SMEs will be exempt from business rates for a further six months after Chancellor George Osborne extended the rate relief holiday to April 2013 yesterday.
This means more than half a million small firms, including one third of all shops, will have either reduced or no rate bills for this year and the whole of next financial year too.

In his Autumn Statement, Mr Osborne also pledged to allow all businesses, including larger ones, to defer 60% of the upcoming increase in their business rates bills to the two following years.

He also announced a package of up to £21bn of credit easing measures to support smaller and mid-sized businesses that do not have ready access to capital markets. Up to £20bn of guarantees for bank funding will be made available over two years, allowing banks to offer lower cost lending to smaller businesses, while an initial £1bn will be made available through a Business Finance Partnership, which will invest in smaller and mid-sized businesses in the UK through non-bank channels.

Employment law is set to be streamlined, said the Chancellor, with the redundancy and dismissal processes coming under review.

Retailers and manufacturers will also benefit from the scrapping of the 3p fuel duty increase planned for January, although a 3p rise will go ahead in August 2012. The inflation increase planned for August, expected to be worth 1.9p, has also been cancelled.

However, the economic outlook still remains bleak, with the 2011 growth forecast revised down to 0.9% from 1.7%, and the 2012 forecast has been revised down to 0.7% from 2.5%. Meanwhile, the Government revealed it will need to borrow an extra £111bn over five years.

A 1% cap on public sector pay and the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast of total public sector job losses up from 400,000 to 710,000 means the tough times are set to continue for consumers.