Ten-point “manifesto” launched to boost SMEs and self-employed
A total of eleven organisations representing 2m small businesses have drawn up a ten-point plan to ensure Britain’s status as “one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business” is maintained. The groups, which include Enterprise Nation, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) and the Royal Society of Arts, have formed a “small business task force” to lobby ministers on issues such as simplifying the bidding process for Government contracts and resolving confusion over the definition of self-employment. They also call for existing tax relief schemes for investing in SMEs to be easier to apply for; better childcare support for the self-employed; rates relief for “co-working” shared office spaces and better education on entrepreneurship in schools.
Source: The Times (10/04/2018)