Small businesses: the heart of communities and our recovery
In West Yorkshire there are 94,000 SMEs. They employ half of all people working in the private sector. Over two thirds of all businesses in our area have less than 5 employees or are sole traders.
But more than that, small businesses are at the heart of West Yorkshire communities. They are key to generating inclusive growth. They create local jobs, grow and keep wealth within a local economy and provide vital local services. They support communities in the good times and also stick around when the going is not so good.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is the UK’s leading business organisation. Our mission is to create the best environment for businesses to start up and thrive in. Our success will drive the economy and create jobs. We are a cross-party, non-partisan member-led organisation, we campaign, but we also bring our entrepreneurial spirit into our work by proposing practical policy changes and being part of the solution.
Proud of our independence, we ensure the voice of small business is heard by decision-makers at every level of government, including the West Yorkshire Mayor. We campaign and lobby for a better business environment, but we also bring our entrepreneurial spirit into our work by proposing practical policy changes, and being part of the solution.
Introduce a small business impact assessment
Make sure policy ideas are right for small businesses
Small businesses are vital to the West Yorkshire economy. SME’s make up a staggering 99.6% of all business in West Yorkshire. They exist on every street. They may be a shop, carpenter, business consultant, bed manufacturer, wedding planner or restaurant.
A healthy economy creating inclusive and green growth needs vibrant small businesses. It also needs an environment that encourages and supports entrepreneurs.
Small businesses are agents of social change. They provide jobs, skills and training for those furthest from the labour market including young people and older workers, those with disabilities and mental health conditions, and those with low levels of educational attainment.
Small businesses are the engine of the economy. They create jobs and growth right across West Yorkshire. After the financial crash in 2008, the bulk of recovery jobs came from the sector, and it’s vital it can now do so again as the country and the region move in to recovery mode.
Small businesses can provide structural and systematic solutions to long standing economic issues faced in West Yorkshire and across a lot of the North of England. Unlocking these solutions will require the Mayor to build alliances in West Yorkshire as well as work with all the other Metro Mayors.
The West Yorkshire Mayor will be successful if they recognise, reward and capitalise upon the invaluable role smaller businesses play in supporting social mobility, wellbeing and fuller working lives. Decisions affecting smaller businesses need to be judged through a small business impact assessment, to help understand the impact of a proposal on SMEs and consider whether it will affect SMEs in a different way to larger businesses. This test needs to measure and show the disproportionate costs to small businesses in time and money that policy decisions can have.
We would like to see the Mayor work with an appointed Small Business Champion to develop the criteria for this West Yorkshire small business filter and apply it to all policies before they are implemented
Small business and a strong West Yorkshire economy
Recovering from Covid
- Supporting High Streets and our Towns: The next Mayor should work in partnership with local businesses and others to ensure consistent approaches and complementary local strategies across West Yorkshire to make high streets more attractive, safer and easy to access. Click and collect schemes for local high street retailers should be supported to serve local communities.
- The recovery must be a green recovery: Many small businesses are willing and capable of becoming more energy efficient, and even generating energy. With the right support, they can play a critical role in helping the UK reach its green targets.
Having the right infrastructure in West Yorkshire
- Broadband: The Mayor should set an ambitious target of West Yorkshire businesses getting access to affordable gigabit broadband connections by the end of 2022 and report regularly on this target. Special attention is needed so semi and rural areas on the apron of urban areas are not left behind.
- Transport: integrated ticketing across West Yorkshire is overdue. The Mayor should also support improved connectivity across our region and the North.
Ensuring the workforce has the necessary skills
- Encouraging entrepreneurs and raise aspiration: Provide support to those who want to start up a business and/or become self-employed and raise the aspirations of people from all backgrounds to help them realise they can start a business.
- Skills: Support small business owners to develop their own skills by including business owners in West Yorkshire skills strategies.
- Young people: Promote the opportunity for young people to learn key employment skills (such as manufacturing, digital and health care) by developing careers in small businesses. Support small businesses to develop employment and learning opportunities, including the Kickstart initiative, student internships and work placements.
Making West Yorkshire the leading city region in which to do business
- Business support: Improve information to help businesses better access all the support that is available. Re-focus the support so it is demand not supply driven. Allow small businesses to get support they need and give them a greater say in who provides their support.
- Start-up loans: SMEs usually take around 18 months to break even. The current government backed start up loans require payments in the first year, before any typical start-up company has the cash flow to start paying the money back. Support needs to mirror the student loan system to allow businesses to get established in the first 12-18 months, before requesting repayment of any loans.
- International trade: One in five small firms that would consider exporting do not know where to go for support. The Mayor must prioritise filling this gap and support exporting small businesses to cope with increased regulation following Brexit.
- Crime: Business crime is not mentioned in the current West Yorkshire Police and Crime Plan. It must be included in a refreshed plan especially given the explosion in businesses experiencing cybercrime.
Procurement that works for small business
- Introduce a target to increase the amount in value of contracts won by SMEs.
- Procurement – Ensure tender processes for public sector contracts in west Yorkshire do not exclude SMEs. For example, removing any requirement for more than £1M public liability insurance, which is unrealistic for most small businesses.
- Late payment: The Mayor should audit West Yorkshire councils to discover those that are using contract clauses that request Tier 1 suppliers pay their supply chains in 30 days – the same timeframe that all local authorities are required to do by law.
Contact Details:
West Yorkshire Area Leaders: Merewyn Sayers merewyn.sayers@fsb.org.uk
Sharon Jandu sharon.jandu@fsb.org.uk
West Yorkshire FSB Development Manager: Barney Mynott barney.mynott@fsb.org.uk
twitter.com/FSBwestyorks
www.facebook.com/FSB.West.Yorkshire
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