Latest news
Small Business Assistance
Capita Symonds is a national company with an office in Carlisle. We are a multi-disciplinary organisation that has a range of services available to public and private sector clients. We are interested in assisting new businesses within the area with startup accommodation with a full interchangeable service provision from basic administration — typing, copying, reception services, franking, and other back office services. We are also able to provide advice on health and safety, environmental management, financial management and website production. In addition we can provide assistance with specialized services such as software development, effective procurement for your business.
Business Continuity Planning
Business Continuity Planning should be the focus for SME's in 2011, according to one of the biggest insurance groups in the world, Aviva. The research was an outflow of the Bi-annual SME Pulse of Aviva and conducted Online. The survey involved 500 business owners and focused on methods used by SME's to operate their businesses.
One of the main areas of questioning involved Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning. The research in this area was shocking. 50% admitted to having no plan whatsoever. 28% said they had indeed developed one, and 16% claimed it was unnecessary for their kind of business.
The results are especially telling for data loss disasters. There have been many studies revealing that businesses quickly close up shop following data loss disasters. This means that business owners are taking the risks far too lightly.
The estimates of how long SME's can recover and return to normal trading were troubling as well, though it is business type dependent. A third of SME owners believed they would be back to normal daily business inside of a week. 31% thought it might take them a full month. Less than a fifth claimed they were completely covered by insurance and had a full plan in place. The survey uncovers the grim fact that most SME's lie open to disaster and grave losses.
If an SME will plan, backup data, and meet continuity requirements, losses from downtime will be low. Many businesses would be devastated being out of action for a week, or a month. Losing long-term clients would ruin their reputation and destroy their business.
Have you got a plan in place or even thought how you would manage? If not get in touch and we'll do our best to help.
Employee law a burden for SMEs
Small businesses are still being strangled by employee law and legislation, according to a survey by Illuma Research of 250 managing directors.
88 per cent feel employee law and legislation is far too complex, 67 per cent of respondents believe that pay and benefits legislation will cause problems over the next few years, with 72 per cent concerned that they have to spend too much time on HR issues.
Jayne Carrington, managing director of management consultancy Right Management, says: 'If the government is looking to the private sector to grow and generate jobs, it needs to make life easier for those running SMEs.
'Simplifying legislation would mean companies can focus on growing and strengthening their businesses for job and wealth creation for the economy.'
How many times have we heard this and when will the government do anything about it?
And they say they are committed to supporting business!
Politicians like to associate themselves with entrepreneurship, even while they are busy dismantling what little support there is out there for businesses. Only weeks after announcing that Business Link's network of regional offices is to be scrapped and replaced with a call centre, the government has declared its intention of setting up its latest idea. This time it's going to be an 'entrepreneurs' forum'.
There will be up to 26 business people on the forum, who will meet four times a year, and business secretary Vince Cable says he is looking forward to 'bouncing ideas off them and hearing their views'.
But it is not the only talking shop to be set up. There's also the prime minister's business advisory group, the secretary of state's business advisory group and the small business economic forum.
It will be interesting to see what any of these groups actually achieve.
Meanwhile Business Link, which for all its flaws, and there were many, does work at the grassroots, trying to help businesses negotiate the masses of regulation that governments churns out, directing business to funding sources, and providing personalised advice yet it is to be replaced by a faceless call centre! If you really want to support businesses, you probably wouldn't have done that. When will governments ever learn that businesses learn from other businesses and from business people who have are or have recently been successful and have practical advice to give? Too many Business Link staff were either failed business people, bureaucrats or civil servants. But if you got a good one, he or she could be worth their weight in gold. What was needed and still is needed is to reduce the red tape, simplify everything and then bring the quality of advice and advisors up to the very best so that businesses have somewhere they can go in confidence.
The Government latest "backing for small businesses"
Small Business Minister Mark Prisk announced a cross government package of measures to help the five million small and medium companies in this country grow and boost enterprise across Britain on 1st November
To help translate aspiration into action today, ministers from Department for Business, Cabinet Office, Treasury and Communities and Local Government have announced three major policies to:
*improve access to finance;
*make it easier to do business with the public sector; and
*allow social tenants to start up their business at home.
Lord Young has taken up the role of Enterprise Advisor to the Prime Minister, to propose new ways of encouraging business start-ups, reducing burdens, maximising procurement opportunities and engaging with small businesses.
Government achievements for small business are published in a document today entitled: 'Backing small business'.
The Business Secretary Vince Cable and Chancellor George Osborne have announced several major policies.
