Will these crazy policies affect your business?
27 March 2009
As if small businesses don’t have enough on their plate in these recession-laden times as it is, there seems to be a growing trend amongst the government - and any other supposed ‘authority’ with any modicum of power - to make life even more challenging. The Forum of Private Businesses (FPB) threw open its doors back in 1977, and since this time, has become renowned for documenting each and every change that will impact on the day-to-day operation of small businesses; but surely even this organisation could not have envisioned just what present day businesses would have to contend with. PSB rounds-up some of the more bizarre and downright mischievous legislations and proposals that could soon be forced upon these helpless small firms:
Music matters
First up is the concept of ‘music licensing’. Wish to whistle while you work? Think again. The news that employers may now be liable to pay a license fee to listen to music in the workplace has, unsurprisingly, been met with a resounding chorus of boos. The FPB has been inundated with calls relating to this subject, and is trying to establish - in the first instance - whether or not the company in question is even obliged to comply with this tedious procedure; which isn’t as simple as you might think. Upon discovering whether you need permission from either PRS for Music or Phonographic Performance Ltd (or even a combination of the pair), you will then be greeted with an extortionate fee, which is dependent on various sets of cirumstances.
PRS for Music explains that the tariff for music in the workplace applies “to the mechanical performance of copyright music within the Society's repertoire as a background to work, meals, ‘stand-down times’ and breaks at work places such as offices, factories, canteens and rest rooms. It does not apply to, for example, telephone music on hold, or music at staff social or sports clubs, which are chargeable under the appropriate PRS tariff.” Well, that clears that up then!
In a bid to tackle this rather aggressive legislation, the FPB is currently campaigning for a review; citing that there should be an exemption for small firms who are not playing music for commercial gain. For the time being, this scribe will play it safe by sticking to his Walkman. But, please - don’t tell the authorities.
Government parking up the wrong tree
To compound matters further, the Government has recently announced plans to tax small businesses for using their very own car parking spaces. Under the Transport Act 2000, local authorities have the power to introduce Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) schemes, allowing them to charge firms which provide employees with private parking.
Whilst the Department for Transport is seeking feedback on how measures in the Act should be implemented, the FPB is responding by petitioning against the Government to scrap the legislation altogether. In a sentiment that many will see eye-to-eye with, the organisation believes that it is unfair, discriminates against small business employers, and will force many more struggling firms to close.
Further concerns surround whether businesses may cease to provide staff parking facilities altogether because of this, and interestingly, it is rightly argued that town and cities providing WPL schemes will become uncompetitive compared with those that do not. As a result, businesses will - in all likelihood - consider reloacting and local enconomies will suffer further. Enough to drive you around the bend.
Bills, bills, bills
Being misled by utility companies is hardly new, per se, but it is becoming increasingly more prominent - which has prompted the FPB to call on suppliers of these essential services to state clearly on bills exactly when contracts with commercial customers are set to expire.
Many struggling firms are being tied in to costly deals because their contracts are rolled over from one year to the next with little or no warning, leaving them unable to switch suppliers to save money.
“Most often, only a single letter is sent out and a non-response is taken as a business being complicit. Business owners are extremely busy and, unless notice is given within the specified time to terminate these ‘evergreen’ contracts, utilities companies can just roll them over for a further year or two, sometimes at exorbitant prices. They rarely play fair,” says the FPB’s adviser on utilities Colin Beake, who is managing director of Utility Options, a utilities consultancy.
“The first thing business owners should do is contact their utilities suppliers to find out whether they are under contract. If the answer is yes, the business owner should also find out when it ends and how much notice needs to be given to cancel the agreement.”
Banks for nothin’
And if all this wasn’t enough to keep you occupied until the end of the day, then you need to keep at least one eye fixed on our good friend, ‘the bank’. Evidence is mounting that small business customers are being treated poorly by the UK’s banks, and according to a survey carried out by the UK200Group, an association of independent professionals including lawyers and accountants, almost half of respondents (47%) said their banks had imposed changes to overdrafts or loans, with 27% claiming that these changes had taken place without notice. Just 11.4% were consulted over changes to lending agreements.
More than a quarter of respondents (27%) said that offers of lending had been ‘withdrawn' or ‘varied’ during the past six months. Further, 13.5% have had their facilities removed altogether.
Kevin Dickens, UK200Group president, says: “With the spotlight focused very firmly on the banking sector at the moment, our survey is another indicator that banks need to tidy up their act and do a great deal better for their clients.”
The UK200Group survey found that only 50% of respondents rated their banks as ‘satisfactory or better’ in understanding their customer's needs, living up to their advertisements and showing flexibility.
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