Barriers 'thwart small business'

The longer a company has traded the unhappier it is with red tape

Skills shortages, red tape and crime are the main barriers to growth for small firms, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

More than half of firms surveyed said time spent on regulation had increased, and a quarter had problems recruiting because of skills shortages.

John Walker, national policy chairman for the FSB, said these barriers had been repeatedly highlighted before.

He added that the government should do more to tackle these issues.

"These problems, which our survey confirms yet again, must therefore be addressed by the government because our country's economic health depends on the success of small businesses," said Mr Walker.

"Regulation, both its volume and complexity, crime and a poorly-skilled workforce are issues that we have raised many times before," he added.

"It is therefore worrying that they are still the main barriers to growth for small firms."

The FSB said that small firms account for more than 50% of the UK's private sector workforce and generate more than half of the UK's GDP.

Hurdles

When recruiting new employees, a quarter of all businesses surveyed said they faced one or more skills barriers - such as literacy, numeracy, technical skills or communication skills.

In terms of red tape, 56% of those surveyed reported an increase in time spent on regulation, while a similar figure (55%) said they were unhappy about the complexity of the legislation.

The longer a company had been trading the less satisfied it was with red tape, the survey showed.

As for crime, 57% said they were the victim of at least one crime in the past year, and said that reporting crimes to the police was unlikely to help.