Plan to help firms in recession

Jan 27 2009 By The Journal

THE number of small businesses considering making staff redundant has shot up as the UK officially enters recession.

The Federation of Small Businesses said its legal advice helpline experienced a 214% increase in calls in the final quarter of last year as more businesses considered cutting their costs.

The small business sector has been hit just as hard as the headline-dominating larger industries, according to the FSB which pointed out that small firms employ more than half of the UK’s private sector workforce.

North East businessman and FSB national chairman John Wright said: "Small businesses are being hit just as hard as big businesses in these difficult economic times as these worrying figures show. We cannot afford to lose our vibrant small and medium business sector."

The FSB has put together a five-point plan, which it says could create an additional 400,000 new jobs and protect those already employed with SMEs.

It proposes simplifying legislation, cutting payroll taxes, promoting part-time work, providing more opportunities for small businesses to bid for public contracts and investing in training apprentices.

Mr Wright said: "As we move into recession we must not forget that small businesses are the engine room of the economy and are actually in a key position to generate new jobs and avoid further redundancies.

"Small businesses are the sector to help pull us out of the recession and they need all the support they can get to do so.

"We call on the Government to put in place measures to support small businesses, following the key policies we have identified in our plan."