Within this milieu, businesses are also preparing for higher employment costs from next month, when increases to National Insurance Contributions and National Minimum Wage & National Living Wage come into force. However, there are strategies that business owners and employers can implement to help them retain and attract talent, protect their own investments and act to secure value for future generations.

Investment cash is also starting to flow from the Government into infrastructure spending (defence, housing, third runway at Heathrow) which must necessarily provide opportunities for businesses in these sectors and their supply chains. We are also starting to see the Government looking at policy levers such as venture capital tax reliefs and share incentive schemes to see how these can be used to incentivise businesses to start up in the UK.

There is not a huge amount of positivity out there at the moment, and this does feel like a moment to keep our heads down and weather the storm. But there are opportunities, some of which we explore in our Spring Statement article below, and it must be worth continuing to scan for them, however hard you have to look to find them.

In this edition, we have a great mix of articles from our Commercial, Corporate, Corporate Tax, Employment and Immigration teams, so there is bound to be something to pique your interest. If there's a particular topic you'd like to hear more about, please use the voting buttons below to let us know.

Cathy Bryant

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