As the Chancellor prepares to deliver the Budget on 28 October, our message as a funder of UK SMEs is simple: give British businesses the confidence, stability and financial headroom they need to invest, recruit and grow.
Every day, we speak to business owners who are ambitious, resilient and ready to move forward. But too many are being held back by rising operating costs, pressure on cash flow, uncertainty over taxation, increasing regulation and the challenges of accessing affordable finance.
Businesses don’t want handouts. They want a government that recognises the pressures they face and creates the conditions in which they can succeed.
While the indications are that John Healey will introduce measures designed to support business growth, many SMEs are faced with navigating an environment where costs continue to rise whilst revenue is challenged and payments from customers are taking longer. For business leaders, the challenge is not simply profitability. It is maintaining enough working capital to operate confidently, invest in growth and withstand unexpected disruption.
We are calling on the Chancellor to prioritise seven key measures in this Budget:
- Reduce the cost of employing people. Rising employment costs are making businesses think twice about recruitment. Targeted employer National Insurance relief would encourage businesses to create jobs, invest in skills and support economic growth.
- Increase shift to reducing regulatory burden. Regulation is a key concern for business. The most significant piece, the ongoing workplace reforms linked to the Employment Rights Bill, are expected to increase the administrative burden on the stretched resources of UK SMEs. The current shift towards Regulating for Growth should be expanded to focus on common sense pro-business changes.
- Deliver stability and certainty. Avoid unexpected increases in business taxation and provide a clear, long-term roadmap. Business owners make investment decisions years ahead, and confidence is undermined when the rules continually change.
- Remove Business rates uncertainty. Proposed business rates reforms aim to rebalance the system, but periods of transition can create unpredictability. Changes to valuations, relief schemes and payment obligations make forecasting more difficult, particularly for businesses operating on tight margins. There is quite rightly a focus on the leisure and hospitality industries, but business rates are an increasingly challenging issue for all businesses with premises.
- Encourage investment through meaningful tax incentives. Maintain and strengthen incentives for investment in equipment, technology, premises and productivity. Businesses need confidence that investing today will deliver a sustainable return tomorrow.
- Ease cash flow pressures. Address late payments, improve payment practices across government and larger organisations, and consider more flexible arrangements for businesses managing tax liabilities. Cash flow remains one of the biggest challenges facing otherwise successful businesses.
- Improve access to affordable business finance. Expand government-backed lending and guarantee schemes, particularly for SMEs. Viable, growing businesses should not be prevented from investing simply because traditional lending criteria are too restrictive.
Growth starts with confidence
As a business finance provider, we see firsthand the difference that access to funding can make. Whether it’s supporting day to day operations, purchasing equipment, expanding premises, taking on employees, businesses are willing to invest in their future when the conditions are right.
But finance alone cannot solve the problem if the wider economic environment continues to erode margins and discourage investment.
Our message to the Chancellor is clear: don’t make it harder to do business in Britain. Make it easier to grow a business in Britain.
Give SMEs the breathing space to recover, the incentives to invest and the confidence to plan ahead. Because when British businesses thrive, they create jobs, strengthen communities, generate tax revenues and drive the economic growth the country needs.
This Budget must be about backing the businesses that will deliver Britain’s future prosperity — not placing further burdens on them.
