“In recent years the technology sector has been well supported by the government through schemes such as Patent Box, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and tax credits and this budget continues the trend, as well as attempting to address some of the issues that are seen to be holding back the sector.
“There has been a focus on entrepreneurship for a number of years and to a great extent this has been successful with clusters of early stage companies growing in many parts of the UK. Particularly pleasing in this budget was the focus not only on these early stage companies but also those who are looking to the next stage of their growth and development.
“The Employment Allowance be welcomed, helping companies overcome the hurdle of bringing staff onboard at critical points of their development. Along with the raft of changes and additions to SEIS, Corporation Tax, creative tax reliefs and additional funding, the UK must now be seen as having one of the most supportive sets of public policy in the world if you are a fast growing technology business.
“It was interesting to note the revised targets for government spending with SMEs – this is to be welcomed as technology companies in particular need to look not only to the debt and equity markets for funding but also to customers, whether they are in the public or private sector.
“The High Growth Segment from the London Stock Exchange in conjunction with the removal of Stamp Duty on AIM listed shares continues the drive to keep home grown businesses in the UK as they grow and look for finance.
“The UK was already a great place to create and operate your technology business and on the day that the Chancellor joined twitter, he has demonstrated his commitment to keep them here.”