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• Over £100m in online sales expected christmas day
• Internet can help small businesses weather the downturn
• Barclays to announce £1.5bn small business package
• HSBC pledges £1bn of extra funding for small businesses
• FSB urge banks to lend to small businesses
• Super SME's using IT to beat downturn
• Major bank to freeze SME overdraft fees
• Government should lend directly to small firms
• Support vital to small business broadband
• Small businesses to cut back on staff

• FSB calls for interest rate cuts

  As the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee starts it’s meeting today, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is calling for an interest rate cut to save millions of UK small businesses.
  
  A recent poll by the FSB revealed that almost 1.5 million small businesses risk going bust, with unemployment figures expected to rise as a result.
  
  According to the poll, 75 per cent of FSB members would welcome interest rate cuts, where a third of respondents said they would have to close their business if the current credit crises continued. More than half of respondents said they had experienced reduced trade in the last two months
  
  Nearly 40 per cent of respondents said they had felt less optimistic about the future in the last two months, and round 20 per cent had already been forced to cut staff, while 32 per cent were considering it.
  

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  05/11/2008 11:21:00 Published by Alice Galletly Category Small Business

• Small businesses feeling the crunch

  One in ten small firms can no longer afford to run their business, according to new research from RSA, experts in small business insurance.
  
  The research revealed that the credit crunch has forced approximately 470, 000 small and medium sized businesses (SME’s) into a position where they can no longer afford to operate.
  
  The research illustrates the difficulties for small businesses in coping with the economic climate, showing that 81% of employers have experienced rising costs from suppliers, 56% of which have had to pass these costs on to consumers.

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  03/11/2008 17:35:03 Published by Alice Galletly Category Small Business

• Banks urged to accept £4m for small business lending

  High Street banks have been urged by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to accept the offer of £4 billion of EU money to make credit more easily available to small businesses.
  
  Mr Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling say the money, which would come from the European Investment Bank (EIB), could have a significant impact on struggling small businesses if it were to be passed on as loans.
  
  Business groups called for assurances that small and medium sized businesses would receive their share of the money, as they have recently suffered at the hands of reduced credit and increased interest rates from lenders.
  
  EIB officials warned that the money available to UK SMEs would depend entirely on how much of the cash UK banks applied for. A total of £24 billion is on offer over the next four years, and any EU state may apply for a share of the fund.

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  31/10/2008 11:01:00 Published by Alice Galletly Category Small Business

• Small businesses should have access to £125bn deal

  In the latest move to win the small business vote, The Tories have urged ministers to give SMEs a share of the £125 billion Government procurement project.
  
  Tory leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne called on Labour to allow SMEs access to the scheme, which currently they are locked out of.
  
  The proposal follows the Daily Mail’s “fair deal for small firms” campaign last week, during which the Tory leader proposed a six month deferral on VAT tax for SME’s, as well as a 1p cut on payroll tax and a reduction of the small company corporation tax.
  
  Mr Osborne stressed that as Whitehall is the biggest purchaser of supplies in the UK economy, SME’s should be able to benefit from the deal.
  
  £125 billion worth of government contracts are available, but work is primarily dished out to large companies who can afford the officious tender process.

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  29/10/2008 11:54:00 Published by Alice Galletly Category Small Business

• NI cuts propsed for small businesses

  David Cameron has called for a temporary tax cut of 1p on national insurance contributions, to be given to small businesses in order to help them cope with the downturn. Speaking on the Today programme, the Tory leader told BBC Radio 4 that the tax cut – which would cost the treasury £225m – could help alleviate pressures on small firms struggling to pay their bills.

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  21/10/2008 14:00:00 Published by Alice Galletly Category Small Business