King's Speech at State Opening of Parliament 2024: What small businesses need to know

In the annual State Opening of Parliament, King Charles III outlined the UK government's legislative agenda for the 2024-25 session.

It was the first King's Speech for new prime minister Keir Starmer and his Labour government which won the 2024 General Election.

Delivering the speech, which is written for him by ministers, the monarch said:

"Securing economic growth will be a fundamental mission. My government will seek a new partnership with both business and working people and help the country move on from the recent cost of living challenges by prioritising wealth creation for all communities."

In a foreward to the briefing document for the speech, the prime minister said:

"This will be a government of service.

"My government will be committed to uniting the country in our shared mission of national renewal. We will serve every person, regardless of how they voted, to fix the foundations of this nation for the long term. The era of politics as performance and self-interest above service is over.

"The fight for trust is the battle that defines our political era. It is only by serving the interests of working people, and delivering real change that transforms lives, that we can begin to restore people's faith that politics can be a force for good.

"Rebuilding our country will not happen overnight. The challenges we face require determined, patient work and serious solutions, rather than the temptation of the easy answer. The snake oil charm of populism may sound seductive, but it drives us into the dead end of further division and greater disappointment.

"This King's Speech sets out a clear destination for our country."

Video of the full 2024 King’s Speech by King Charles III:

Bills of interest to small business owners

A total of 40 parliamentary Bills and draft Bills were announced. Here are the key plans of interest to small businesses:

Budget Responsibility Bill

The Bill will introduce a 'fiscal lock' to "ensure any government making significant and permanent tax and spending changes will be subject to an independent assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), giving them the power to produce an assessment at a time of its choosing".

National Wealth Fund Bill

The government said "business investment in the UK has been persistently low, holding back productivity and living standards", so the new £7.3bn National Wealth Fund (NWF) is "central to this government's mission to deliver growth and a greener economy".

It added that it will "simplify the UK's fragmented landscape of support for businesses and investors, aligning critical institutions like the UK Infrastructure Bank and British Business Bank to create a step change in our ability to mobilise private capital in the industries of the future".

The British Business Bank supports small and medium businesses to grow by improving their access to finance. It runs schemes including Start Up Loans.

Planning and Infrastructure Bill

This Bill will reform the planning system, which the government says is currently "a major brake on economic growth".

Measures of relevance to small businesses include:

• "improving local planning decision making by modernising planning committees".

• "increasing local planning authorities’ capacity, to improve performance and decision making, providing a more predictable service to developers and investors".

Employment Rights Bill

The government said the Employment Rights Bill will be introduced within the first 100 days of Parliament and "create a new partnership between business, trade unions and working people". It pledged to "work in close partnership with trade unions and business to deliver our New Deal and invite their views on how best we can put our plans into practice".

The Bill will include commitments to:

• ban "exploitative zero-hour contracts" to ensure "workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work and that all workers get reasonable notice of any changes in shift with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed"

• end 'fire and rehire' and fire and replace' by "reforming the law to provide effective remedies and replacing the previous government's inadequate statutory code".

• make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one on the job for all workers.

• reform Statutory Sick Pay by removing the lower earnings limit to make it available to all workers as well as the waiting period.

• make flexible working the default from day one for all workers, with employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable.

• make it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances.

• establish a new Single Enforcement Body, also known as a Fair Work Agency, to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights.

• establish a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector and, following review, assess how and to what extent such agreements could benefit other sectors.

• reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, to establish national terms and conditions, career progression routes, and fair pay rates.

• update trade union legislation "so it is fit for a modern economy".

• remove "unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity -- including the previous government's approach to minimum service levels -- and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining.

• simplify the process of statutory recognition and introduce a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable

  right to access a union within workplaces.

Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill

This Bill is aimed at strengthening audit and corporate governance among big businesses.

The government said "a revamped regulator will uphold standards and independent scrutiny of companies' accounts, as well as accountability for company directors", with the aim of supporting "long-term investment in UK companies, reduce the harm that financial reporting errors can do to businesses and communities up and down the country, and help ensure quality audit for all businesses that need it".

Other measures including "removing unnecessary rules on smaller public Interest entities, making life easier for important smaller businesses by cutting requirements that are disproportionate".

In a move of key significance to small businesses, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said in a video explaining the impact on businesses of the King's Speech:

"It will allow us to legislate to tackle late payment, one of the biggest problems affecting small businesses, by making sure there is full transparency of how a larger company is paying its smaller suppliers."

Requiring the audit committees of big businesses to report on their company's payment practices was a pledge in Labour's pre-election small business plan, and dealing with late payment is an ask of the new government in Enterprise Nation's small business manifesto.

English Devolution Bill

The English Devolution Bill aims to "establish a new framework for English devolution" by "moving power out of Westminster and back to those who know their areas best". It will provide local leaders with:

• "greater powers over the levers of local growth" including "enhanced powers over strategic planning, local transport networks, skills, and employment support, enabling them to create jobs and improve living standards.

