Help small firms or risk failure of 'levelling up', Government told

The Government’s levelling up agenda will fail unless more is done to support small firms, a leading business group says.

The Open for Britain report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) found that 84% of SMEs got some support of business support during the pandemic and 45% say it helped them survive.

But sole traders especially found that the advice was not helpful, and the FSB said there were ‘significant gaps in business support for small firms’ that stopped SMEs contributing to the economic recovery of the regions.

Read more: 'more work needed' on levelling up

The organisation has also told the Government that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will need to match or exceed the European business support funds it is creating if promises on boosting the regions are not to fall flat.

Its intervention comes a week after a speech by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on levelling up was widely criticised for not containing any specific policy announcements on what the flagship policy will actually deliver.

FSB vice chair Martin McTague, who runs a number of businesses in the North East, said: “Our findings show that existing business support advice already helps small firms when it comes to taxation and regulation, but as our post-EU journey continues and while we continue to weather the economic Covid-19 storm, there is plenty more Government could be doing to help make things easier.

“At the outset, Ministers should recognise the centrality of small businesses to the levelling up agenda in every region and community. You can only level up local economies by backing small businesses. They will succeed by improving the support they can access, which in turn will mean more small businesses, trading more, creating more jobs and wealth.

“Government needs to simplify and streamline how and where small firms can access critical business support advice, building on what currently works.

“It should also ensure that the level of funding for business support via UK Shared Prosperity Fund matches, or exceeds, those funds previously received under European Structural and Investment funding.

“If the right advice can be accessible to all, then small businesses can thrive, our economy can bounce back and everyone benefits.”

At a speech in the Midlands last week, the Prime Minister said the levelling up agenda should be about making sure people from all regions of the UK had the same opportunity to succeed.

But he gave away little in the way of solid policy announcements, instead signalling that the Government would be publishing a levelling up white paper in the autumn.