Chancellor George Osborne's budget will fail to help small pharmacy businesses because it will mean yet another hike in business rates and no respite in taxes, pharmacy leaders have warned.  

The 2.6 per cent increase in business rates, announced by Mr Osborne on Wednesday (March 21), would put further pressure on businesses in the tough economic climate, experts argued.

They also criticised the chancellor for his plans to cut corporation tax rates from 24 per cent to 20 per cent in two years' time, but leave the small company tax rate static at 20 per cent.

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	Umesh Modi, partner at accountancy firm Silver Levene, said the measures would do little to help owners of small pharmacy businesses. "In this climate, it would have been better to have frozen [business rates]."

Mr Modi also questioned the decision to cut tax rates for larger companies only. "It would have been much better to have also reduced the small company tax rate, which for some reason will remain the same," he argued. "It is the small- to medium-sized companies that create jobs and there has been no help on that front."

Healthcare broker Mediestates echoed Mr Modi's concerns. "The scheduled cut in corporation tax means that there will no longer be any advantage for independents – most of whom are currently paying the 20 per cent small company rate – over their multiple competitors," warned Mediestates CEO Anne Barker.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) argued that the government could have done more to boost high-street businesses and joined the calls for a freeze in business rates. "It's very disappointing that the chancellor has done nothing to halt next month's business rates increase, which will add another £175 million to the £500m of rates rises that retailers have had to cope with over the last two years," said BRC director general Helen Dickinson.

Mr Osborne pledged to protect NHS funding in this year's budget but he capped pay rises for all public sector workers, including NHS staff, at 1 per cent.

He downgraded his expectations for the UK economy during the year by halving expected growth from 1.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent.