Small business confidence is in negative territory for the first time in four years according to the most recent study by the Federation of Small Businesses. Their key indicator for small business confidence, the Small Business Index (SBI) fell to -2.9 in Q3 2016 from +21.4 in Q4 2015 which may be driven by key policy changes like the National Living wage and changes in the treatment of tax dividends affecting small business owners as over the past year the index has steadily declined. “Although it is clear that overall small business confidence has declined, the underlying picture in this survey is decidedly mixed” said Mike Cherry, FSB National Chairman.

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