Mike Cherry, the FSB Chairman, stated that the FSB welcomes initiatives from the government designed to help people who want to plan for their future retirement with a pension, but are concerned with automatic enrolment since it will be costly both in terms of money and time for smaller firms.

The FSB also has concerns over the expertise that is required in order to guide employees towards the right pensions with the changes that are poised to take place.  In a survey conducted by the FSB, they found that about 70% of all small business owners were not confident that they could choose the best pension for their employees.

In place of the automatic enrolment scheme for small businesses, the FSB has proposed that a default scheme be developed in which employees that have a pension provision or no other savings could be placed into so that money would be safely placed in low risk funds.

Cherry added that small business owners are uncomfortable with choosing a pension scheme because of the complicated nature of the task and they are disappointed that a solution for small firms has not yet been developed by the pensions industry.

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Due to the fact that the economy is still fragile, most firms have been placed to put green issues on the side regardless of how they feel about them but even though SMEs are unable to focus on green issues, the target goal of the UK for carbon emissions is still in place.

For this reason, the Federation of Small Business feels that if the Government still wants to meet its own carbon emission standards then they need to start offering more incentives to SMEs to help them out.  Of course, while it may seem like a good idea, the Government is busy making cuts which make it seem unlikely that this will happen.

There are measures in place in order to help businesses work towards cutting back their carbon emissions such as an interest free loan provided by the Carbon Trust for the purchase of energy efficient equipment.  However, the FSB says that this is not enough since the Government wants to cut emissions by about 20% before 2020 dawns.

It may not all be in the hands of SMEs, because 44% of small businesses are housed in rental spaces which means that they have no personal investment towards making changes in items such as insulation.  Since landlords will not see any gain, they also have no incentive to invest in such changes.

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The FSB survey suggested that it may still be quite some time before recovery is complete according to a statement from the group which means that the Government still needs to encourage SMEs to hire more staff and grow.

FSB national chairman, John Walker, stated that it is expected that 600,000 public sector jobs will be lost which will stimulate the need for new private sector jobs and even more so within small firms in order for the economy to get rebalanced.

In response to this problem, the FSB is asking for new businesses to be given National Insurance Contributions holiday and extend it to companies and businesses located across the UK.

Walker stated that the policy is supported by the FSB; they simply believe that it should help out existing businesses and be applicable across the UK.

The scheme lets new start-up businesses avoid the £5,000 fee of national insurance payments for the first ten employees that they hire within their first year of trading.  It does not currently include businesses that are located in London, the south east, and the east.

Senior economist Charles Davis who helped produce the FSB report stated that the SME community seems to feel that a strong recovery is still far away and there are present business risks to growth in the future.

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Politicians and small businesses have criticized banks for not supporting the grass roots industry and lobby groups are taking hold of the statistics from the BBA (British Bankers’ Association) as proof that there is more to be done.

A spokesman for the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) stated that the credit demand is just as strong as in previous years, but small business is starting to lose faith in lending from banks because of the rising cost of finance.

The BBA statistics show that lending to SMEs increased from £54.4 billion in 2010 from £55.3 in 2009.  Over the prior five years lending grew on average by about £4 billion.  Director for the BBA, David Dooks, stated that the numbers show a reduction in the credit demand.

The BBA also added within the report that it recognizes trends in customers that are willing to pay off their loans and instead increase their savings.

Last year the report showed that customers paid off £11.6 billion of non-mortgage debt and credit card debt over 2010.  Net mortgage lending was only £7.8 billion which is less than a tenth of its increase in 2006 when it reached £110 billion.

The banking industry paid a total of £12 billion in corporation tax throughout 2008 and currently employs 420,000 staff.

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WestBridge is now focused on its third phase of fundraising that aims to secure institutional investors before the final fund closes within the year.  The first close was much higher than its projection figure which was £10m.

In addition, WestBridge has been able to boost the growth of businesses within Wales by proving equity opportunities for two well established and profitable SMEs.  The first investment from the new fund may be signed off on for £2m by the close of November.

Outside of receiving backing from multiple high net worth individual investors, the company has also been able to receive a high cornerstone investment from an unknown institution that has not been named.

Half the contributing investors have been secured and identified at this point.WestBridge is also working alongside Saltus Partners and Castle Court Consulting.

Chief executive of WestBridge Guy Davies stated that he is delighted the company was able to reach its first target and now that they have a cornerstone investor the company will move into the final phase of fundraising and are already talking to a handful of potential institutional investors.

Davis continued to say that their investor base comes from both businessmen and women and that the club population continues to increase every month as investors are looking for strong returns and the benefits of belonging to a network.

