April 2025 SME Round-up: People, Planet & Profit in Focus

April’s headlines delivered fresh proof that UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are being squeezed on three fronts at once: people, planet and profit. A widening skills shortage, rising employment costs and deepening fatigue are colliding with tougher climate expectations and a stubborn cost-of-doing-business crisis. Yet behind the gloom lie practical wins: smarter training, data-driven efficiency and automation that can cut carbon and costs. In this month’s round-up we unpack the key news under each “P”, then show how tools like Lessr turn today’s pain points into tomorrow’s edge.

People: Skills, Costs & Well-being

The talent crunch is real

Nine in ten English SMEs expect skills shortages in 2025, with entry-level roles now the hardest to fill. While 74% of owners plan to introduce AI-driven processes to plug the gap, only 8% have managed to grow headcount this year and 21% have shrunk it.

Compliance costs just jumped 

From 1 April the National Living Wage rose 6.7% to £12.21 an hour and employer National Insurance climbed to 15%—a one-two hit that swells payroll bills for every shift worked.

Burn-out is spreading. An April poll found 81% of SME owners reporting exhaustion after two years of firefighting. Morale is now entwined with productivity.

Lessr’s behaviour-driven approach surfaces shift-by-shift energy and workflow tweaks that free up staff time, letting lean teams “do more with less” while upskilling on the job.

Planet: Climate Pressure Meets Cost Pressure

Customers are turning up the heat

61 % of SMEs now act on climate because buyers demand it, up from 40% last year. A third have already been asked to disclose their carbon footprint in bids or supply-chain audits.

Green still feels expensive 

More than half (54%) say up-front costs stop them “going green”, and 59% cite finance as the top obstacle to investing in low-carbon tech. Only one in four accesses available grants or loans.

Opportunity 

Data shows firms that link efficiency to climate goals win new customers (51%) and differentiate from rivals (58%)

Lessr's IoT sensors capture real-time energy data, generate audit-ready carbon dashboards and quantify savings—turning compliance into ROI without consultancy fees

Profit: Costs Up, Confidence Down—but Efficiency Pays

Sentiment stays negative

The FSB small-business confidence index sat at –40.7 in Q1—better than late 2024 but still firmly pessimistic

Costs keep climbing

85% of SMEs saw expenses rise in early 2025; energy (53%), labour (51%) and taxes (43%) led the pain table. More than half wrestled with late or unpaid invoices, choking cash flow.

Policy nudge

April launched a UK export-boost roadshow and fresh calls to tackle late payments—signals that relief may be coming.

Pay-off cases are multiplying

SMEs installing smart meters or IoT sensors report immediate utility savings and stronger investor confidence, proving that “planet = profit” when waste is cut.

Lessr could save you up to 20% on site-level energy savings from interventions—plus one-click reports/exports for lenders and buyers

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Taken together, April’s news underlines a simple truth: integration beats isolation. SMEs that weave people-first upskilling, data-driven sustainability and cost control into one strategy build resilience faster than those chasing each issue alone. Lessr exists to make that integration automatic—capturing live energy data, nudging teams toward low-effort wins and proving the financial upside month after month.