Growth plan 2022: The impact on SMEs

It has been another tough year for business owners and good news stories have been few and far between – but last week was rather better. 

With inflation on the march for the first time in many years and energy costs a major concern for all SMEs perhaps the most important news last week came out on Thursday with the announcement of the Energy Bill relief scheme that will run from 1 October to 31 March 2023 and which limits businesses’ energy price increases under any contract entered into after 1 April 2022. 

Then on Friday in his ‘mini-Budget’ the new chancellor confirmed many of the tax cuts that his boss had promised during the Conservative leadership campaign – and a few more besides. 

Perhaps the most important from a cashflow perspective was the reversal of April’s increase in NICs: not only will employers pay 1.25% less...