Compared to a year ago, that was a win. The Chamber has been calling for no fresh taxes on business after the shock National Insurance increase 12 months ago and the Chancellor largely delivered on that.
But there was still plenty to unpick for Chamber members who assembled at Stockton House at a roundtable event sponsored by Prime Accountants Group.
An increase in the minimum wage for under-18s, 18 to 21-year-olds and over-21s will, while not a tax, add to businesses’ cost base.
Tim Squires, commercial director at Squires Gear and Engineering, said: “For people who are on the minimum wage an increase is welcome and I understand how the cost of living has hit. But it does have repercussions.
“It doesn’t just mean salary increases for those on minimum wage, everyone else wants to maintain that gap so it means increases across the board.
“As soon as I heard those figures, I was making plans to put our prices up in January so we can maintain our profit margin. Other manufacturers will be doing the same and when you look at all of the other costs it is really hard to stay competitive with the rest of the world.”
Kate Hunter, managing director of Bear Cleaning, said: “Some of the headlines for consumers are that energy costs will come down, the two-child benefit cap is being lifted and they are generally bringing the cost of living down.
“For the consumer it feels better – certainly better than what we were preparing for. As a small business we don’t expect there to be too much for us anymore! But if it can give the consumer a bit of confidence, that is all we can hope for.”
The roundtable was covered by a range of media including LBC and the BBC and reporter Simon Gilbert was keen to catch up with Charnjit Saranna, of EZOO, on the back of the new tax-per-mile on electric vehicles.
EZOO helps businesses and their employees make the switch to electric vehicles through a salary sacrifice scheme which saves tax.
Charnjit believes the new tax could send out the wrong message, despite only being an additional £20 per month for the average driver.
Charnjit said: “We were expecting the three-pence-per-mile tax to be introduced which means it is still cheaper to drive an EV rather than petrol/diesel.
“It just feels like it's a bit too early to start taxing EVs in this way when we are trying to encourage people to make the change especially when the Government is trying to achieve its Net Zero target with a 2035 deadline of the transition from petrol to electric.”
Louis Washington-Smith, of Tetra Real Estate – part of Wigley Investment Holdings, said businesses had been holding off decision making ahead of the Budget.
He said: “I don't think there were any big shocks, which is probably a good thing. When you are trying to buy and sell properties there is sometimes and mindset of ‘let's just wait and see’, people are concerned there might be a big change that could be costly.
“It happens every time there is a Budget. It stunts activity. Now, we know what is in the Budget we’ll see what impact it has on confidence. It would have been nice to have seen some more help for small businesses.”
The often-used phrase after a Budget is that the devil will be in the detail but Paislei Godley, of Prime Accountants Group, was quick to point out measures that will impact business.
She said: “There were some interesting changes around salary sacrifice on pensions meaning there is a £2,000 cap, which will increase costs from 2029.
“There was a huge amount on tax to pick through and I noted, among many other things, that they are dropping the tax relief on employers selling into employee ownership trusts (EOTs).”
Paul Noon OBE, of Coventry University, said AI had a big part to play in closing the productivity gap that was mentioned at the start of the Chancellor’s speech.
He said: “I hope that the Budget makes businesses see that we can all benefit from AI. The UK might not come up with a ChatGPT or Google, but all of our businesses can reap the benefits of technology.”
Corin Crane, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, brought the roundtable to a close with a short, sharp summary of the Budget.
He said: “Ultimately, we didn’t want any more big shocks for businesses in this Budget after last year and, thankfully, it seems the Chancellor has avoided any of those this time.”
