Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has welcomed the Chancellor’s move to introduce a number of measures to support small businesses, whilst acknowledging an improved and staggered approach to implementing some of the changes.

Louisa Harrison-Walker, SCCI’s Chief Executive, said that this budget began to offer much needed support to SMEs in Sheffield, and across the UK, but more still needs to be done to genuinely kick start the growth the country needs to see.

“Before this budget we, at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called for the Chancellor to offer help to SMEs – which represent over 95% of our region’s businesses – who were hit hard by last Autumn’s budget. While this budget hasn’t gone as far as we hoped, there have been some positives.

“Immediate positive takeaway for small businesses is the announcement that the Government is introducing funding to make training for under-25 apprenticeships free for SMEs. Not only does this remove a significant cost of hiring apprentices for smaller organisations, but it also helps them compete with larger companies to attract younger talent.

“Other positives include the permanent lowering of business rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties, and closing the customs arrangements that allowed some online retailers to import their goods duty free – this will help local businesses as they will no longer be undercut by online retailers.

“The Chancellor also announced £13bn worth of funding to metro mayors to ‘invest in skills, business support and infrastructure’. South Yorkshire represents one of these regions so this is a welcome investment, one that may help offset years of underfunding.”

The removal of the two-child benefit cap is a positive step. It’s something people may not directly associate with ‘business’ but it will help to build a stronger, healthier and more skilled workforce of the future. We know through our own social value work that children who are raised in poverty have their life chances significantly hampered, they are 20% of the population but 100% of the future. Plus, this policy will support parents who make up a large portion of our current workforce.

Despite these positives, there were many challenges that SMEs face that weren’t addressed, “There were also some important measures that were omitted from this budget, namely no VAT threshold reforms and minimal mention of major infrastructure projects that represent catalysts for growth across the region and the country.

The increase to the living wage and the pension salary sacrifice cap – on top of the National Insurance Contribution (NIC) increase from last year’s budget – represent additional running costs which are difficult for many SME’s t shoulder right now.

Louisa said: “In an economic environment that SMEs are already struggling to survive in, increasing the National Living Wage adds an additional cost that small businesses are expected to absorb.

“On top of that, coming down the track is the new pension salary sacrifice cap which will hamper small businesses’ ability to recruit and retain staff further increasing their costs. However, unlike the NIC increase, the Government has given businesses time to prepare for this change as it won’t come into effect until 2029.

“The Chancellor said: ‘Our job is to make Britain the best place in the world to start up, to scale up, and to stay.’ This is a sentiment that we strongly agree with at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and we hope the Government continues to build upon this commitment in the months to come.”