News

June 07, 2013

SMEs in the dark about business schemes

Many small firms and micro-businesses just don't know about some of the many government initiatives that have been established to help them grow, according to a study by AXA Business Insurance.

The survey of more than 500 UK SMEs and micro-businesses was carried out shortly after the March 2013 budget. It reveals that a quarter of small business owners were unaware of the reduction in the rate of corporation tax, and of those that said they were, only 13% could state the correct rate.

Funding was a major concern for the business owners – second only to fuel costs – but even so, 49% had not heard of the Funding for Lending scheme (FLS) and 53% were unaware of plans for a Business Bank.

Almost half of all business owners were also unaware of the ongoing government initiative to reduce red tape for small businesses and only 5% knew for sure they were in an enterprise zone. Around a third had never even heard of enterprise zones.

In addition, one in four didn't know about the scheme to roll out superfast broadband connections across the UK and 17% had no knowledge of apprenticeship schemes.

Knowledge about alternative sources of funding was also scant, with 71% saying they had not heard of crowd funding and 54% of small business owners unaware of the existence of peer-to-peer lending.

Even among those that were aware of the schemes, many were not convinced they were working, according to the survey. Just 7% believe that there has been a reduction in red tape, with an even smaller 4% saying it has saved them any money. And only 2% believe they have seen any benefit as a result of being in an enterprise zone.

Darrell Sansom, managing director of AXA Business Insurance, said: "The numbers of small businesses in the UK continue to climb rapidly but it seems that many could be missing opportunities to help their business through a lack of awareness of the support that may be available to them. We are also concerned that among those that are more aware, many are not seeing the benefit that they would want."