‘Punished in every way’: British firms say they’ll be worse off after the Budget
Most British businesses expect to take a hit from last week’s Budget in a damning verdict a week on from John Healey’s inaugural set-piece fiscal speech. As much as 52 per cent of firms expect their business to be worse off as a result of policies announced in the Budget, while one in five say they will be “much worse off.” Just 10 per cent said they expected to be better off as a result, while a third said they anticipated no real difference.
The findings, shared with City AM , were obtained from hundreds of small and medium-sized British business customers surveyed by Capital on Tap, a fintech providing business credit cards and spend management tools for SMEs. Hikes to the minimum wage were set to be the biggest Budget hit to firms’ finances, the survey found, with one in three reporting it as the biggest business impact. That was followed by higher tax on savings and property income (11 per cent) and business rates changes (9 per cent).
“There is no incentive to employ, work more or invest to grow. Business owners are punished in every way—risk out-ways reward,” one respondent to the survey said. Another added: “By keeping putting the minimum wage up, all this does is put prices up for businesses to cover the increase. The only entity better off is the government paying less benefits and collecting more tax.” Price rises ahead More than two in five (42 per cent) of businesses surveyed said they would be forced to raise prices for customers following measures introduced by the Budget, while 33 per cent said they would cut costs, such as staff hours, and 27 per cent said they planned to put investments or growth plans on hold.
Just four per cent of firms said they would invest or grow more than planned following the Budget, laying bare how underwhelmed business sentiment has been following Healey’s speech. The response from small businesses was “pretty negative,” Damian Brychcy, chief executive of Capital on Tap, said, adding that the “Budget has unsettled them.” “It wasn’t so much ‘Oh my God, this has made things so much worse’ but more ‘you don’t understand how hard it is, you’ve made nothing better’,” he said.
“It is a resilient sector that’s backing the tools that make it more productive, but it seems to be bracing rather than expanding.” Figures produced by the UK’s fiscal watchdog revealed that economic growth for 2026 had been revised down to just 1 per cent from its previous estimate of 1.6 per cent, while wage growth was set to slip into negative territory and spending on welfare would continue to rise as a share of GDP.
Left out here: One side gets the space
The article gives no response from the Chancellor or the Treasury. Coverage the day before reports John Healey defending the Budget as giving "breathing space" for firms, and saying he protected earned income and dividends reinvested in business. The article instead ends on the OBR's downgrades.
How we know
- Daily Mail reported“I promised a breathing space Budget, that's what I've delivered.”Chancellor slaps down his Treasury minister who claimed employers are 'not working people' - as John Healey insists his Budget offers 'breathing space' for firms (opens in a new tab)