10 September 2024
Boost for UK growth as start-up investment schemes extended
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme have now been extended by ten years to 5 April 2035.
- Government extends two leading investment schemes 10 years from April 2025 to April 2035 as part of its relentless pursuit of growth.
- Extensions will support start-ups and entrepreneurs to help them grow and rebuild Britain.
- The change will build on over £41 billion of investment generated over 30 years.
Thousands of entrepreneurs and start-ups are set to benefit from the extension of two leading government investment schemes to help them grow the economy and rebuild Britain.
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme were both set to end on 6 April 2025 and have now been extended by ten years to 5 April 2035.
Wales sees record growth in entrepreneurship
Wales has seen a record-breaking increase in entrepreneurial activity, with new figures from the 2023 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Wales report showing the highest levels of early-stage business rates on record.
The report finds that the rate of Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in Wales has reached an unprecedented 11.5% in 2023, a significant increase from 7.8% in 2022.
Entrepreneurship among young people in Wales has seen a remarkable rise, with 14.0% of young people now engaged in early-stage business activities, up from 2.0% in 2002.
The GEM 2023 report, which provides an annual snapshot of entrepreneurial trends across the UK, also reveals that 20% of non-entrepreneurial working-age adults in Wales intend to start a business within the next three years, up from 15.7% in 2022.
Small Business tax evasion costing HMRC billions
Small business tax evasion is costing the state billions of pounds of revenue a year as “significant gaps” in the UK’s tax authority’s strategies persist, a new report has revealed.
A National Audit Office (NAO) report on tax evasion has revealed that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimated a total of £5.5bn in losses from tax evasion between 2022 and 2023.