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Help for small businesses
IT WILL be of no surprise to readers that over the last few months I have been contacted by the owners and managers of a significant number of local small and medium sized businesses who really are finding times tough.
I've visited some of these companies to speak directly to staff and to find out more about the issues that are affecting them.
Individually and as a group, small and medium businesses employ lots of local people so their futures are of very real significance to our local economy. And small shops, pubs and the like are the very lifeblood of many communities.
It's also often the case that small businesses by their very nature have fewer opportunities to discover innovative ways of fighting the economic down-turn. Unlike their larger cousins they do not have teams of accountants and other experts at their disposal.
That's why organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses and Sussex Enterprise are so invaluable. They are there to offer their expertise and advice.
Conservatives also have plans that would help struggling small businesses survive the downturn and at the heart of that are proposals to cut taxes and paperwork. In a new initiative, small business rate relief would be given automatically to firms across England, rather than businesses having to complete time-consuming forms.
Small business rate relief was actually introduced in 2005 and it allows small firms to claim up to 50 per cent off their business rate bills. However, firms have to fill out paperwork to claim the rate relief – despite Whitehall's tax inspectors knowing precisely which firms are eligible.
According to recent figures, 895 firms claimed small business rate relief in the Horsham district. The Local Government Association has estimated that some 870,000 firms across England are eligible for the rebate but less than half have claimed.
The take-up rate is estimated to be just 43 per cent in the South East (by contrast, in Wales, small business rate relief has been automatic since 2007).
After rent and staffing, business rates are typically the next biggest cost to local firms. We would quickly introduce these changes – after all, business experts have warned that 32,300 businesses will fail in 2009.
That figure represents a lot of heartache and misery for the proprietors and staff affected and would also have a huge impact on our local economy and on the numbers of local people needing government assistance to enable them to get back into work.
As always, I'd be pleased to hear from County Times readers who have comments to make about these proposals and also the problems their businesses may be facing.
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -7 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: East