1. Improve access to finance:
The government will continue the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) for the next four years, making around £2 billion available to viable small companies without a credit history or collateral. This will provide support to 6,000 SMEs a year. We will also make it easier for small and specialist lenders, such as Community Development Finance Institutions to lend under EFG, supporting companies in disadvantaged communities.
*The government will commit a further £200m to Enterprise Capital Funds supporting equity investments in the highest growth potential businesses over four years, and it's anticipated the first of the new funds will be investing early in the new year.
*To encourage 'business angel' investments government welcomes the joint bid of business angels and the Government's SME investment arm, Capital for Enterprise, for a co-investment fund as part of the Regional Growth Fund to support angel investments into high growth potential early stage SMEs, particularly in areas worst affected by public spending cuts.
*The government will also work with banks on several areas launched in their response to the green paper, the Business Finance Taskforce. This includes the £1.5 billion Business Growth Fund, mentoring and a new lending code.
2. Making it easier to do business with the public sector
The Chancellor said that the government is committed to ensuring small businesses can maximise opportunities through the wider public sector. "We have set a goal to award a quarter of government contracts to SMEs. We will work with departments to ensure they are fulfilling this aim and expect them to increase their rate of SME procurement each year. We will also work with all government agencies to remove those barriers that prevent small businesses accessing government contracts. From December 2010 we will introduce a standardised Pre-Qualification Questionnaire, developed in close co-operation with SMEs through the Federation of Small Businesses, and make its use mandatory across central government. We are also announcing an industry-sponsored 'Lean Study' that will significantly speed up the procurement process, which will report in December 2010."
3. Allowing social tenants to start up their business at home
Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office said "we want to send a strong signal that enterprise is for everyone, including people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
There are currently barriers preventing social tenants from applying to start up a business based in their home. We will remove those barriers and work with social landlords to encourage their tenants to develop entrepreneurial skills."
In late November Jobcentre Plus will be running a campaign across all of its Jobcentres so that its Advisers can signpost people looking for work and interested in starting their own businesses to the support available to business start ups as well as opportunities for franchising.
An employer's guide to government enforced employment rights
This came into force on 1st October 2010 and covers:
- National minimum wage
- Working hours
- Working for an agency
- Working in agriculture
- Working for gangmasters
The leaflet sets out certain employment rights for workers in the UK. If you do not follow these you will be breaking the law.
For example:
Employers who do not pay the correct minimum wage will be issued with n automatic penalty of up to £5,000. You will have to pay this penalty even if the underpayment was a mistake. The most serious cases could be subject to an unlimited fine.
In addition employers are required to pay arrears to the worker on the basis of calculations made using the current minimum wage rate, even if this is higher than the rate at the time of underpayment.
Use the Pay and Work Rights Service to find out more about these rights.
A copy of the 8 page leaflet covering all the 5 aspects of employment rights is available on www.bis.gov.uk/publications
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills urges businesses to buy into the "Cafe Culture"
Skills Minister John Hayes has called on all UK businesses to promote informal learning at work, following pledges from sixty-four innovative companies to increase informal workplace training for their staff.
These companies, including 11 from the FTSE 350, represent nearly two million employees. They formed part of a recent 'Café Culture' campaign run by Business in the Community on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to improve workers' skills.
The central aim of 'Cafe Culture' is to promote good practice among employers, so BIS and Business in the Community have published 'Building the Cafe Culture Movement' to help other organisations to see the benefits of informal adult learning at work.
The resource includes case studies showing how successful companies have seen the business benefits of informal learning, alongside guidance on how to follow in their footsteps.
The Minister John Hayes said:
"Businesses have a pivotal role in promoting adult learning, and so have a unique opportunity to change, and indeed improve, people's lives. In turn they can reap the harvest of a productive and engaged workforce.
"The many household names that have pledged to push informal workplace learning through the Café Culture campaign is testament to the value they place on developing new skills.
"I am delighted to see such positive results and look forward to seeing adult learning continue to grow at work."
The 'Cafe Culture' campaign, which has been running since 2009, has involved a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, finance, construction, utilities and food and drink companies.
It took its inspiration from the idea of a wider cafe culture, where people meet informally to share ideas in a fun and relaxed environment. By translating this to an office environment, the intention has been to encourage people to work together as teams to support creativity and improve skills.
