Press Release

Small business support – change the remit of Business Link says ACCA

17 September 2007

Business Link needs to be marketed better and its remit changed considerably says ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) today in its response to DBERR’s (Department for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform) consultation exercise on simplifying business support for SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises).

Professor Robin Jarvis, head of ACCA’s small business unit, says: “Low awareness rates of Business Link’s work, the lack of relevance to small businesses of support services and a complex and schizophrenic SME support structure is preventing business from getting the support they need and deserve.

“As the simplification programme develops, ACCA wants the government to analyse carefully whether Business Link should continue to offer such specialist services which are currently more effectively provided by the private sector.”

ACCA says this is especially important given the low take up of Business Link’s services – even the Government’s own annual survey from two years ago showed that only one per cent of SMEs sought advice or information from Business Link when starting up taking over a business.

Instead, ACCA wants to see Business Link develop its reputation as the authoritative source of information for business on regulatory compliance, business law, employment law and other aspects of trade where small businesses need to be in direct contact with Government.

Professor Jarvis adds: “Business Link must not duplicate existing services – they should primarily be information providers and secondly they need to fill the few support gaps in private sector provision. We were surprised to find that the provision of information did not feature more explicitly in the new model for business support. We have recommended that the emphasis currently placed on business advice should be replaced with information provision and brokerage which would clarify Business Link’s role and more importantly, their identity.”

To create a stable and lasting legacy, ACCA says Business Link must be managed more effectively by Government and this must involve regular consultation with private sector intermediaries. The private sector is a valuable resource for government and should be recognised as such in the government’s overall strategy.
Professor Jarvis concludes: “Unless the Government makes full use of the private sector in promoting the new support model for SMEs, as well as in communicating with small businesses more generally, then the estimated £2.5 billion spent annually on direct business support will not deliver value for money.”