More respondents to the survey were reporting decreases in their budgets for the first three months of the year than those reporting an increase, but at a rate broadly similar to Q4 2010.

Budgets for the 2011 financial year have been set higher than actual spend in 2010, but report author Chris Williamson, an economist, says: “Cost-cutting remains high on the agenda as firms seek to protect profit margins in the face of strong upward cost pressures and concerns about deficit-busting government spending cuts.”