Each offers free advice on all aspects of running a small business, including what government grants are available, and how best to pay taxes and cut energy bills.
The Business Link website also offers a step-by-step guide to making redundancies, including the required periods of notice, and redundancy payments - and a guide on how to avoid having to lay off staff.
The Money Advice Trust(MAT) was set up to help individuals find a way out of spiralling debt through timely financial advice. It is the only charity of its kind in the UK and works with all the major advice agencies to provide free, independent money advice for those who really need it. Full members provide asset finance to business, consumer credit, point of sale, credit card and instalment finance. Associate members provide services or goods to those industries and support the Association's vision.
The National Association Of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) Service has offered free, confidential, impartial and independent advice since 1939. Five million people seek help from 2000 CAB outlets each year. The CAB helps solve problems including debt and consumer issues, benefits, housing, legal matters, employment, and immigration.
GOVERNMENT SECURED LOANS:
The government has announced three parallel business loan schemes to try to encourage the banks to lend to firms - Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, Working Capital Scheme, and Capital for Enterprise Fund. The programme that is most applicable to small and medium-sized companies is the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, which will support up to £1.3bn of new lending by banks. The scheme is open to businesses with a turnover of up to £25m, and is designed to enable firms to secure loans of between £1,000 and £1m, repayable over 10 years. The government guarantees 75% of the loan, with the banks covering the remaining 25%. The guarantees will be available through Barclays, Clydesdale/Yorkshire Bank, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS/NatWest and Northern Bank. Contact The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform for more information.
USEFUL WEBSITES:
Start Ups offers independent advice, tools and information for new business.
The Fresh Business Thinking offers business ideas, small business advice, advice on start-up, events and more.
QUALIFIED CREDIT STAFF, EMPLOYMENT AND FURTHER EDUCATION
The Institute of Credit Management recruitment service specialises in filling some of the most important credit vacancies in the UK and mainland Europe. Over 3,000 of the best credit personnel are currently registered with the service.
The Institute also offers the most comprehensive education scheme in the credit industry, offering a range of flexible study methods, and is the only such organisation accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as an awarding body.
USEFUL SOURCES OF HELP AND INFORMATION
The Companies House website contains guidance and information on company incorporation, as well as a full searchable company database which provides Registered Office addresses, company numbers, date of incorporations etc. The site also includes forms online to download information on Companies House products and services.
The Department of Trade & Industry(DTI) is the UK Government department with the overall aim "To increase competitiveness and scientific excellence in order to generate higher levels of sustainable growth and productivity in a modern economy."
The Insolvency Service is an Executive Agency of the Department of Trade & Industry which deals with insolvency matters in England & Wales and some limited insolvency matters in Scotland. It has a strong tradition of providing the essential mechanisms and efficient means of dealing with individual and corporate insolvency, and investigating fraud and misconduct in insolvencies to ensure that genuine enterprise is advanced and consumers and the general public are protected.
The Office of Fair Trading is an independent professional organisation, which plays a leading role in promoting and protecting consumer interests throughout the UK, while ensuring that businesses are fair and competitive. Its tools to carry out this work are the powers granted to the OFT under consumer and competition legislation. It has three main operational areas which make up three divisions - Competition Enforcement, Consumer Regulation Enforcement, Markets and Policies Initiatives.
The Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3) is the leading professional association for business recovery, corporate reconstruction, insolvency and turnaround specialists in the UK. Its full name is the Association of Business Recovery Professionals - known by the brand name R3 which stands for Rescue, Recovery and Renewal. It was established, originally as SPI, the Society of Practitioners of Insolvency, in 1990. R3 now performs all the functions of SPI and more, as it now recruits business turnaround professionals.
The Better Payment Practice Group (BPPG) was formed in 1997 as a partnership between the public and private sectors. Its aim is to improve the payment culture of the UK business community and reduce the incidence of late payment of commercial debt.
Using the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 as a catalyst for change, the BPPG is implementing a major campaign to raise awareness of the issue.
The Court Service is an executive agency of the Lord Chancellor's Department. The agency is responsible for the running of most of the courts and tribunals in England & Wales i.e. Crown, County, Appeals, and provides the necessary services to the judiciary and court users to ensure its impartial and efficient operation.
The Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) is a professional boy whose purpose is to inform and regulate insolvency practitioners within the UK and Ireland. The Association's members act as trustees in bankruptcy, nominees and supervisors of voluntary arrangements, liquidators, administrators and administrative receivers of companies. The Association is represented on the DTI's Licensing Forum for Insolvency matters.
