The UK Small Business Plan: What It Means For Your Business

On 31 July 2025, the UK Government announced its new Plan for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). This Plan for Change aims to ‘make the UK the best place to start and grow a business, with a culture that supports businesses in every community and high street’.

By fixing the key areas that are holding back the UK’s entrepreneurs and small business owners, the Government hopes to encourage enterprise and make the UK an environment that supports and encourages a new generation of business owners.

Let’s look at the key areas that the plan will focus on, and how these initiatives may be able to help and assist the growth and development of your UK small business.

The Government spoke to a range of small business leaders to design the new plan. Some of the major hurdles to efficient enterprise were identified as the problem of late payment, reduced access to funding and the bureaucratic red tape that stifles true innovation.

With these challenges in mind, the new plan aims to focus on five key areas of running a UK small business, with core ways to reduce or remove the potential hurdles.

5 key ways to remove the challenges holding back UK enterprise:

1. Fixing the fundamentals by legislating to end the scourge of late payments, modernising the tax and customs system to make it easier to navigate, and reducing regulatory burdens

2. Unlocking access to finance through a stronger British Business Bank and fairer lending

3. Backing the everyday economy by revitalising high streets, supporting local enterprise and tackling crimes like tool theft and shoplifting that hurt small businesses

4. Future-proofing business skills by giving businesses the skills to make the most of digital technologies and AI, and develop their leadership and management, alongside improving access to the right staff

5. Opening up opportunities through international trade, boosting exports, giving smaller firms a fair chance at winning government contracts, and launching a new Business Growth Service.

Within these five key areas of focus, the Government has announced several specific initiatives and programmes that may be of interest to your small business.

Key opportunities for your UK small business

1. Legislating to end late payments

Late payments cost the UK economy £11bn per year and close down 38 UK businesses every day. The new late payment legislation will aim to cut these late payments, giving the UK the strongest legal framework on late payments in the G7.

2. A modernised tax and customs system

Slow and inefficient tax and customs systems make it harder to manage your tax and duty. The Government will modernise the tax and customs system, as referenced in HMRC’s Transformation Roadmap. It will include using AI powered tech that makes it easier for your small business to navigate its tax affairs.

3. Improved access to funding and finance

Poor access to funding holds back growth and innovation. Under the new plan, the Government will expand Start Up Loans to offer 69,000 new businesses the chance of finance and mentoring and will boost access to the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme.

The Government will also expand the capacity of the ENABLE programme by £3 billion to £5 billion, helping lenders to unlock more finance options for small businesses. Plus there will be £340 million invested in early-stage equity finance for innovative businesses across the UK.

4. Removing the bureaucratic red tape

Red tape and inefficient bureaucratic processes are a major hurdle to growth. Under the new plan, the Government will create a consistent pro-growth, national approach to licensing and will establish hospitality and night-time economy zones to cut some of this red tape

There will also be High Streets and Growth Incubators to back high street businesses, redevelop commercial space and trigger private investment. The plan will also introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000, starting in April 2026.

5. Improving business skills and training for the future

In an environment where technology skills and infrastructure are vital, the Government aims to boost adoption of the latest technologies amongst small businesses. Digital adoption pilots will be launched, alongside an expanded Made Smarter Adoption programme that provides specialist funding and advice.

There will also be more skills training for leaders, backed by an industry-led Business Mentoring Council, and a new ‘Youth Entrepreneur’ category of the King’s Awards for Enterprise. Skills and apprenticeship schemes will also be updated to meet the needs of smaller businesses, with £1.2 billion of additional investment per year by 2028-29, and greater promotion of the Government’s new Business Growth Service.

6. Greater support for UK exporters

There are also plans to improve smaller companies’ understanding of export opportunities, by integrating export support and advice into the new Business Growth Service. The Government will also consider how best to support businesses to increase their exporting activity, including future financial support.

Improving your access to finance, skills training and small business expertise can be a game-changer. Under the initiatives outlined in the new Plan for SMBs, there are plenty of areas where we can help you explore new routes to funding and support.

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