FSB proposes a new £1billion small business survival fund to save the UK economy

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) today launched a blueprint for stabilising the UK economy and saving threatened jobs with a proposed new £1billion fund for small businesses.

The FSB is calling on the Government to take emergency measures to save the millions of small businesses that drive the UK economy in the next two weeks as a six-month stop-gap to help tide small businesses over.

The key measure the FSB wants to see is the creation of a new £1billion Small Business Survival Fund open to all small businesses. The Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme should be scrapped and reformed as the new Survival Fund, bolstered with money made available through the European Investment Bank (EIB). This proposal, which should be reviewed within six months, will ensure vital funds are pumped into the small business community.

The FSB also wants to see a simplified and well advertised process for public procurement and for big businesses which fail to pay their bills on time to be named, shamed and fined.

Small businesses are owed around £30,000 on average by big firms. The FSB is demanding the powers of Companies House be increased, to enable it to enforce legislation to name, shame and fine those businesses which renege on payment terms.

The subscriber fee to the Government’s Supply2.gov.uk website should also be scrapped, so all small businesses can have access to information about public procurement contracts across the country.

FSB National Chairman John Wright said:

“A lot has been made of the rescue package for big banks, but small businesses are at the heart of our economy, employing just under 60 per cent of the private sector workforce. A rescue package for small businesses is crucial to shortening the economic downturn and saving jobs.

“Small businesses need innovative and decisive action now as things are hard for them now. The proposed Small Business Survival Fund will, if the Government takes it up, mean that the millions of small firms in this country will survive the hard times and be able to put our economy back on track.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

1. The FSB has over 215, 000 members and exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is available at http://www.fsb.org.uk/.

2. For copies of the FSB proposal, contact Sophie Kummer sophie.kummer@fsb.org.uk

Contacts:

Stephen Alambritis: 020 7592 8112 / 07788 422155
Sophie Kummer: 020 7592 8128/07917628998
Prue Watson 020 7592 8121 / 07825 125695
Marc Shoffman 020 7592 8113 / 07595 067068

Sophie Kummer
Senior Press Officer
Federation of Small Businesses
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7592 8128
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7917 628 998
Website: www.fsb.org.uk