Nigel Smith, Managing Partner of Dorset law firm Ellis Jones Solicitors, said: “The Spring Statement will have not given any comfort to SMEs that things are going to get better any time soon.
“It comes as even more regulation is set to land in just a month’s time when the Employment Rights Act reforms take effect in April with new day one rights for statutory sick pay and paternity leave.
“Furthermore, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s anaemic growth figures fail to take into account the impact on SMEs of those policies in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget that have yet to come into effect or feed through into the economy.
“The economic reality faced by SMEs in the months to come is going to be very different to the one portrayed by the Chancellor.”
Ellis Jones Solicitors has offices in Bournemouth, Dorchester, Poole, Ringwood, Swanage, Wimborne and London.