Business News
A fairer deal for business is essential for growth:
Reaction to the Spring Statement
NEIL EVANS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, VEKA PLC.
Every new demand placed on the private sector reduces our ability to invest, grow and create jobs, and that has a knock-on effect to the economy as whole.
The Chancellor’ s Spring Statement landed at a time when many businesses, including VEKA are navigating economic pressures. Whether that’ s through rising costs, uncertain markets or just the general difficulty of trying to do more with less.
As a business, VEKA has absorbed the National Insurance increase across both our businesses – which is not an insignificant amount – because we believe in protecting our people. We still plan to deliver salary increases. We see this as a reflection of our commitment to employees, their welfare and maintaining morale as they too are feeling the struggle of these challenging economic times.
But continuing to do this isn’ t sustainable without growth. Without growth, it gets harder and harder to keep making those kinds of decisions. This is part of a bigger message we’ d like the government to hear. Every new demand placed on the private sector reduces our ability to invest, grow and create jobs, and that has a knock-on effect to the economy as whole.
If the government is truly a government on the side of working people, and if it wants to make good on its promise to get more people into secure work, then it needs to recognise this pressure on their employers.
Any budget measure should aim to restore confidence, not further erode it. And now the Office for Budget Responsibility cuts growth forecasts in half to 1 %.
The state of the market
Generally, I’ d describe the current performance of our market as‘ unspectacular’ and I know that this sentiment is reflected across our, and many other industries too. At the moment, we’ re not seeing immediate growth, we’ re holding steady.
One of the key areas the government is insisting will drive growth is the changes to planning reforms and announcements like the ambition of 1.5 million new homes. On the surface, this sounded like a big growth opportunity for our sector. But, no one in our space really believed that target was realistic without tackling the severe skills shortages in construction. The Government has pledged £ 600m to train 60,000 more engineers, construction workers, electricians and carpenters by 2029. But, looking at previous data on the volumes of people who have left the sector in recent years, and the challenge of an aging workforce – meaning that we anticipate more to leave as they hit retirement – this move may only have limited impact in filling the gaping skills gap.
What can the private sector do?
At VEKA, we are constantly identifying opportunities to eliminate waste within business processes and activities. We entered this year with a much sharper focus on who we are and how we intend to operate, and this has helped us to navigate the additional costs imposed on us during the Autumn Budget. Speaking
86 MAY 2025 CLEARVIEW-UK. COM