Time to stop risking Britain’s family businesses

For my family, business has never been just a balance sheet; it is in our blood.

That is why the Jobs Foundation’s latest polling makes such grim reading.

Based on a survey of 1150 family businesses and farms across the UK, it shows confidence at historic lows.

Nearly eight in ten family business owners are pessimistic about the UK economy in 2026.

Four in five say the Government does not understand what it is like to run a business, and only 17 per cent would advise a young entrepreneur to start a business in the UK.

These figures are not an abstract Westminster debate.

They reflect the mood in workshops, depots and boardrooms across the North East, and they should worry anyone who cares about jobs, opportunity and long-term prosperity.

I lead a family firm – Pickerings Lifts – which was founded in Stockton-on-Tees in 1854 during the middle of the Industrial Revolution.

As executive vice-chair, I am the sixth generation of the family working directly in the business.

Our home is Teesside, and our story is shared by many family firms across our region.

Family businesses are not simply commercial entities; they are community pillars that provide stability, dignity and opportunity.

We invest in people with a view measured in decades, not financial quarters, and we build relationships that endure through economic cycles.

In our 172 years on Teesside, many local families have had relatives working with us at some point.

That depth of connection creates loyalty, resilience and pride – qualities that cannot be replicated overnight and should not be taken for granted.

Yet, as this research makes clear, the engine room of the UK economy is sputtering.

What is most striking is the scale of the disconnect between political rhetoric and business reality.

This is not just about one Budget or another.

Three quarters of owners believe successive Westminster regimes have lacked the ambition to make the UK a great place to do business.

Most say recent headline fiscal blueprints have harmed them, while only a tiny minority believe they will benefit.

More than half feel the link between reward and effort is being severed.

That matters because family businesses tend to think and act differently.

The polling shows motivations such as building something worthwhile, providing a great service and supporting your family rank far higher than the pursuit of wealth.

That long-term mindset is what drives people to take risks, employ others and keep investing when conditions are tough.

But when the tax and regulatory environment become increasingly hostile, it doesn’t just dent confidence, it changes behaviour.

Two thirds of family businesses believe current tax arrangements disincentivise enterprise and risk-taking.

When the cost and uncertainty of doing business keep rising, the result is less hiring, less investment and weaker growth.

That is not ideology, it is economic reality.

Nowhere is anxiety sharper than on succession planning, the issue that truly sets family firms apart.

Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief are fundamental to whether a working enterprise can be passed on without being broken up to meet an inheritance tax bill.

While the Government has partially made a U-turn on Agricultural Property Relief, it still leaves many very concerned about the future.

The report shows inheritance tax already affects succession planning for a significant share of businesses, with nearly two thirds saying it is demoralising to think they cannot pass on as much of their business to successors.

We should value continuity, jobs and long-term stewardship.

There is also a looming problem.

Awareness of the changes to Business Property Relief remains low.

Only a small minority say they know a lot about them, yet among those who do, a majority say the changes will affect their future plans.

That means an already pessimistic picture is likely to worsen as more owners realise what is coming and start planning defensively.

We must not forget what is at stake.

Family businesses form the backbone of the UK’s SME base and support millions of jobs and livelihoods.

In the North East, they underpin local supply chains, apprenticeships, social mobility and community pride.

If we want a country where enterprise transforms lives, we must stop penalising those who take risks and build for the long term.

There is a better path.

Business owners are clear about what would help most: bringing down energy costs, reversing the rise in employer national insurance contributions and making it possible to pass a business on to the next generation without punitive penalties.

These are practical steps that would restore confidence and unlock investment.

My message, as chair of the Jobs Foundation North East, is simple.

Listen to family businesses, not as a special interest, but as the backbone of communities.

If family firms are not incentivised to stay, build and pass on their legacy here, the loss to our local communities, and to the country as a whole, will be incalculable.

We have spent generations building something that outlasts political cycles.

Britain should not make it harder for the next generation to do the same.

Kiran Fothergill is Jobs Foundation North East chair and Pickerings Lifts’ executive chair

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