'Building the Café Culture Movement' can be downloaded from the Business in the Community website at: http://www.bitc.org.uk/workplace/skills/index.html
The Launch of Regionplus
Regionplus is the new regional information service that will provide comprehensive information on how to access, understand and contact the wide range of organisations and partnerships in the North West. With so much activity and change underway across the region it is difficult to keep up to date. Regionplus offers concise information with local news, events, initiatives and their impact on the North West. Whether you want to contact organisations, access regional reports, receive the latest North West news and events or find advice on the services and resources that may be available to you then Regionplus can point you in the right direction.
We at Cumbria Business for Business are delighted to have been chosen by Regionplus to be their Cumbrian agents and their Cumbrian office.
The only way to appreciate the wealth of information that Regionplus can bring to you is to visit their web site www.regionplus.co.uk
Any questions please contact us at Cumbria Business for Business.
Equality Act 2010
Over the last four decades discrimination legislation has played an important role in helping to make Britain a more equal society. However, the legislation was complex and, despite the progress that has been made, inequality and discrimination persist and progress on some issues has been stubbornly slow.
The Equality Act 2010 is intended to provide a new cross-cutting legislative framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all; to update, simplify and strengthen the previous legislation; and to deliver a simple, modern and accessible framework of discrimination law which protects individuals from unfair treatment and promotes a fair and more equal society.
The provisions in the Equality Act will come into force at different times to allow time for the people and organisations affected by the new laws to prepare for them. The Government is currently considering how the different provisions will be commenced so that the Act is implemented in an effective and proportionate way.
In the meantime, the Government Equalities Office continues to work on the basis of the previously announced timetable, which envisaged commencement of the Act's core provisions in October 2010.
We will provide further news about implementation as it becomes available.
For more information contact Cumbria Business for Business and we can arrange for our HR service provider to contact you.
The last 15 months has seen a fall in lending to small businesses - Dept. of BIS admits
Lending to small businesses under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme has fallen by nearly 60 per cent in the past 12 months, causing many to question the value and relevance of the scheme and increasing the concerns of SMEs in these difficult times.
Department of BIS show that lending under the scheme fell from £254m in the first quarter of 2009 to £186m in the first quarter of 2010. By the end of June it had fallen a further 20 per cent to £149m.
The fall is partly explained by reduced demand as businesses decide to pay off debts instead of taking on new loans. The banks are also saying many small business owners fail to make a proper case when applying.
It would appear that when the scheme was first introduced there was more hype than substance and it certainly was not helpful to many businesses that needed money quickly.
As with any borrowing a good detailed business plan is essential and these take time and money to produce. There is no short cut despite what the spin doctors would have us believe.
Many potentially viable small businesses are still struggling and the government and the financial institutions have yet to come up with a scheme that represents the real needs of SMEs. Lenders are still reluctant to take any risks and seem to want to use any capital that they have on anything but lending to small businesses. A radical new approach is urgently needed.
What does the new government offer?
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said banks not lending is "one of the greatest restraints on recovery for the UK economy. It is not right when SMEs, which are the lifeblood of the British economy, are crying out for loans and can't get them." Words but no action. As usual it is someone else's fault. Will politicians never learn that they are elected to serve us? Small businesses need the new government to act now to sort out the problems with the EFG Scheme and come up with incentives for the lenders to lend more
CB4B would love to hear of any experiences good or bad of the EFG Scheme and any ideas of what is really needed.
The Cost of Consumer Credit
Whilst not a specific business item all employers should be concerned if any of their employees or friends borrow money from organisations that charge excessive interest rates.
A new poll has found overwhelming public support for stricter limits on the cost of consumer credit. The poll, commissioned by Compass and Trident Reach from YouGov, found that 68% of respondents thought the government should introduce a lending rate cap to cover all forms of consumer credit, including unsecured credit.
The findings challenge the government's plans to give regulators new powers to define and ban excessive interest rates on credit and store cards which fall short of a commitment to cap excessive borrowing rates in the unsecured credit sector (payday loans, home credit, pawnbroking and rent to buy).
The poll also found that 7 in 10 want the government to provide support for alternative sources of affordable credit through a Post Bank, Credit Unions and Community Development Finance Initiatives.
A broad coalition of citizens groups, campaigners including Cumbria Business for Business, MPs and celebrities have joined together to campaign to 'End Legal Loan Sharking' and is calling on the government to end legal loan sharking by capping the cost of credit and providing alternatives through funding to CDFI's and a post bank. The coalition will be calling on its growing list of over 40,000 supporters to lobby the Prime Minister to give the power to regulators to set acceptable rates, and ban excessive rates, on all forms of credit. The campaign will also target over a million people on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter to take action. To join the campaign go to www.endlegalloansharks.org.uk
LIVE CONSULTATIONS
The following are some of the live consultations that may be relevant to businesses.
