There are many sources of advice for cash-strapped small or medium-sized businesses or ‘enterprises’ (SMEs in the jargon).
However, as experienced business people know, many of the low cost or free services on offer to SMEs or variable quality and can consume more time and effort than the value of help you receive, even the official government sources. Forewarned is forearmed. You may contact Lib Dem Prof Paul Reynolds, if you find that the help you have received is more ‘spin & process’ than it is helpful.
 
Often there is no substitute for keeping good relations with your bank, your accountant, or your legal advisers if you have them. It is wise to keep them more informed than usual, especially if you have a good order book but cash squeezes due to late payment from customers. You may wish to consider bad debt insurance, although this comes with a health warning too – it can be not cost effective for smaller firms with a small number of regular customers.
Many banks have been ‘calling in’ loans to small businesses despite calls from the government to keep lending going. This is not always because they are ‘bad people’, since banks in contrast to some of the (perhaps understandable) ‘spin’ from government, are under heavy pressure to build up their balance sheets to comply with UK, European, and international prudential regulations. If you are affected by this, it may be possible to counter it in a number of ways, such as agreeing extra security (collateral) if that does not affect operations negatively.
Renegotiating payment terms with suppliers can also be tricky in a climate where everybody is focusing on cash flow, but larger firms can be more accommodating if they understand better the consequences of customers going out of business.
To get free, confidential and independent help to deal with business debt problems call Business Debtline on 0800 197 6026.
Businesses in the East Midlands now have a single government gateway to public and private sector support and advice, through the Business Link service. The usual ‘health warnings’ apply. We are grateful to GOEM and Business Link for the information in this Website.
As well as providing additional general advice about financial and cashflow management, the Business Link service claims to provide access to specific support to help businesses respond to and combat the effects of the current economic climate. This includes advice on how to generate new business opportunities, access public sector contracts and improve operational business efficiency.
Visit Business Link East Midlands http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/eastmidlands for more information. Tread with the usual care.
They have a ‘Route to Market’ programme - an series of workshops for senior managers to encourage good practice in strategy development, customer retention, staff recruitment and development, sales and marketing financial management.
If you have to make people redundant, Jobcentre Plus helps people at risk of losing their job to start looking for a new one, even before they are made redundant, through online and telephone-based services.
Visit the Jobcentre Plus website and select ‘Help with redundancies’ to find your local Jobcentre Plus contact. You can also access the East Midlands Rapid Response service for businesses making redundancies through the Jobcentre Plus Hotline on 0115 989 5961 or the www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk website.
From April 2009, you could also get an incentive of up to £1,000 to recruit a person who has been unemployed for over six months, and access to in-work training for that person worth up to £1,500. For more information, visit the Business Link website www.businesslink.gov.uk/realhelp The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) can provide advice and guidance on legal issues connected to business restructuring. Visit the ACAS website http://www.acas.org.uk or call 08457 474747.
Train to Gain provides Government funding and free, independent advice to businesses of all sizes, giving employers help to improve the skills of their employees and boost the productivity of their business. It provides extra support for small and medium-sized businesses, including funding to retrain employees, access to short courses in business-critical areas and leadership and management training. You can find out more about the support Train to Gain can offer your business by calling 0800 015 5545 or visiting http://www.traintogain.gov.uk/Helping_Your_Business Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) can give specialist advice and access to extra and more flexible funding to meet the needs of your specific sector. For apprenticeship advice visit the Apprenticeships Service website http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Employers.aspx or ring 0800 015 0600. |
