A new report reveals deep pessimism among family businesses and growing concern over succession, investment, and the UK’s business environment.
The report, which was commissioned by the Jobs Foundation and conducted by Whitestone Insight, provides a detailed assessment of how family businesses view the UK’s economic prospects following recent Budgets, and the anticipated impact of forthcoming changes to Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR).
It is based on a representative survey of 1,150 family businesses and family farms, and the research paints a stark picture of confidence at historic lows.
The data shows that nearly eight in ten family business owners are pessimistic about the UK economy in 2026, while only a small minority would advise a young entrepreneur to start a business in the UK.
Respondents were more likely to rate the tax and regulatory environment of the 1970s as better for business than the present decade.
The findings also highlight a profound disconnect between government rhetoric on growth and the lived experience of business owners. A large majority report that recent Budgets have harmed their business, and four in five say the Government does not understand what it is like to run a business. Current tax arrangements are widely seen as a disincentive to enterprise, risk-taking, and long-term investment.
A central focus of the report is the impact of changes to BPR and APR on succession planning. Many family businesses report being forced to reconsider their future plans, with concerns that new inheritance tax liabilities will compel the sale or break-up of firms built over generations.
Nearly two-thirds of owners find it demoralising that they may no longer be able to pass on their life’s work to successors without facing significant penalties.
This report is rooted in both data and lived experience. As the founder of the research consultancy that conducted this survey, I have spent my professional life analysing the attitudes and experiences of British businesses. But I have also felt personally the changing climate in which those businesses operate,” said Andrew Hawkins (CEO of Whistestone Insight).
“Running a family enterprise in Britain has become steadily more difficult. Economic pressures have intensified, margins have tightened, and the political and regulatory environment has grown markedly less hospitable.”
Hawkins noted that family businesses today navigate a landscape shaped by rising employment costs, increasingly complex regulation, and a tax system that often feels more punitive than supportive of long-term investment, savings, and entrepreneurship.
“Yet such businesses are truly the lifeblood of our economy and sustainers of our communities. This survey shows that most hard-working business owners are driven not by the desire to get rich but by the desire to create something which improves other people’s lives and to put food on their family’s table.”
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