Economic volatility keeps the majority of business owners awake at night

Concerns over economic volatility and geo-political uncertainty reach a record high (52%) - according to new research from Novuna Business Finance.

Compared to the position two-years ago, the biggest rises in business owner concerns related to tax and interest rates (up from 28% to 42%), a worry that has been more prevalent among small business owners since the National Insurance hike for businesses that took effect last April. Worries over red tape (up from 21% to 30%), compliance and regulations (25%) and business rates (22%) also recorded rises - with concerns over cashflow and retaining business largely unchanged compared to two-years ago.

At a time when the UK Government is considering an EU reset, forging closer ties with Brussels, the research also indicates that around one in seven small business owners still feel the impact of Brexit on their business, with 15% saying worries over its legacy still keeps them awake at night.

The findings are part of the Business Barometer study from Novuna Business Finance, which has tracked small business growth outlook every quarter for the last 11 years. With small business owners grappling with challenges on a daily basis, Novuna Business Finance asked a nationally representative sample of 1,000 business owners which worries kept them awake at night - as a measure of the business concerns that were taken most seriously, issues that business owners could not switch-off from.

The biggest worries keeping small business owners awake at night

Regionally, business worries were most likely to be keeping small business owners awake at night in the South West (82%), the North West (81%), Yorkshire (81%) and the South East (80%).

By industry sector, small business owners in manufacturing (89%), construction (87%), transport and distribution (87%), and agriculture (84%) where most likely to report being kept awake at night by business worries.

The research also dismisses assumptions that it is businesses in trouble that worry the most. In fact, the opposite is true; small businesses that are growing are most likely to report  stresses and strains. Small business owners predicting significant expansion in the first quarter of 2026 were most likely to say business worries kept them awake at night (85%, up from 75% two years ago). In contrast, small business owners that did not forecast growth were less likely to report broken sleep at night (73%).

Joanna Morris, Head of Insight at Novuna Business Finance Comments: "At the start of 2026 we saw the first, slight rise in small business growth outlook for 18-months. That said, our latest data suggests that this comes at a human cost for many business owners, many of whom take their business worries home with them and struggle to switch-off.  When business owners are kept awake at night working through enterprise issues, we gain a sense of the intensity of some of these concerns for entrepreneurs. Further, our research suggests that sleepless nights are not just confined to businesses that are struggling to grow. Managing fast-paced or significant growth can also be stressful for established businesses.  Among those enterprises surveyed that predicted significant expansion this quarter, there was a significant rise in the percentage of business owners that said business worries kept them awake at night."