‘More ways than ever’ to secure finance, according to report on small business

Lord Young has highlighted the Growth Vouchers programme, which provides subsidised advice to small and micro businesses, as a great success in his Report on Small Firms.

The report compiled by the prime minister’s enterprise adviser looks at the evolution of the UK’s small business community across the past five years. It claims that we have entered a “golden age” for small business in this country – with 5.2 million now operating. This represents an increase of 760,000 since 2010.

Lord Young’s latest review notes a change in culture in the British workplace; with more workers choosing to take up the mantel of their own business through conviction rather than necessity. It cites the roll-out of super-fast broadband to more than 2 million individuals and businesses as one of the factors that has made this possible.

The other area the report highlights is funding for small business. It claims there have been 20,000 applications for the government’s flagship Growth Vouchers scheme. The programme offers a 50% subsidy to the cost of strategic advice for small firms looking to expand but without the specific knowledge of how to do so.

In wider funding Lord Young also claims there are more ways than ever for small businesses to access finance. The report quotes the figure of £1.3 billion in crowdfunding transactions in the first half of 2014 alone.

Prime minister David Cameron commented that Lord Young has made a “huge contribution” in terms of making sure small business and start-ups have the best conditions to succeed.

“Small firms play a huge role in the economy and are absolutely key to delivering our long term economic plan,” he said. “As well as being crucial enterprises in their own right, so often they also underpin the success of much larger companies as vital links in the supply chain.”