Consumer spending is down, and so are the hopes of many small firms - yet the Federation of Small Businesses is coming to the aid of concerned SMEs everywhere.
Within hours on HMRC publishing its IR35 guidance, members of the IR35 Forum issued a statement saying the document did not take key elements of their advice into consideration.
The UK’s banks claim they are will meet their Project Merlin lending targets for this year but small businesses, including some umbrella companies, are disputing the claim saying it is becoming harder and costing more to get a loan.
Umbrella company contractors may be concerned to learn that small business confidence collapsed in the third quarter, according to the Federation of Small Businesses.
The Bank of England says that the quantitative easing programme that was rolled out after the credit crunch boosted the UK’s economy by 2%, adding weight to demands for the Bank to print more money.
The FSB has called on politicians to stop playing politics when it comes to the economic recovery and formulate a realistic plan to help small businesses grow.