• new powers and duties for local leaders to produce "local growth plans".

• a "strong new right to buy for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces, which the government said "will help to revamp high streets and end the blight of empty premises".

Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill

The Bill will bring rail services back into public ownership to improve passenger journeys.

The government said it will amend existing railways legislation so that "appointing a public sector operator is the default position rather than merely a last resort. It pledged to introducing the legislation "swiftly to ensure we are able to act decisively and bring the first contracts back into public ownership as soon as possible once it is in place".

Railway Bill

This Bill will bring together the management of the rail network and the delivery of passenger services into a single public body, Great British Railways (GBR).

Other measures include:

• creating the Passenger Standards Authority, to independently monitor standards and champion improvement in service performance against a range of measures.

• reform the ticketing system, to "make it simpler for passengers, drive innovation across the network, replace the current ticket types and maximise passenger growth", with innovations like automatic compensation, digital pay-as-you-go and digital season ticketing

• a statutory duty on GBR to promote the use of rail freight, alongside an overall growth target set by the secretary of state. The government will include safeguards to ensure that freight operators continue to receive fair access to the network.

Better Buses Bill

This Bill aims to deliver new powers for local leaders to franchise local bus services in England and lifting the restriction on the creation of new publicly owned bus operators.

The government said the legislation will "help bring an end to the postcode lottery of bus services and will give local communities throughout England the power to take back control of their bus services".

Digital Information and Smart Data Bill

This Bill will legislate on "three innovative uses of data...which will accelerate innovation, investment and productivity across the UK":

• establishing digital verification Services, to help with things like moving house, pre-employment checks, and buying age restricted goods and services.

• developing a National Underground Asset Register, "a new digital map that is revolutionising the way we install, maintain, operate and repair the pipes and cables buried beneath our feet" and "gives planners and excavators standardised, secure, instant access to the data they need, when they need it, to carry out their work effectively and safely".

• setting up Smart Data schemes, which are the secure sharing of a customer's data upon their request, with authorised third-party providers.

Product Safety and Metrology Bill

This Bill ia aimed at preserving "the UK's status as a global leader in product regulation, supporting businesses and protecting consumers".

Measures include:

• "responding to new product risks and opportunities to enable the UK to keep pace with technological advances, such as AI, and address challenges, such as the fire risk associated with e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries. The government said this will ensure it can effectively regulate high-risk products and protect consumers and workers.

• "identifying new and emerging business models in the supply chain, ensuring the responsibilities of those involved in the supply of products, such as online marketplaces, are clear, enabling government to better protect consumers, so they can have confidence in the products they buy and whom they buy them from. The government said, without these powers "it will remain far too easy for unscrupulous overseas suppliers to place unsafe goods on the UK market through online marketplaces.

• ensuring that the law can be updated to recognise new or updated EU product regulations, including the CE marking, where appropriate to prevent additional costs for businesses and provide regulatory stability. The government said the legislation will also ensure the UK can end recognition of EU product regulations, where it is in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers.

• enabling improvements to compliance and enforcement reflecting the challenges of modern, digital borders. The government said the Bill will enable regulators to tackle non-compliance, target interventions by allowing greater sharing of data between regulators and market surveillance authorities, and future-proof the nature and capacity of the regulator, ensuring it can provide national leadership on product safety and metrology issues.

• updating the legal metrology framework, which governs the accuracy of weights and measures for purchased goods. The government said this will allow for technological progress, including in support of net zero aims and infrastructure, for example enabling innovation whilst ensuring energy meters continue to be accurate in their readings.

Great British Energy Bill

This Bill will establish Great British Energy, "a new, publicly-owned energy production company which will own, manage and operate clean power projects".

It will be headquartered in Scotland and "ensure British taxpayers, bill payers and communities reap the benefits of clean, secure, home-grown energy and lower bills for families".

Great British Energy will:

• develop, own and operate assets, investing in partnership with the private sector. It will have a capitalisation of £8.3 billion of new money over the Parliament.

• facilitate, encourage and participate in the production, distribution, storage and supply of clean energy, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from energy produced from fossil fuels as well as measures for furthering the transition to clean energy and improving energy efficiency.

Crime and Policing Bill

This Bill aims "to take back our streets by halving serious violence and increase confidence in policing and the Criminal Justice System".

Measures include:

• bring forward arrangements to get neighbourhood police and police community support officers back on the beat in local communities.

• crackdown on anti-social behaviour by introducing new 'respect orders' to tackle persistent adult offenders, fast-track public spaces protection orders to make it quicker and easier to clamp down on rapid escalations in street drinking, and new powers to tackle the dangerous and anti social use of offroad bikes.

• create a duty for local partners to co-operate to tackle anti social behaviour, with an anti social behaviour lead in every local authority area.

• tackle retail crime, by creating a new specific offence of assaulting a shopworker and introduce stronger measures to tackle low level shoplifting.

