Small businesses are calling on any new government to help the sector which is the bedrock of the British economy

The organisation which represents thousands of small businesses across the UK has launched its own manifesto calling on the new government to make life easier for those businesses which are central to prosperity in the UK.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has launched its own manifesto setting out the ways in which small businesses – many of whom are struggling – can be helped in 2020 and beyond. “Back To Business – general election manifesto 2019” is aimed at lobbying political candidates regarding the needs of the SME sector. 

It’s estimated in each constituency there are an average of 25,000 people working in small business and of those 7,000 are sole traders. Indeed one in seven of the population are now self-employed. The manifesto contains six key areas:

• Get small business paid on time.
• Reform business rates.
• Reduce the jobs tax
• Help the self-employed with pensions & mortgages
• Make apprenticeships work
• Fair access to broadband and mobile across the UK.

The FSB believes the UK should be a place where small businesses can grow and thrive however this is not happening and ‘pressing domestic challenges’ have been ignored, often due to the Brexit uncertainty. 

In more detail the FSB is calling for reforms and support in several areas. Among their demands are: 

Tax:

Reform of the business rates system to remove more small businesses from the system and to make the retail discount (a third of the rates) permanent.

Pledge to NEVER single out the self-employed for tax rises in recognition of the risk that these people take in ‘going it alone’. 

Delay the implementation of IR35 in the private sector until the impacts in the public sector are properly understood. 

Payments and contracts: 

End the late payment culture – give power to the Small Business Commissioner to take action against late payers (including naming & shaming) and banning late payers from bidding for any public procurement contracts. 

Help SMEs enforce contracts and resolve commercial disputes by making the process quicker and easier. 

Protect SMEs from ‘rip off’ fees in regulated markets like energy – just like individual consumers. 

Access to finance & banking:

Boost access to external finance.

Clamp down on unfair charges associated with card payments. 

Ensure free access to cash machines, especially in rural communities or communities where there have been bank branch closures. 

Self-employed:

Tax relief on any training around developing new skills.

Upgrade maternity allowance. 

Make Universal Credit fair and offer longer term support to reflect the fact it takes more than a year to start a viable business. 

Other highlights:

The manifesto contains many other measures which the FSB feels will help the powerful and undervalued SME sector. Some highlights are: 

Sick pay rebate for firms supporting staff members going through ill health (physical & mental).
More support to encourage Armed Forces veterans to start their own businesses.
Make small business central to solving some of the major problems we have in our society such as housebuilding; the care crisis and also allow small businesses to support public services in their community. 

The latter says: 

“Ensure public services can use small business innovation by splitting up big public sector contracts, moving from closed framework agreements to dynamic purchasing systems in public procurement. End late payment across all public sector supply chains once and for all, aiming for more than a third of public sector procurement to be with small businesses by 2022. This target should not be extended again.”

FSB member and winner of the title of Small Business of the Year 2018, Julianne Ponan has been helping draw up the manifesto. She said: 

"What small business needs it is certainty, it needs a governement that is willing to facilitate better trade deals that are not only with Europe but beyond. This will enable businesses to thrive.

"We need to ensure corporation tax is not raised as we are trying to re invest any profits back into the business to grow! We need grants to help innovative businesses scale and export. Currently in my business we export to over 11 countries, with grants in place and advisors who could help us export faster this would enable higher growth which in turn would increase employment. That's just one company. Multiple this by thousands and growth will come."

To see the manifesto in full visit https://www.fsb.org.uk/docs/default-source/back-to-business-manifesto-2019/fsb-back-to-business-manifesto-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=562f121_4