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Purbeck sets out SME wishlist ahead of Autumn Budget
October 2026 – Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance has set out its wishlist for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ahead of Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026.
SMEs continue to face tight margins, higher employment costs and cautious lenders. While company insolvencies have fallen 5% since September last year, the number of compulsory liquidations is 25% higher than in September 2025. For many directors of these businesses, the debt does not end with the company. Lenders often ask SME owners to sign personal guarantees to secure finance, which can leave their homes and personal savings exposed if the business fails.
Todd Davison, Managing Director at Purbeck, says: “Small business owners are the people most likely to have signed a personal guarantee to keep their company funded. This Budget is a chance to recognise that risk and make it easier for them to borrow, grow and recover when things go wrong.”
Purbeck’s Budget Wishlist
1. Make the Growth Guarantee Scheme work harder for directors
The Growth Guarantee Scheme gives lenders a government-backed guarantee on part of a loan, but the borrower remains liable for the full amount. Purbeck would like greater transparency on how often directors are still asked for personal guarantees on scheme-backed lending, and clearer guidance so that business owners understand their exposure before they sign.
2. Better information on personal guarantees at the point of borrowing
Personal guarantees for business lending sit largely outside consumer credit protections. Purbeck is calling for plain-English, government-backed guidance for directors on what a guarantee means, when it can be called in and how they can protect themselves.
3. Flexible support with tax debt
HMRC’s Time to Pay arrangements are a lifeline for viable businesses with temporary cash flow problems. Purbeck would like the Budget to protect that flexibility, so that businesses facing a short-term squeeze are not pushed towards insolvency.
4. Ease the cost of doing business
Purbeck supports calls to raise the small business rates relief threshold and the VAT registration threshold, and to avoid further increases in employment costs. Each would help SMEs keep more cash in the business, reducing the need to borrow.
5. Support second chances for entrepreneurs
Many directors who lose a business go on to start again. Purbeck would welcome a capital gains tax relief that rewards entrepreneurs for reinvesting in a new U.K. business, and would like it to reflect the realities of founders rebuilding after a failure.
Todd Davison concludes: “When a business fails, the director with a personal guarantee can lose far more than their company. Most of the measures on our list cost little but would make a real difference to the people taking that risk. A Budget that backs SMEs needs to back the people who guarantee them, too.”
About Purbeck Insurance Services
Purbeck Insurance Services is a Personal Guarantee Insurance specialist supporting Small and Medium sized Enterprises (“SMEs”) and promoting business confidence.
Insurance policies backed by Markel International Insurance Company Limited (“Markel”), an A-Rated insurer, as rated by A.M. Best (A), Fitch (A+) and S&P (A). Markel is a shareholder in Purbeck Insurance Services.
Purbeck Insurance Services is directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
Insurance is underwritten by Purbeck Insurance Services, an authorised Managing General Agent (“MGA”) of Markel.
Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance is annual insurance policy that provides Director(s) with insurance cover in the event their business lender calls in the Personal Guarantee (provided by the Director(s) as part of raising business finance).
Key features of Personal Guarantee Insurance:
- Premiums are competitively priced and based on individual circumstances
- Cover is available for Personal Guarantees signed to support a wide range of business finance facilities
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