Despite the government saying that it is keen to update and safeguard these schemes, none of the necessary legislation to do so has yet been passed, and uncertainty about their futures is already having a negative impact, warned MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship.

In a report on the tax reliefs, the parliamentary group called on the government to provide clarity about the future of the enterprise investment scheme (EIS), seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) and venture capital trust (VCT) schemes and to update the rules to reflect the size of the modern start-up ecosystem.