Patricia does homework ahead of General Election. Mare, Salisbury and Swindon. the views of our members nationally.

Transcription

1 CONTENTS Your regional January/February 2015 Somerset & Wiltshire magazine from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Patricia does homework ahead of General Election NEWLY-ELECTED FSB Branches are busily developing their plans for Our Branch network enables the FSB to represent the views of small business owners locally and nationally to ensure their voice is heard. Your elected Branch representatives meet with local authorities, MPs and a number of key stakeholders to discuss a wide range of issues. Nationally, we meet with Government Ministers on issues from taxation to energy. Last year, members in this Region provided over 20 case studies on the Members of Yeovil & impact of the severe flooding which we Mendip Committee were able to take to a meeting at No 10. The Region is over 120 miles end-toend covering 1,065 square miles with the Regional plan and feeding views into Region. To view our manifesto visit www. seven Branches which include: Taunton the national plan. Branches also hold ibacksmallbusiness.com and District, Yeovil and Mendip, Kennett, local events to enable businesses to Ms Marks, Regional Chair, said: I North and West Wiltshire, Weston Super grow. Details of all events can be found look forward to an exciting year working Mare, Salisbury and Swindon. on the website or follow us on Twitter. alongside our Branches and representing Newly-elected Regional Chair, Patricia This is also the year the UK will the views of our members nationally. Marks, and Secretary, Alex Blackie, elect a new Government and the FSB Visiting all the branches has given me recently visited every Branch AGM to will ensure that all candidates set out a valuable insight into the diversity of ensure they understood the challenges their policies on what they will do each branch. We will ensure that local faced. The Branches represent a vast for small businesses. Our campaign businesses across breadth of business sectors and hearing #ibacksmallbusiness is in full swing and are given an opportunity to have their their views is important when developing we are meeting candidates across the say and grow their business. Survey results will help design flood protection strategy AT this time of year one can t help but think back to the flooding that took place across our Region throughout last year s Christmas and New Year period. The Met Office have again warned of storms and we can only hope that the impact on small businesses and communities in Somerset is not so severe this time around. We ve seen first-hand how Regional News 2, 11, 12 Consumer Law 3 VAT 3 Farming, Fishing & Food 4 Finance 5 Taxation 6 devastating the impacts of severe weather can be on individual businesses. Even those that were not flooded directly suffered from indirect problems like a drop in customers, disruption to services, staff issues and damage to infrastructure. But what about the impact on the UK economy? The most recent report of the Adaptation Sub Committee, the Government s independent advisory Legal Charities Health & Safety Employment Telecoms body, highlighted some major gaps in our collective understanding of how resilient the UK s small businesses are to severe weather events. This is a concern, given the fact that severe weather seems to be happening more regularly in recent years. Weather records for the driest, wettest, coldest and warmest seem to be constantly being broken. In order to address some VOICE EDITORIAL: This publication is produced by and published for the Federation of Small Businesses, Sir Frank Whittle Way, Blackpool Business Park Blackpool, Lancs, FY4 2FE. Copyright 1996 Federation of Small Businesses all rights reserved. Editor: James Connor. Tel: james.connor@fsb.org.uk. Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of this publication errors or omissions are not the responsibility of the Federation of Small Businesses and opinions expressed are those of the authors and are not necessarily the policy of the Federation. Page 1 CONTACT of the gaps in knowledge around small business resilience to extreme weather, the FSB has carried out a survey. This will help us understand what small businesses are currently doing to protect themselves against extreme weather and what more needs to be done to help them. Contact Alison.herbert@ fsb.org.uk if you would like details of our findings. WELCOME to this latest edition of YOUR Regional bringing you up-to-date news from the FSB. To advertise your business in this magazine call Caroline McLoughlin on For editorial content, contact Alison Herbert on or at