1. Broadband deployment and sharing other utilities infrastructure
Open date: 15 Jul 2010
Closing date: 16 Sep 2010
A discussion paper examining the benefits and problems associated with sharing non-telecommunications utilities infrastructure, as a means of facilitating the deployment of broadband networks is open for consultation.
The Coalition Agreement committed the Government to introducing measures to ensure that the rapid roll out of superfast broadband across the country. The agreement also said that the Government would ensure that BT and other infrastructure providers would allow the use of their assets to deliver such broadband, and seek to introduce superfast broadband in remote areas at the same time as more populated areas.
This discussion paper looks at the benefits and problems associated with sharing other non-telecommunications utilities infrastructure, and invites comments on the issues raised.
This is an informal consultation with key questions listed later on to help stimulate debate and gauge initial thinking on the policy.
To download the consultation document go to
www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sector/docs/b/
2. Financing a Private Sector Recovery
Open Date: 26 July
Closing Date: 20 September 2010
The Government recognises that access to finance is critical for businesses to survive and grow and that small and medium-sized companies face particular challenges. The current system is not adequately delivering finance to small, growing businesses that are vital to the future of the economy.
The Business Secretary and the Chancellor want to work with business and the financial community to ensure that access to finance is not a barrier for companies looking to invest and boost the growth of the economy.
The paper, Financing a Private Sector Recovery, sets out the range of finance options for different sized businesses, explores where the market is failing to provide and if there is a role for government intervention. It launches an intensive discussion on how business and the government can work together to produce a diverse, competitive and sustainable financial environment.
http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/corporate/docs/f/10-1081-financing-private-sector-recovery.pdf
Stop Bullying in the Workplace Petition to the Government
40% of UK organisations still do not have an effective policy on bullying. Reports repeatedly reveal that between 10-50% of employees experience bullying which prevents them from fulfilling their duties the absence of legislation on bullying at work leaves both employees and employers unprotected. Bullying is the cause of underperformance, not the solution. Stress is now the number one cause of sickness absence; bullying is a major cause of stress. The cost of bullying to industry and taxpayers is estimated to at least £12 billion annually. The cost of conflict in the workplace could be in excess of £20-30 billion annually. This is equivalent to a hidden tax burden of over £1000 per working adult per year.
Earlier this year a petition was organised and sent to the Prime Minister requesting legislation be introduced that makes it compulsory that all workplaces have an effective policy on bullying. All organisations would submit a report on how many staff have submitted grievances or complained of bullying to the local newspapers who will report the bullying figures. Viv Dodd of Cumbria Business for Business was one of 773 signatures of the petition. Full details of the petition are available on:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/09Bullying/
Government response
Bullying and harassment have no place in today's workplace environment and are unacceptable wherever they occur. Employees should be able to work without fear of encountering bullying from their employers, fellow employees or anyone else.
Legislation provides safeguards for employees against harassment in the workplace. This covers harassment on the grounds of sex, (including sexual harassment), Race, Disability, Religion or Belief or Sexual Orientation and Age. In addition, protection is provided by: the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (where intentional harassment is made a criminal offence), the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (where harassment is made a criminal offence and victims have a right to damages), and the Employment Act 1996.
Employment law is complex and the Government, through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), has a national helpline offering advice to both employers and employees 0845 747 47 47.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also accepts that bullying at work can present a risk to people's health, for example where it has been extreme or has gone on for some time. In such cases, or where other avenues have been explored and have not been successful in resolving the problem, inspectors from the HSE, or the local authority, depending on which is the enforcing authority, could in principle use the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 to require an employer to take action to prevent further damage to an employee's health. However, it may be difficult for an inspector to prove that the actions complained of constituted a risk of ill-health. The Health and Safety Executive enquiry line for enforcement issues is: 0845 345 0055.
BIS and the Health and Safety Executive have developed Management Standards, one of which focuses on the issue of bullying. The Standards will offer a diagnostic approach to assist employers in identifying whether bullying is taking place and provide practical guidance to employers on how they can tackle incidents. The Management Standards apply to six aspects of work design that research has shown as potential stressors, Control, Demands, Support, Relationships, Role, and Change. The relationships standard covers bullying. The Management Standards, guidance and tools are available free of charge from the HSE website: www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards
The Government does not believe that further legislation at this stage would be the most appropriate way forward to deal with this issue.
This was obviously not what the petition organisers wanted but at least it got the subject aired.
site