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The balance sheet will be paid starting next January by all UK banks, UK building societies, and the UK operations of foreign banks.  As such, it will likely be the first levy that will be implemented on a global basis.

CEO of the UK bank Aldermore, Philip Monks, stated that it is not enough to exclude newer banks from the levy because all SME lending should be excluded.

Monks continued to explain that SME lending is a vital component of economic recovery so it is counterproductive to consider taxing any of this funding.  Instead, Monks stated that the levy should be placed on banking areas such as casino use that do not benefit the economy.

Aldermore also stated that although SMEs likely will agree with many of the Budget announcements, they will be angered to hear that both the VAT and CGT will increase while capital allowances are going to be reduced.

Monks added that the GCT rise will cause fewer entrepreneurs to consider self-employment as a viable option.

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He explained that when globally compared, corporation tax rates that are low help boost the business of countries that drop them and hence the UK rate of 28% is too high to be competitive.

He plans to cut the tax next year by one percent which will make it 27 pence to the pound.  There will also be four annual reductions to follow that will cause the tax rate to drop to 24% per pound, which Osborne believes will give the UK the lowest corporation tax rate of any Western economy.

The reasoning behind the cuts was to offer sustained recovery in the job market and growth that occurs across all sectors and areas of the country. Small companies will see their tax rate drop to 20%, which is a reversal and welcome news to SMEs that thought they would see the tax rate increase up to 22%.

According to Osborne, 85,000 companies should benefit from the cut and the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme will be introduced which supports SME access to lending.

Tax partners at HW Fisher & Company, Tony Bernstein, stated that the decreased corporation tax will be welcomed on all fronts across the business community but may not have the largest impact as Osborne believes due to the fact many companies have suffered losses and reduced profits over the last several years.

Berstein continued to say that self-employed people may want to think about running their business via a company so that the profit they do not need to spend can be taxed at a lower rate.

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However, out of those only 47% stated that fairer taxes are the priority, with a small 11% asking that public procurement be offered to the public in a more accessible manner.

The second most popular choice was increasing regulation that surrounds utility companies and banks with 74% of all business owners believing that this would help the current situation, with another 55% asking that training incentives be outlined by the Government.

Phil McCabe, the forum spokesman, stated that Welsh firms can see the need for the UK to tackle its large amount of debt and back all Government efforts to address this fact.  However, at the same time, McCabe stated that SMEs are concerned that they are not sacrificed as the Government attempts to reduce its cost due to the fact that SMEs are the key components of employment and growth across the country.

He added that business owners would also appreciate seeing tighter regulation of utility and bank companies.

In terms of local improvement, SME owners supported the focus on transport and public transport with 47% responding this is their greatest local concern.  Another 37% felt that local taxation needed to be reduced in order to encourage the development and growth of SMEs in Wales.  Crime prevention fell in third place with 33% worried about the effects of crime on their business.

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The new service website is designed to help guide businesses on how to trade in light of the recession by offering practical guides, interactive business reviews, and economic reports.

Chairman for small business at NatWest and RBS, Peter Ibbetson, stated that they have listened to what their customers have to say and are happy to offer a new support agent to help SMEs capitalize on opportunities that await them.

Ibbetson continued to say that while they are aware most businesses will continue to trade cautiously, with more than half of those in the survey stating they want to see more economic stability, their online review is designed to help SME’s avoid the fallback of a recession.

The free review which is the first in UK banking industry history can be found at the SME Business Knowledge Hubs at the NatWest and RBS website.  Included in the review are tips on cash flow and risk and the ability to instantly download a report that offers guiding tops with the option to seek out further aid from a relationship manager.

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The event will showcase support for start-up businesses across the country on a local, national, European, and regional level.

Throughout the 1261 events micro-firms and SMEs can share tips and experiences that have helped them develop their business.  A special side focus will be on the perspective of entrepreneurship in terms of a career option especially for those that are younger in age.

Also throughout the week some countries will have open company days which are aimed at offering full insight into the rewards that come with running a business and the challenges that may also be present.

This week in Brussels the winners of the European Entrepreneurship Video Award in 2010 will be honoured with the Vice President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani stating that SMEs create many jobs across Europe.

Tajani also stated that in the wake of the recovery the European needs a jump start more than ever and comprehensive support both in business and via public policy is vital.

Due to the occurrence of the economic crisis that began in 2008, the fast development of SMEs came to a rushing halt.  Previous to the recovery from 2002 up to 2008, SMEs within the EU drove the growth of job opportunities within the country.

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