Budget: 'Tough times' ahead for Teesside businesses and charities
Chancellor Rachel Reeves made her Budget announcement yesterday
We are hearing the Budget is going to result in tough times for small businesses and charities across Teesside.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves made the announcement yesterday.
Jason Maxwell, Manager of the Business Improvement District in Stockton, said: "There's tough times for small businesses in many areas and I think that'll have an affect on people, even when you look at energy and other things as well as what's going on now. I think it'll be tough.
"To put up National Insurance contributions is always difficult because it's another cost that employers have to pay. It might not seem like an awful lot, but actually it's another cost that employers probably should've been expecting but might not have been, so it all adds to the bottom line for the employers which is never a good thing when the well's drying up for a lot of small businesses.
"If the 40 percent in business relief rates is a big change, it might mean that that pushes many businesses back over that threshold, so where they haven't had to pay previously, that might mean they have literally thousands of pounds more to pay than they might have done, and those that have small contributions, they might double.
"From the point of view of minimum wage for example going up for employees that's great, but it does mean that some people will have more money to be able to spend while they're out and about, which means it might push more people into shopping etc. There's a balance to be had.
"Lots of businesses are doing OK and they're managing to tick over. Whether or not these will push them over the edge or not, we don't know at the moment. I have every faith that we have some amazing business leaders in Stockton and our independent businesses will do what needs to be done without affecting their customers, so I think they'll do a fantastic job."
Meanwhile, we are also hearing the new price cap on single bus fares will be 'devastating' for a lot of people across Teesside.
Rita Lawson is the chief executive of Tees Valley Rural Action and she says it is going to affect social mobility, especially within the older population.
The Government said it is going to cost £3 from the 1st of January until the end of 2025.
She added: "This is going to have a significant impact not just on rural families but on urban families as well. They're already struggling. Increasing that social mobility and to get to work, they're now going to think 'oh, well we can't have the heating on for this long, we'll have to change the way that we eat.'
"It's going to be really devastating for a lot of people and I don't want to see our older population feel that they can't get out and about because of this increase. Even now they're worrying about how can they get to hospital appointments? How can they afford to heat their homes? 'I can't have three meals a day.'
"There could be an increase in like families not being able to afford to pay for their children to go to school. We're already looking at making attendance at schools everyone's concern, so if we start reducing people going to school because parents can't afford to pay the bus fare, not everyone is fortunate to have a car in the family to be able to drive their children to school.
"We keep saying we want to net zero, but if we don't encourage people to use public transport and to make it affordable, then people are just not going to take any notice. They'll continue to jump into their car. Yes, there's times when you have no choice, but public transport should be affordable, accessible and easy to use."