Highlights of the Spring Budget for Suffolk Businesses

Initial Suffolk Chamber response to the Spring Budget 2024

Matt Moss, chair of Suffolk Chamber’s Economy Group and chief executive of SMART Modular Buildings:

“After an average Autumn Statement for businesses comes a Spring Budget that, at first glance at least, offers little new for the county’s business owners and management teams. Anticipating this in advance, most businesspeople are likely to be responding to the Budget with an initial, weary shrug.

“On behalf of our thousands of members and the wider business community, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce has been strongly advocating for longer-term planning from Government, better infrastructure, securer skills pipelines and smarter corporate taxes – all essential ingredients for sustainable and inclusive growth.

“At a time when core business health indicators -  investment, cash flow and sales and orders – are at their lowest levels since the pandemic, this Spring Budget offers comparatively little against these criteria. Treasury approval for the Ely/Haughley rail junctions still remains uncertain, nothing seems to be being done to address the complex and confusing business rates system, and the future funding after March next year of employer-led Local Skills Improvement Plans hang in the balance.”

Paul Simon, Suffolk Chamber’s head of public affairs, added:

“Essentially, this fiscal event seems to owe more to the political cycle than the economic one. Suffolk was hoping for better – and we certainly deserves better.

“However, it looks as if Suffolk Chamber has secured one lobbying part-win. The Government has committed to improving the functioning of the R&D Tax Reliefs system by asking HMRC to establish an expert advisory panel to support the administration of R&D reliefs. Suffolk Chamber has been campaigning to reverse HMRC’s current punishment regime which is directly and negatively impacting hundreds of Suffolk SMEs.

“Businesses will also welcome the Budget’s smaller scale announcements, including the extension of the “temporary” 5p cut in fuel duty, the belated and modest rise in the VAT threshold, and, the promissory note to extend full expensing to leased assets as soon as that is possible.

“Suffolk Chamber is now looking through the detail behind these announcements to see if there is anything more for the county that fuels, feeds and transports our economy.”

Suffolk Chamber will be producing a more detailed summary of the Spring Budget for use by members in due course.