SME Business News

The creation of new employment law is harming the competitiveness of the UK and putting jobs at risk, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said.
The business group’s new paper, named ‘Employment regulation – up to the job?’, has been timed to coincide with the release of official employment figures tomorrow. The paper looks at [...]

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The Low Pay Commission is to decide early next year whether apprenticeships should be brought under the national minimum wage rules.
But the CBI has said that any minimum wage for apprentices should be realistic and cautious if it is not to deter firms from offering apprenticeships in the first place.
Currently, the minimum weekly wage for [...]

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As the global financial crisis deepens, it is no surprise to learn that unemployment figures for August rose at a pace not seen for 16 years.
The Office For National Statistics (ONS) recorded a total of 1.72 million out of work, an increase of 81,000 on the previous quarter.
Perhaps equally as worrying are the number of [...]

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I just came across this story that is worthy of a post, a real David & Goliath situation that has arisen in West Yorkshire over the last month or so.
When West Yorkshire council awarded a blanket recycling contract to French based firm Sita, it was assumed that the company would employ the twenty employees from [...]

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The Home Office has announced that it is  ‘naming and shaming’ companies that flout the law by employing illegal immigrants, on it’s website from 19th June.
They have revealed that 35 companies have already been fined, mostly small fast food businesses, with fines ranging from £5,000 to £22,500.
The highest fines have been handed out to Besmullah Car [...]

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Small businesses are getting the lions share of work from the London 2012 Olympics contracts, organisers have claimed.
Of 82% of businesses where employee numbers are known 71% are considered to be SMEs. Around 650 companies have benefited from the project so far worth a total of £2bn.  Almost half of the firms winning business are [...]

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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has hit out at the government over the complexity of the legislation on employing foreign workers in the UK.
Parts of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act, which come into force tomorrow (Friday February 29), will require small employers to understand and verify up to thirteen different forms of identification [...]

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British Chamber of Commerce director general, David Frost is concerned at the lack of skills among the young people seeking employment in the UK. The Chamber reports that skill levels and attitude to work, are so poor that firms across the country are increasingly employing eastern European migrants to fill jobs rather than local unemployed [...]

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