So you’re probably still reeling from the ‘help’ the Government tried to provide with its older, more useless schemes, but there’s more aid on the horizon.
If you’re like me, you’ll think that the Government’s Funding for Lending scheme really took the **** when it launched last year. Sure, it was supposed to make it easier for small business owners to access credit from UK lenders by providing ultra low cost credit to banks and building societies, but High Street more or less took the money and ran, refusing to pass along the savings to any SMEs that were looking for working capital.
Now that the Government has two more schemes waiting to launch it’s easy to think that we’re about to take a return trip on the Useless Express, but Westminster is absolutely convinced that its New Enterprise Allowance and Start-up Loans schemes are going to make a major difference this time for small business owners. David Cameron thinks this will help to revitalise the economy, as the knock-on effect of new SMEs being launched is not just increased revenues but new job creation – and many of these positions would naturally be filled with freelancers or other types of contract workers, since SMEs love to use interim workers to control their payroll costs.
This time, these schemes may actually work though. It seems that the Government has learnt its lesson in relying upon UK banking institutions to do anything except line their own pockets and have since cut out the middle man by providing around £4,500 in capital directly to those qualifying for the Start-up Loan programme. Likewise the New Enterprise Allowance will aid those Brits currently on benefits but who are looking to launch their own businesses by providing financial support and expert business mentoring.
Now this is something that I feel like I can get behind without any sort of reservations. Everyone knows you can’t trust a banker any further than you can throw him, especially when it comes to money, so it’s better that it’s coming directly from the Government instead of going through High Street. It’s ironic that I’m actually advocating the Government – an organisation that has us all living under austerity measures – for its ability to manage money – that’s how positively horrid most banking systems are in the UK right now! Isn’t it absolutely mad?
