We’ve had a little over 12 months of the current government now and it may just be coincidence, but those months have been one of the toughest periods for small businesses that we have experienced in recent years. Business failures are growing; unemployment, inflation and interest rates are all higher than desirable and show no real sign – maybe interest rates apart – of returning to levels that would give us even a stable, let alone a growing, economy.

It can’t all be blamed on the UK government, of course. Six months after they came to power, there was a change of administration in the United States, leading to a most volatile and uncertain financial period, highlighted by the introduction of major tariffs on imported goods. We don’t have any idea when normality will return in that regard or even what it would look like if it does.

New measures are taking their toll

It’s long been argued in this column, with full justification as far as I’m concerned, that big bullies small and they don’t come much bigger than the government. Small businesses were horrified, therefore, when they were told how much extra National Insurance they would have to pay from this April, at the same time as having to cope with a big increase in National Living Wage. Those measures are beginning to take their toll on business expansion on one hand and corporate failures on the other. Let’s not forget the changes to Business Rate Relief either.

Now the government has announced a review of pensions, an apparently wide-ranging exercise that will lead to ‘fairer’ rules for all concerned. We’ll see where that goes, but bear in mind that the last time the government needed a major contribution, less than a year ago, they bashed small businesses with the NI and NLW hikes. Surely it’s as easy for them to double the amount employers have to pay into employee pension schemes every month in lieu of reducing government support? Unless you own the business, of course, in which case you need to be taxed more heavily than you are now – if you haven’t already worked that out for yourself.

And if you survive it all, you can leave it to the next generation. Well, after the government has taken a huge cut first, you can. Fair play to anyone running a small business and still smiling!