SME business leaders are facing a cocktail of challenges from higher business rates to hikes in employer national insurance contributions (NICs) and continuing inflation busting rises to the national minimum wage, weighing heavily on companies and contributing to redundancies.

Nearly six in 10 (58%) said rising taxation and regulatory burdens now pose one of the biggest threats to their companies, second only to overall rising costs, which were cited by 70% of respondents to a poll of more than 1,000 SME founders, owners and directors by wealth management firm Rathbones.