Key points for small businesses in the Budget

Yesterday the Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the first Labour Budget for over 14 years.

Here are some of the key points for small businesses:

From April 2025, Employers' National Insurance contributions will increase by 1.2 percentage points to 15%. The secondary threshold, the point at which employers start paying National Insurance on a worker's salary, will be cut from £9,100 a year to £5,000.

However, in a move designed to protect the smallest employers from the National Insurance rise, the Employment Allowance will increase from £5,000 to £10,500 which the Chancellor says means 865,000 small businesses won't pay National Insurance.

From April 2025, the minimum wage for employees aged 21 and over will increase by 6.7% to £12.21 an hour, equivalent to £1,400 a year for a full-time worker. Minimum wage for workers aged 18 to 20 will rise by 16.3% to £10 an hour.

Elsewhere, around £1bn will be provided to the British Business Bank in 2024-25 and 2025-26 to ‘enhance access to finance for small businesses’.

Finally, the Government said it will publish a Small Business Strategy Command Paper next year, setting out their vision for support for small businesses.