Education, Skills and Business Support

Education and Skills

The current uncertainty in the financial markets is concerning for many small businesses.  Small firms play a pivotal role in the UK's economy employing 58% of the private sector workforce and are the primary job creators.  

The FSB has consistently said that, in order for the UK to meet the productivity challenge, it is crucial that the size of the workforce should increase and that the skills of the workforce should improve.

Basic skills should not be the responsibility of the employer. Employers want to focus staff training on the skills relevant to the job in hand and not on the readdressing of a failure within the education system.

Tony Cherry and Janice Haigh

FSB Yorkshire and Humber joint spokespersons on Education, Skills and Business Support.

The 2008 "Lifting the Barriers to Growth in UK Small Businesses" survey provided an in-depth examination of the challenges faced by small businesses in the UK in developing, training and recruiting staff.  The summary and key conclusions from the analysis were:

• Basic skills deficiencies in numeracy and literacy appear to be a consistent theme and one of concern for policymakers.
• Across the UK it can be seen that a lack of adequately trained staff is increasingly a barrier to businesses achieving growth objectives.
• A lack of adequately trained staff affects both urban and rural areas.  The reasons for this may be quite different, given that skills shortages can differ by industry and firm strategy, size and age.
• It is important to bring together stakeholders, including policy makers, small firms' representatives, training providers and education establishments to develop a full range of provision aimed at enhancing competitiveness at the firm and industry levels.
• The survey emphasises that the type of training and resultant satisfaction is more likely to come from either more informal internal firm-based sources or from the private sector rather than from publicly funded and accreditation-based provision. This emphasises a potential policy issue in that it indicates that a lot of beneficial training is being undertaken that is unaccredited and unseen by policymakers. This raises the question of how to provide accreditation that will acknowledge the role of small business and the achievements of small-firm employees.

FSB recommendations and what can we do:

• A policy focus on the needs of smaller businesses – realising that the majority of smaller employers use informal, unaccredited methods of training, which should be as valued as recognised paper qualifications.
• Greater joined-up working and sharing of information across awarding bodies to limit the overlap of courses, for example in leadership and management where there are at present a raft of qualifications.
• Continuation of the current work with regional bodies such as Yorkshire Forward, and the Train to Gain Enhancement Fund Board highlighting skills shortages in the region and ensuring that publicly funded training schemes are tailored to meet the needs of small businesses.

Business Support

Business support has a vital role to play in the regional economy in providing small businesses with the support and advice they need to lead the region out of the economic downturn and into recovery.

Small businesses traditionally seek support and advice on issues as wide ranging as advertising, planning, IT, taxation, and export.

The 2010 'Voice of Small Business' survey and report highlighted the following:

• Accountants, suppliers, banks, and customers are still commonly used by small businesses as sources of business support.
• There is still low awareness among small firms regarding what is available through Government Funded Business Support.

The 2010 Yorkshire & Humber 'Supporting Growth out of Recession' survey and report into the effectiveness of Business Link in Yorkshire & Humber Region revealed that:

• FSB members were in the main, using the services of Business Link for advisor support, information, events and workshops.  Face to face contact was the most popular method of accessing services. 
• Whilst significantly more members were satisfied (57.9%) with the service they received, almost a quarter expressed their dissatisfaction.  Satisfaction levels were however significantly better than earlier surveys going back to 2004.
• Businesses stated that they most needed help with general marketing, access to finance/grants and training together with the cost of training.
• A significant number felt that Business Link in Yorkshire & Humber should focus on improving the quality of the service they provide in specific areas such as relevance of advice, ensuring phone calls were returned promptly, ensuring follow-up actions were completed etc.
• Over 40% of small firms that had not used any type of business support felt that they didn't need it.  A further 14% stated that it was not relevant to their business.

The survey concluded by making eight key recommendations for the further improvement of the Business Link service within Yorkshire & Humber.  Download the full 'Supporting Growth out of Recession' report and recommendations.    

FSB recommendations and what can we do:

• Lobby regional bodies in particular those with responsibility for access to finance to ensure a fair deal for small businesses.
• Make better use of regional banking contacts establishing good relationships and develop the use of member case studies.
• Continue the current work with Business Link Yorkshire ensuring the recommendations from our 'Supporting Growth out of Recession' survey report are acted upon.

Useful Regional links:

Business Link Yorkshire:
Business Link is a government-funded service designed to promote enterprise. Whether you are already running or growing a business or just starting out, Business Link can help.
Further details via their website:

Skills Funding Agency:

Was set up on 1 April 2010 to fund and regulate further education and skills training in England.

Train to Gain:
Will help find training for your staff to equip them with the skills to drive your business forward.  Talk free to one of their expert skills brokers.

National Apprenticeships Scheme:

Find out how apprentices can make your business more effective, productive and competitive