Have your say on current business outlook

The British Chambers of Commerce are inviting businesses to share their views in their 2025 Outlook survey.

The survey invites the business community to express views on the wide range of recent announcements that will potentially impact businesses, particularly on tax and employment, in addition to the impact of the inauguration of President Trump on trade.

Following the data collection, the findings will be anonymised and presented to UK Government ministers and officials with the aim of informing and shaping policy decisions made about the national economy.

The launch of this survey comes about following the British Chamber of Commerce’s findings from the recent Quarterly Economic Survey which reveal that business confidence has been shaken by looming additional taxation pressures and anticipation of exacerbated recruitment difficulties.

At a local level, 32 per cent of respondents reported increased concerns about taxation - the highest figure recorded in the Greater Birmingham Quarterly Business Report dataset, a similar number expressed concern about labour costs, and the number of firms expecting to increase their turnover over the next 12 months fell by 6 percentage points.

Despite such challenges, domestic sales in both manufacturing and services saw growth in the final quarter of 2024 and momentum in export sales growth has picked up, having struggled to keep pace with UK business activity throughout the year.

Gemma Dilkes (pictured), Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce policy advisor, said: “The British Chambers Outlook Survey provides an additional opportunity for businesses in Greater Birmingham to express their views on key aspects of business confidence.

“It is anticipated that concerns about taxation and employment costs might deepen as April approaches, which will have a knock-on impact on recruitment, turnover and profitability.

“There is also great interest in measuring business confidence in relation to international trade.

“Trump's rhetoric around tariffs could have a destabilising effect on the confidence of global markets, however, the UK is poised to maintain a positive trading relationship with the US given the absence of a trade deficit between the two nations.

“I encourage businesses to take the time to complete the survey as it serves as a tool to help policy makers in fully understanding the nuanced challenges firms are facing across the country and at a local level”

To access the survey, please click here. It will be open for responses until early February.