Here is this week’s news round-up for home business, micro business, sole-traders, freelancers, self-employed and any one who is interested in small business news from the United Kingdom and Ireland:
- Inspire: insurance for SMEs: Specialist insurers Hiscox, and brokers Allison & Partners, have this week launched a partnership aimed specifically at offering insurance to small businesses and SMEs.
- SMEs Embrace The Internet, Good or Bad? A report earlier this year by Cranfield School of Management, analysing SMEs attitude to the internet, showed encouraging results with 84% of small business owners having a website and 97% having an e mail account.
- ISME welcomes planned cut in red tape for business: The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association is welcoming government plans to reduce red tape for companies operating in Ireland.
- Post Office closures will hit local communities, says FSB: Ahead of todays House of Commons vote on the future of local post offices, the Federation of Small Businesses has called on politicians to take every possible step to retain the post office network.
- Research shows rising credit and interest rates are hurting small firms, Warns FPB: New research carried out by the Small Business Research Trust (SBRT), in conjunction with the FPB, shows that smaller firms are bearing the brunt of the credit crunch. The FPB believes that barriers to growth faced by small businesses, in particular the burden of tax, red tape and late payment, must be urgently addressed.
- Renew TV licence now and save money of face a £1,000 fine warns FPB: The FPB is warning that smaller firms which allow their employees to watch television programmes online must still purchase a TV licence, or face a fine of £1,000.
- Transport taxes will overshadow ‘green’ Incentives, insists FPB: The FPB is warning that additional transport taxes will overshadow ‘green’ incentives, which were announced in the 2008 Budget to encourage smaller businesses to use more fuel-efficient company cars.
- Small UK companies face cash squeeze: Successful management of money flow is seen as crucial to the survival of thousands of businesses that are a pillar of the British economy
As always this list is not exhaustive, but I hope it will give you a little overview. — ST.
