In the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) first budget submission to the new Government it has called on the Chancellor to strengthen the landscape for small businesses and enterprise by continuing to reduce the deficit, stimulate growth and back ambitious small businesses.
New research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) suggests small firms are struggling to protect the identity and ideas at the heart of their businesses. Time and money spent on protecting intellectual property such as patents, branding and product designs takes valuable resources away from business development, potentially putting growth and innovation at risk.
FSB says Local Enterprise Partnerships must engage more with small businesses
The latest Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) Small Business Index shows a growing skills shortage in the workplace. Now identified as a significant barrier to growth for small firms, almost one third (29.9%) of those surveyed report skills shortages as hampering growth, with construction and computer services particularly hard hit.
In the first study of its kind since the Big Six energy suppliers pledged more support for small businesses by ending rollover contracts, the FSB has conducted an exclusive survey of over 1,400 of its members to get a clearer picture of small energy for small businesses.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is contacting its members to warn them about the scale of reference fraud directed at small businesses. The FSB and BBC1’s Fake Britain cooperated on a survey of 1,800 small firms, which found nearly one in five (17%) had discovered candidates with fraudulent references.
As the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) 40th anniversary conference in Manchester comes to a close, the spotlight is firmly on the small business talent of the future. Panellists including Hushpreet Dhaliwal CEO of the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) discussed the FSB’s NexGen programme, mentoring, finance and skills with an audience of hundreds of FSB members.
Research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found that half (49%) of small businesses with employees on the National Minimum Wage have either increased wages in the last 12 months or are considering raising pay. The data shows less than a quarter (23%) of small firms have any staff on minimum wage, down from 27 per cent in 2012.
Small businesses are taking on more staff compared with last quarter according to the Federation of Small Businesses. The Voice of Small Business Index found that 15 per cent have increased their staff numbers in the third quarter of 2013. This is the highest figure reported since the Index began in 2010 and mirrors recent improvement in labour market figures.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) believes small firms could be missing out on cheaper finance as new figures shows around two thirds (61%) of firms haven’t heard of Funding for Lending (FLS).