UK BUSINESS CONFIDENCE FALLS TO ITS LOWEST LEVEL IN TWO YEARS

The Institute of Directors has recently announced that UK business confidence is at the lowest level since the Pandemic mainly because of the recent tax raising in the Autumn Budget.

In addition, a recent survey undertaken by consultancy firm BDO reveals the same position in that business confidence across the UK has significantly fallen.

This comes at a time when recruiters are warning that companies are taking on fewer employees as they face the challenge of absorbing the higher costs being created because of both the Budget but also by the effects of an increase in the minimum wage and the implementation of proposed new legal rights for employees.

The same BDO report goes on to state that business optimism has plummeted to its lowest level over the past two years previously being at its lowest level in more recent times when surging inflation and political turmoil was sparked following Liz Truss’s mini-Budget in September 2022.

Bosses are warning that these rising costs will not only lead to job losses but also recruitment freezes, closures of business and shops together with inflationary price rises. ??

The above appears to be confirmed by a recent KPMG report which states that the number of UK job vacancies fell during November 2024 at their fastest rate since the start of the Pandemic in March 2020. ?

Overall, far from fixing the foundations of the UK economy, the evidence so far points towards the effects of the Autum Budget as having undermined them including damaging the private sector’s ability to invest in its businesses and workforces.

However, it is hoped that the announcements expected in the Spring 2025 relating to industrial strategy, the infrastructure and tax reform will provide some welcoming good news including a desperately needed lift in growth thereby restoring business confidence relating to the future of the UK economy.

Needless to say, in the meantime, the latest economic slowdown currently being experienced is not at all good news for those involved in the recruitment sector who have now suffered with dealing with lacklustre conditions for far too long especially in terms of there being any meaningful active job creation being experienced. Consequently, an upturn in the UK’s economic fortunes sooner than later would be a very welcome development by all concerned. ?

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