner of our city over the next decade. And we’ve made significant progress in supporting high streets and businesses, developing infrastructure and ensuring Londoners have the skills employers need to compete in a global workforce. We are on track to develop to deliver our commitments and create thousands more good, future-proof jobs for Londoners and boost our economy.

“However, following a period where businesses have had to contend with Brexit, the pandemic and soaring inflation, more support is needed. I urge the Government to re-examine business rates thresholds and consider reforms which would take into account the considerably higher costs businesses in London face, and ensure business rates relief is still providing much needed support. Small and medium sized businesses are a vital part of London’s economy, and I will continue to do everything I can to help them thrive as we build a better, more prosperous capital for everyone.”

Claire Holland, Chair of London Councils, said: “Since the launch of the London Growth Plan last year, boroughs have continued to play a critical role in boosting inclusive economic growth across the capital. We’ve seen 14 councils renew or launch their own local growth plans, ensuring the ambitions we set out in the London Growth Plan are embedded in the work we are doing as boroughs. 

“Alongside that, we’ve ensured communities are at the heart of London’s new Inclusive Talent Strategy to help unlock 150,000 new jobs. We've also launched five new employment support trailblazers to help young Londoners and people with health conditions into work, and continued to invest in revitalising our local high streets. 

“We will continue working with the Mayor of London to put our London Growth Plan into action, hand-in-hand with our business, education and civil society partners, to ensure all Londoners benefit from the inclusive economic growth we want to create.” 

Laura Citron, CEO of London & Partners, said: “The Growth Plan has created real momentum across London. Thousands have pulled together to shape fresh new approaches to big challenges like talent, infrastructure, supporting entrepreneurs, and London's global promotion. Alongside that we've been winning investment and helping thousands of companies to grow. As the Growth Plan moves into its second year, we're looking forward to getting stuck in to making these new plans a reality."