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill

The Bill was previously due to be introduced by the former Conservative but it ran out of time when the 2024 General Election was called. It will introduce legislation to protect public premises from terrorism in light of the Manchester Arena attack.

Under 'Martyn's Law', named after Martyn Hett who was one of 22 people murdered in the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, certain venues will be required to follow steps according to their capacity to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack and reduce harm.

It will require those responsible for certain premises and events to take steps to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack and reduce harm in the event of a terrorist attack occurring. The measures required vary depending on the capacity of the premises or event:

• smaller premises in the 'standard tier' will be required to notify the regulator of their premises and put in place reasonably practicable procedural measures to keep the public safe. The government said the requirement for smaller premises will be focused on "simple, low-cost activities" such as educating staff on locking doors and evacuation procedures.

• larger 'enhanced tier' premises and certain public events will be required to put in place counter terrorism measures that could be expected to reduce, so far as reasonably practicable, both the risk from an attack occurring at the premises or event as well as the risk of physical harm being caused if an attack was to occur.

Skills England Bill

This Bill will create Skills England which will "bring together businesses, providers, unions, mayoral combined authorities, and national government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce that England needs". It will "develop a single picture of national and local skills needs", and transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).

The Bill will also reform the apprenticeship levy by replacing it with the growth and skills levy, with Skills England responsible for identifying the training for which the growth and skills levy will be accessible.

Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

This draft aims to enshrine in law the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people and to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting, with the aim of creating "more equal society and support a growing economy".

Tobacco and Vapes Bill

Of interest to businesses that sell cigarettes and vapes, this Bill, which was originally announced by the former Conservative government, will "progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes".

It will mean that children born on or after 1 January 2009 will never be able to legally be sold cigarettes. The Bill will also stop vapes and other consumer nicotine products (such as nicotine pouches) from being deliberately branded and advertised to appeal to children meaning they are only available as a tool to help smokers quit.

Cyber Security and Resilience Bill

This Bill is aimed at "strengthening our defences and ensure that more essential digital services than ever before are protected, for example by expanding the remit of the existing regulation, putting regulators on a stronger footing, and increasing reporting requirements to build a better picture in government of cyber threats.

The government said existing UK regulations reflect law inherited from the EU and are the UK's only cross-sector cyber security legislation. They have now been superseded in the EU, so it said they "require urgent update in the UK to ensure that our infrastructure and economy is not comparably more vulnerable".

Measures including mandating increased incident reporting to give government better data on cyber attacks, including where a company has been held to ransom by cyber criminals.

Enterprise Nation's reaction to 2024 King's Speech

Daniel Woolf, head of policy at Enterprise Nation, said:

"There are some really positive take-aways from the King's Speech for small regional businesses. While things aren't going to change overnight, it's good to see progress being made on English devolution, giving deeper powers to local authorities which in turn can help them provide or subsidise more meaningful support that works for local SMEs. It is positive to see that the devolution bill will also cover skills as part of its remit.

"Small businesses create more innovation, better jobs and benefit their local economies more fundamentally than larger corporations, creating more connected and successful communities.

"Enterprise Nation already delivers impactful, targeted business support in regional mayoralties such as the West Midlands Combined Authority and is ready to work with locally-elected representatives to help deliver targeted business support.

"The bill is also likely to include a strong new 'right to buy' for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces.

"In our Access to Space report, we argued for this to be taken one step further and see local authorities given the ability to grant greater authority to community organisations that have proven their long-term sustainability and presented a strong business case for assuming ownership of dilapidated buildings within their vicinity. Together these new powers could dramatically transform local high streets, supporting independent businesses and introducing a more vibrant community hub culture into our towns and cities.

"We welcome the government's intention to create a new growth and skills levy, which will give employers greater flexibility to fund training to upskill workers across their supply chain. We also want large businesses to be able to transfer a higher portion of their Levy funds directly to the small businesses they partner with, investing in local skills.

"Any legislation to enhance legal safeguards around artificial intelligence is welcome. But AI is the future of digital technology and we want to see action taken to equip small businesses with the skills they need to harness it.

"Our own research found half of small businesses are already using AI, but there is an emerging skills and confidence gap that needs addressing before the SME community can realise the efficiency savings it could produce. For example, we want to see the government work with businesses to offer targeted tax incentives, and time limited subsidies, to support businesses with the cost of adopting AI and technology -- as outlined in our Tech Hub report.

"Access to finance and confidence in finding investment has been a huge issue for the small business community, and in particular for female founders and businesses run by people from ethnic minorities. The National Wealth Fund is a good first step by aligning the UK Infrastructure Bank and British Business Bank, but we'd also like to see more support for underrepresented founders in regional hubs where access to investment can be patchy.

"While all of these announcements are positive moves, we had hoped to see a mention for business rates reform. The new government has promised to review them, and we feel work on this mammoth project needs to start now if real progress is to be made."

Full list of Bills in King's Speech 2024

Find more details in the government's briefing notes.