In the following article, Sabby Gill, CEO of Dext, examines Andy Burnham’s initial plans for economic growth and argues that small businesses need stability, simpler regulation and greater support for digital adoption if they are to unlock productivity and sustainable growth.
Small businesses will welcome any serious plan to reform business rates, back entrepreneurs and spread growth beyond Westminster. But from the conversations I have every day with accountants and business owners, what they are looking for most right now is not another wave of change, but stability, predictability and less friction.
Andy Burnham will become the seventh Prime Minister in a decade, with his Chancellor the eighth, so it’s no surprise businesses are craving stability.
For many small firms, the biggest barrier to growth is time. They are trying to manage rising costs, late payments, tax changes and compliance demands without the finance teams larger companies rely on. Devolution may bring decisions closer to businesses, but only if it simplifies the environment they operate in. If it creates more fragmented rules, more uncertainty or new administrative burdens, it risks making life harder for the very firms it is meant to support.
The priority should be to finish what has already been started. Making Tax Digital is a good example. Done properly, it should not just be another compliance requirement. Government should focus on helping businesses complete that journey, including incentivising investment in trusted digital tools that make adoption easier for smaller firms. That would help businesses get their financial data in order, understand cash flow earlier, plan with more confidence and make better decisions before problems become crises.
That matters for AI too. Small businesses will not get the productivity gains being promised from AI if their underlying data is still manual, fragmented or out of date. If the Government wants small firms to grow, it should help them digitise, reduce the time they spend on admin and give them the confidence to focus on customers, margins and growth.
