By Douglas Grant, group CEO of Manx Monetary Group
Expensive Chancellor Reeves,
As you put together on your Autumn Funds Assertion on 26th November, we urge you to put the vitality of Britain’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the coronary heart of your financial agenda.
Latest analysis paints a sobering image: practically a 3rd (30%) of UK SMEs have needed to pause or halt elements of their enterprise resulting from funding shortages. One in ten, regardless of in search of funds, couldn’t entry exterior finance. In the meantime, progress expectations have climbed sharply over the previous 12 months, from 25 % to 38 %, and SMEs preserve that, with enough assist, they might broaden by as much as 13 % within the subsequent 12 months. It’s clear: supporting SME progress is crucial to the nation’s financial restoration.
But, macroeconomic headwinds and financial uncertainty threaten to undermine that optimism. In accordance with the Financial institution of England’s newest Resolution Maker Panel survey, between June and August 2025, UK companies shed jobs on the quickest tempo in 4 years. Including to the strain, markets are jittery: borrowing prices have soared to their highest since 1998, contributing to a projected £50bn finances shortfall and fuelling hypothesis of latest tax measures, starting from a windfall levy on banks or playing, to adjustments in inheritance, capital positive factors, and gasoline duties. Such rumoured measures may tighten the squeeze on SMEs at a second when stability is important.
In mild of those issues, we suggest 5 centered coverage priorities to catalyse SME resilience and progress:
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Diversify markets and handle forex dangers
Rising enter prices and export pressures, exacerbated by world commerce volatility, are actual threats. Authorities-backed commerce missions and export finance, particularly geared toward Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, will help SMEs pivot. Assist for ahead contracts, multi-currency banking, and hedging instruments ought to be expanded by Treasury, the British Enterprise Financial institution, and banking companions to stabilise margins.
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Strengthen provide chains and digital scalability
With geopolitical tensions disrupting commerce, UK SMEs can place themselves as agile different suppliers. Encouragement for near-shoring, multi-sourcing, and funding in AI-enabled logistics and real-time monitoring would enhance supply-chain resilience. Digital providers exports and cloud-enabled fashions, with sturdy cybersecurity, will unlock alternatives within the UK-India hall and past.
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Unlock finance and capital funding
Persistent excessive borrowing prices and inflexible phrases hamper SME enlargement. Reforming government-backed mortgage schemes, lowering credit score prices, and enabling digital underwriting by way of different lenders would broaden entry to capital. Extending full expensing to incorporate inexperienced tech, digital infrastructure, or AI, or introducing a focused funding super-deduction, would additional encourage productivity-boosting funding.
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Modernise taxation and pension frameworks
The present enterprise charges system stays an impediment to decarbonisation and native regeneration. Reform, comparable to land worth taxation or focused innovation reduction, may ease these burdens. On the identical time, mobilising defined-contribution pension capital into UK scale-ups, infrastructure, and innovation may each safe savers higher returns and gasoline progress. Enhancing R&D credit for AI, biotech, or clear tech, alongside a Inexperienced Innovation Tax Credit score modelled on the US, would additional strengthen incentives.
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Launch a nationwide digital abilities accelerator
Amidst price pressures and workforce constraints, SMEs wrestle to recruit and retain expertise. A UK-wide digital and technical abilities accelerator, with employer-driven AI, inexperienced, and engineering coaching, would tackle these gaps. Aligning such programmes with industrial technique entities ensures that the UK’s future abilities wants are met.
Trying forward
Chancellor, hypothesis round tax rises and financial tightening, even amid your pledge to not elevate revenue tax, VAT, or NI, has already dampened enterprise and shopper confidence. SMEs are bracing for additional uncertainty, and confidence is deteriorating. The Autumn Funds presents a pivotal second to reset the SMEs’ trajectory, by unlocking finance, enabling market diversification, incentivising funding, and empowering abilities improvement. In doing so, you may rework fiscal uncertainty from a barrier right into a fulcrum for renewed prosperity. We stand able to assist you in making certain that SMEs, and the communities they anchor, thrive as Britain strikes ahead.
