The cost of running a business in the UK has ‘risen substantially’, and for a typical SME, costs driven solely by government policy have gone up by more than 70% since 2016, with over a quarter of the total hitting companies after Budget 2024, found research by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

A typical mid-sized SME with 50 staff and £5m turnover, now pays around £1.98m a year in ‘domestic policy-driven costs’, up from £1.16m in 2016, an increase of £827,000, or 70%.

The BCC said the rise in costs was ‘structural, not a blip’, stating that even after inflation, the ‘policy-driven stack’ has risen from 32% to 40% share of an average mid-sized SME’s revenue over the past 10 years.

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