2 New talks could TTIP balance RECENTLY, members of the Somerset & Wiltshire FSB region attended a British American Business briefing on the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in Bristol where a panel of five speakers set out why TTIP is good for UK businesses. The European Commission is negotiating the deal but member states could advise the Commission as to how their own trade policies should be implemented within TTIP. The top five concerns with regard to trading with the US are tariffs, regulations, public procurement, customs procedures and the de minimus rule, the threshold above which customs duties are paid. If tariffs are abolished some small firms, for whom the taxes are prohibitive, could all of a sudden start exporting their product to the US. Government representative Ron Yip stated that TTIP was the number one priority for the UK Government in trade. If we get TTIP right we could use it as a blueprint for future trade agreements with emerging economies, he added. American diplomat Jim Neel said he was very optimistic about TTIP as attitudes with the US Government had changed from focusing on the differences to a greater interest in common trading with the EU. Websites on the negotiations: UK: uk/government/ collections/ transatlantic-tradeand-investmentpartnership-ttip Page 2 Tell us what you want to do this year WHILST the FSB is a successful business lobbying organisation it is equally important to us that we provide local opportunities for small firms to grow their businesses. We FSB recently unveiled their #ibacksmallbusiness campaign in the House of Commons. FSB members, Ministers and constituent MP s from across the UK, gathered to make the case for small business needs to be central to any policy discussions for the next Government. This campaign puts prospective politicians in direct contact with small businesses on social media and forms the centrepiece of the FSB s work in advance of the 2015 General Election. The backbone of the campaign is the FSB s Business Manifesto which outlines the five key areas that will need to be addressed by any aspiring new Government: Deliver a sustained economic recovery deliver a number of events across to enable members and non-members to make new contacts and gain valuable information that supports the growth of business locally. We would like to hear from you about the type of events and information that you value. Do you value pure networking? Do you like to hear from a speaker? What topics are helpful to Candidates must understand SMEs Rebalance the economy Create high quality jobs and full employment Make all markets work better Lower the cost of doing business #ibacksmallbusiness is a unique social media campaign supported by a dedicated website www. ibacksmallbusiness.com. The site allows prospective candidates and small businesses to share content on social platforms such as videos, infographics and quotes from small business owners across the UK. This will enable Prospective Parliamentary Candidates to see and hear the challenges facing small businesses in the specific constituencies they wish to serve. By tweeting or posting #ibacksmallbusiness, candidates can show support for the small you? What time/day would you prefer? We would love to hear from you. If you wish to have your say then please contact us as soon as possible through Gioia.grobler@fsb. org.uk. Patricia Marks, Somerset & Wilts Chair & John Allan, FSB National Chairman business community. Patricia Marks, Somerset & Wiltshire Regional Chair said: #ibacksmallbusiness is a unique opportunity for those wishing to win a seat in the next Parliament to talk directly with small business owners via social media. In Somerset & Wiltshire we will be fully engaged with the campaign ensuring that Parliamentary candidates in this Region understand the issues faced by small businesses. Over the coming months we will be holding a number of meetings with prospective candidates to ensure they understand the needs of small firms. We fully expect candidates claiming to support small firms to get behind the #ibacksmallbusiness campaign and commit to taking the measures in our business manifesto forward in the next Parliament.

3 How to have a bigger voice OUR National Conference and Business Expo 2015 will be held at the ICC in Birmingham 19 to 21 March and plans for delivery are gathering pace. The ICC offers a superb setting and back-drop for perhaps the most important event in the FSB calendar. Delegates will be able to take advantage of the wonderful conference and other integral facilities the venue has to offer. Work is now well underway to deliver a fantastic three-day event in what can only be described as a hugely important year for small businesses from a political landscape point of view. The list of speakers and presenters continues to grow and will provide an exciting and informative programme in what promises to be a crucial year for small businesses as we take to the polls for a General Election just weeks after our Conference. We are also working hard to ensure a spectacular line-up of motivational and inspirational speakers. In addition, we are hard at work putting together a brilliant social programme which will not only encompass an exciting line-up of evening entertainment for the duration of the conference but a wonderful programme of partners trips. Within a stone s throw of the ICC are a wealth of attractions on offer such as The Black Country Living Museum, Dudley Zoological Gardens and Castle and Broadfield House Glass Museum in the Black Country, Alton Towers, the National Memorial Arboretum, Lichfield Cathedral, the National Brewery Centre and Burleigh Pottery in Staffordshire and Cadbury World, The Jewelry Quarter, and ThinkTank Science Museum in Birmingham to name but a very few from a huge list. Arrangements for our Thursday evening A Taste of Birmingham welcome reception at the iconic Central Library next door to the ICC are also well under way. The library is a unique architectural development and our event will be held in the Rotunda, a magnificent round room in the middle of the Library. Guests will be greeted with a drinks reception which will be followed by a bowl food buffet of various different foods whilst being entertained by dance troupes, all of which will highlight the amazing cultural diversity of the city. Conference will also include a local market with a number stalls ready to entice you with local specialities, including: Bespoke jewellery Arts and Crafts Ceramics and Glasswear Leather and Wood Fabrics/fibres/ furnishings Beauty and health products Food and drink providers Our main exhibition is also shaping up nicely and will provide the opportunity for visitors to pick up a wealth of information from a vast range of companies providing goods and services to small businesses. Our efforts will continue to ensure we deliver a fantastic conference. The only thing left to be said is get booking and we hope to see you in Birmingham. Conference plans gathering pace AS part of the Big panel, members can be part of the quarterly Small Business Index, which tracks business confidence over time. We work in partnership with the Centre for Economic and Business Research to create the Index and to show us the impact small businesses are having on the economy. Recent research indicates: l Home working The changing nature of business and technology is allowing more entrepreneurs to set-up and run a business from home. One in five FSB members say tenancy clauses are a barrier to running a business from home, with nearly a third saying inadequate broadband provision is a barrier. l Published tariffs Two thirds of members think switching energy supplier is difficult and four in five would like to see energy companies introduce published prices. l Nearly one in five small firms are affected by fake references. The FSB and BBC1 s Fake Britain cooperated on a survey of 1,800 small firms, which found nearly one in five had discovered candidates with fraudulent references. l Floods cost small businesses 831m As businesses continue to recover from the floods, new data released by the FSB reveals small firms in affected areas lost more than three quarters of a billion pounds. Join Big today at: fsb-survey-panel Page 11

