The question is though is this genuine praise or merely hollow rhetoric?
In 2014 there were a record 581,000 new companies formed and this beat the previous record set in 2013 when there were over 526 thousand new formations. It seems this trend is set to continue and 2015 is predicted to be a record breaker too. it’s worth pointing out that these figures don’t include people becoming self employed but not incorporating.
With these figures in mind it comes as somewhat of a surprise to learn that a much vaunted government service designed to aid business growth is being aboiished. The Business Growth Service, (BGS), formerly known as the Growth Accelerator programme, closed its doors to new applicants at the end of November but will honour all pre existing commitments providing they are completed by the end of March 2016. There had been no mention of this closure in the chancellor’s autumn statement so the announcement was greeted with shock.
Essentially SMEs are good at what they do but often struggle with other business disciplines and successful applicants to the BGS could be introduced to experts to bridge this gap. Disciplines covered included access to finance, sales, recruitment, exporting and growth and part funding for this training was available.
SME growth and a successful economy go hand in hand. Allowing these small businesses to grow creates jobs and it seems such a false economy and will inevitably pile more of a burden onto the so called backbone of the economy