Federation of Small Businesses calls for government support for firms in East Anglia
It comes ahead of the Chancellor's latest budget announcements next week
Last updated 15th Mar 2022
Many small businesses won't be able to survive if the government hikes up National Insurance contributions in next week's Spring Statement.
That's according to the Federation of Small Businesses who are calling on the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to cancel the proposed £18bn increase set to be announced on 23rd March.
Candy Richardson is Development Manager at the Federation of Small Businesses, and spokesperson for the East of England. She said: "We really need the government to reconsider whether now is the right time to introduce the National Insurance contribution increase.
"It will obviously impact on employers as well as employees and we estimate that for our small businesses in the East of England that will cost around an extra £430 million.
"That's £430 million that can't be invested in growing our small businesses, in creating new apprenticeships or new employment opportunities."
She said it was worse following Coronivirus, too: "This comes off the back of at least two years of so many challenges due to the pandemic.
"Small businesses were hoping to look to this year to recover and start growing, but actually many are now looking to be on the brink of collapse.
"It's that stark."
She also wants more support for businesses' energy costs: "Businesses don't have any energy cap in place, so some of our small businesses in the region are seeing their energy costs go up by double, sometimes triple and it's just unsustainable.
"We want to see a measure similar to the energy rebate that we're seeing through the Council tax system for the business rates and tax system to support our micro businesses."
Candy went on to say that some small businesses feel ignored by the government: "There is a feeling amongst the small businesses that I speak to that they're not getting the support they need.
"All the government's attention is focused on supporting the bigger corporations...
"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy - over 99% of our UK private companies are small businesses, and three out of five people are employed by a small business, so they contributes a huge amount to our economy and to our communities.
"The government must get behind them now and support them to enable them to continue to operate and thrive in the future."