4 You can t escape CHANGES to workplace pensions mean that from April 2017 all existing employers will be required to autoenrol their staff, aged between 22 and state pension age and earning more than 9,440 a year, into a pension scheme. The date a business has to comply depends on the number of employees it has. The Government has delayed auto-enrolment for firms with less than 50 employees until this year and this has been welcomed by the FSB. The delay will only be worthwhile if steps are taken to simplify the process and reduce administrative burdens. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has calculated a cost of 46 per person per year in administration for firms with up to four people. The FSB believes this is a gross underestimation of the time and cost for this process and has been calling on the DWP to undertake a full impact assessment to find out the true costs on micros as well as small businesses. We have called on the Pensions Regulator to adopt a light approach and to communicate to small businesses about how the new regulations will affect them. Our FSB member survey found that 18 per cent of small businesses offered a pension scheme to employees and 50 per cent of these businesses contributed towards their employees pension with 60 per cent of small business owners feeling that pensions should be an Changes to pensions are coming individual responsibility and that the pension reforms will have a negative impact on their business. Also, 73 per cent were not confident in their ability to choose a pension scheme. In association with FSB Independent Financial Services, we have a pension scheme which is easy to arrange, simple to understand and is provided by Scottish Widows. Information on this and other services can be found here or call Spotlight on insurance PROFESSIONAL Indemnity Insurance protects your professional opinion as part of your policy. Professional indemnity can cover several scenarios where you are trading on your professional opinion and reputation. This can include: Accidental breach of confidentiality Inadvertent infringement of intellectual property Replacing lost or damaged documents Errors and omissions Breaches of civil liabilities including breach of contract or warranty Call for information Wi-fi hotspot A PERSONAL wi-fi hotspot is available for members who need internet access in the remote areas of Somerset & Wiltshire or when working away from the office. The 123G Hub7 is an option if you need remote internet access. It has patented antenna technology, making it more powerful than traditional internet dongles. You can connect multiple devices at the same time, ensuring everyone can log on. There is a member saving and for more information contact fsb@123send.net www. fsbmobile REGIONAL CONTACTS Patricia Marks VICE (1) John Mayer VICE (2) Mary Webb REGIONAL SECRETARY Alexander Blackie NATIONAL COUNCILLOR Patricia Marks DEPUTY NATIONAL COUNCILLOR Mary Webb DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Alison Herbert KENNET BRANCH NORTH & WEST WILTSHIRE BRANCH Adrian Chase SALISBURY BRANCH Mary Webb SWINDON BRANCH TAUNTON BRANCH Alexander Blackie WESTON-SUPER- MARE BRANCH John Mayer YEOVIL & MENDIP BRANCH TREASURER Adrian Chase Jan de Jonge Jane Maskell Michael Rutter Page 12

5 BIG voice Do you know what your rights of membership are? Find out more at Giving small businesses a BIG voice

6 IF your website For websites that adjust to any screen size talk to Paul T: E: was this big Could you still read it? Free website concept design for Regional Readers (Limited to the first 25 customers) Page 14 Ref: FSBWEB14