Proposals from a financial services watchdog to protect and widen access to cash are a “good start but could go further”. That is the view of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which has responded to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s consultation on access to cash, closing today. The FCA was given the task in […]
A survey on the state of small business finances by Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance has uncovered that despite a turbulent year in 2023 with high inflation and geopolitical unrest knocking consumer confidence, almost a third of small businesses – 31% – are making a good profit and 45% are in profit by a small margin. […]
SME anxieties regarding a potential recession have eased by a third (32%) since Q4 2022, though inflation concerns remain, according to iwoca’s Q4 2023 SME Expert Index. Under half (49%) of SME finance brokers surveyed report their SME clients having any recession fears––a significant drop compared to 73% in Q4 2022. Nonetheless, economic fears persist: […]
It’s considerably more affordable to set up a business than people think, according to new research by American Express and The Entrepreneurs Network, a think tank. The survey reveals that, Brits estimate on average it costs £34,000 to start a business, while about one in seven think it costs more than £50,000. The reality is […]
Nine in 10 of the UK’s SMEs believe apprenticeships are at least partly the solution to the UK’s skills gap crisis, with a further 68% of the view apprenticeships are a ‘valuable alternative to university’. Nearly half (47%) feel not enough is being done to encourage young people to consider apprenticeships. The findings in this […]
Small business growth in the UK has slowed over the last decade hindered by Brexit, Covid-19, and geo-political tensions, a new report by the Enterprise Research Centre has found. The proportion of small firms that were expanding their workforce fell 40% between 2012 and 2022. The new report also warns the support available to small and medium-sized […]
WeDo Business Services group has unveiled the latest stage of its expansion strategy with a new venture providing established SMEs and start-ups with asset-based finance to fuel their growth plans. The new division, WeDo Asset Finance, is based out of the group’s headquarters in Oldham and is operating nationwide, with a goal of lending to […]
Freelancers, contractors and people running their own companies are regularly doing more work they are paid for and failing to charge costs back to clients , new research* from Workwell & IPSE shows. The study found more than half (53%) of self-employed workers admit to over-servicing clients providing extra time they do not charge for. […]
More than a third (36%) of UK adults currently have a digital-only bank account according to new research from personal finance comparisons site finder.com. This is a significant increase from last year when a quarter of the population (24%) said they owned a digital-only bank account. Only 9% of the population said they had an account when […]
Over a third of the owners and directors of the UK’s small businesses had to take the big step of signing a personal guarantee to keep their businesses afloat in the final quarter of 2023, according to the latest Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance Monitor. 34% of PGI applications in Quarter 4 2023 were for loans […]
