The Chancellor has the opportunity to set out in this Budget a plan which would be good for jobs, good for growth, and good for economic prosperity in communities right across the country.
Central to that needs to be clear support for the millions of innovative, dynamic and hard-working small businesses and the self-employed.
Small firms provide jobs for more than 16 million people in communities in every part of the UK. They’re the most likely to give opportunities to the hardest to reach parts of the workforce, such as those who’ve been out of work for caring responsibilities or long-term health conditions.
It’s vital that increases in employment costs are accompanied by support for small employers to meet those additional costs. That’s why FSB has been calling for a substantial uplift in the Employment Allowance, to ease the level of tax on jobs in small firms.
Other business costs also remain high at a time when many small businesses have still not rebuilt the reserves they had to use to get them through the worst periods of the pandemic. Decisive action from the Chancellor to support small firms when it comes to business rates would be welcome, releasing money for jobs and investment rather than taking it away in what is essentially an analogue tax in a digital age.
Those who take the risk to go-it-alone and set up their own business should be recognised for the investment – both personal and financial – that they make, and more people should be incentivised to do so as a way of growing the economy overall. Therefore we’ve been urging the Chancellor to maintain entrepreneurs’ relief, so those who’ve poured their heart and soul into running a business don’t have the rug pulled out from underneath them.
