The Budget is coming 🧰 So is our new grant fund 🎯

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With the Budget just weeks away (October 28), two stories dominate the news agenda this week – mounting pressure on small business owners, and signs that government is ready to listen.

Our CEO Aaron Asadi was at No. 10 for a meeting designed to position the government as a "partner for growth." Chancellor Healey used the day to set out the plan for small business. Read Aaron's take on what was said, and what it actually means for you.

It's a welcome shift in tone, but our own research shows why it's overdue. Growth on Hold, our new report with Square and EDF Small Business, found that three in four high street businesses shelved a growth plan this year, the money going on bills instead of hiring or kit. Our 12,000-word Budget submission makes the same point at length: stop raising the cost of doing business. And new NatWest research shows the squeeze doesn't stop at the top, of £20 billion in public innovation grants handed out over 15 years, almost 4,500 businesses are still stuck.

We're not just telling government to back young entrepreneurs, we're doing it. This week we launched the Enterprise Nation Fund: Next Generation, offering one 18-to-24-year-old £1,500 and six hours of mentoring. No business plan needed, just an idea. Applications open 16 September.

Fittingly, we also caught up with Archie Shepperd, who turned an apprenticeship and an idea into Urban Standard, now 12 staff, 500 properties, and proof of what backing someone early can do.

How a business admin apprentice became a facilities management founder by 20

Small businesses ask government: Don't raise our costs

£20 billion in public grants, but almost 4,500 businesses are stuck, NatWest reports

Growth on hold: The year rising costs swallowed small business growth plans

Enterprise Nation at No. 10: Chancellor Healey sets out his and Prime Minister's plan for UK business

Enterprise Nation Fund: Next Generation: Now open to support the UK's brightest young entrepreneurs

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