Investment in skills and infrastructure top SMEs’ wish list

As the Chancellor prepares to deliver his Autumn Statement tomorrow, the one measure that the UK’s SMEs want to see is a commitment to more spending on road and rail infrastructure, according to a poll by KPMG.

The survey of 228 small and medium-sized enterprises found that around a third (31%) felt that increased spending in hard infrastructure would be the single one measure they want to see.

When asked what would help with their growth agendas, 32% said a reduction in National Insurance contributions, whilst 21% said announcements around increased investment in skills and training would help their businesses.

David Bywater, tax partner for KPMG’s national markets practice, comments: “Businesses also have a major concern over the “skills gap” that is developing, particularly in engineering, and they want more of a say in how apprentices and students coming into the workforce are trained; any announcement around increased funding for apprenticeship programmes, and importantly, how that funding is structured would also be really valuable to our SME community.”