Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) will be offered management training opportunities as part of today’s Government Budget. The Treasury has decided to further investment in SME management development in the UK by unveiling this £520m plan to spur innovation and growth in various sectors. Managers will be offered the chance to follow an MBA-style management training course to develop their skills and managerial knowledge.

The ‘help to grow’ programme could benefit up to 130,000 SMEs in future and boost the UK’s productivity levels, closing the gap with other nations. Technology advice will also be offered to SMEs and discounted digital software as part of the support package. SMEs which are eligible to participate in the scheme will be provided with vouchers to get up to 50% the price of new productivity-enhancing software, up to £5,000 each. Rishi Sunak has said he expects tens of thousands of SMEs to take advantage of high-level management courses that usually larger firms are able to afford for employees.

On an international level, the UK has a productivity deficit of 16% compared with the other G7 member nations (the USA, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada). Sunak believes the 12-week management programme will build more profitable, resilient and productive businesses. Some studies have shown a potential 10% productivity increase when even small changes are made to management practices. The scheme will also benefit the wider UK economy, the Treasury said research had shown that improving the performance of SMEs to match that of competitor countries such as Germany could add £100bn to the UK economy.