Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government is pushing to change employment law to encourage a “wave of startups” across Britain.
The business department today launched two consultations: one looking to reform the use of non-compete clauses, which prevent individuals from starting up a competing business after they leave a position; the other enabling low-paid workers to work elsewhere rather than being tied to just one employer.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) said the reform of the use of non-compete clauses would ensure talented individuals would unleash “a wave of new start-ups across the country”.
>See also: 8 legal considerations for setting up a business during the pandemic
If an employer does want to tie an individual into a non-compete clause, restricting them from starting a business within their expert field, then they would have to compensate them financially.
The government is also seeking views on whether it is necessary to go further and ban non-compete clauses altogether.
The move to liberate staff from non-compete clauses in employment law is squarely aimed at workers in technology and legal sectors who want to launch their own startups.
Other countries have also restricted exclusivity clauses in order to stimulate innovation, including Germany and
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Government flags employment law change to cheerlead ‘wave of startups’
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government is pushing to change employment law to encourage a “wave of startups” across Britain.
The business department today launched two consultations: one looking to reform the use of non-compete clauses, which prevent individuals from starting up a competing business after they leave a position; the other enabling low-paid workers to work elsewhere rather than being tied to just one employer.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) said the reform of the use of non-compete clauses would ensure talented individuals would unleash “a wave of new start-ups across the country”.
>See also: 8 legal considerations for setting up a business during the pandemic
If an employer does want to tie an individual into a non-compete clause, restricting them from starting a business within their expert field, then they would have to compensate them financially.
The government is also seeking views on whether it is necessary to go further and ban non-compete clauses altogether.
The move to liberate staff from non-compete clauses in employment law is squarely aimed at workers in technology and legal sectors who want to launch their own startups.
Other countries have also restricted exclusivity clauses in order to stimulate innovation, including Germany and
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Call for digital adoption fund to boost small business productivity
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Tech start-ups have called for a digital adoption fund to help small businesses upgrade to digital technology.
Adopting digital technology has long been seen as key for the UK to boost its woeful productivity levels.
One in three small businesses – those with fewer than 250 employees – cite cost as the biggest barrier to them adopting digital tech, whether it’s video conferencing such as Teams or Zoom, customer relationship management software such as Salesforce or enterprise resource planning like Oracle Netsuite.
See also: Best UK small business accounting software 2020 – review guide
The digital adoption fund would be based on Singapore’s “SMEs Go Digital” initiative, which offers grants covering over two thirds of what small businesses spend on digital tech. The proposed UK version of the scheme would cover 70 per cent of what it costs to upgrade capped at £22,500 per company.
The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) report says such a digital adoption fund would close the gap between Britain’s most productive larger companies and the long tail of its unproductive SMEs.
If SMEs were to match the productivity levels of their larger cohorts, it would boost GDP by £92bn.
And if the UK’s 1.1m
Hot Business News Today
Call for digital adoption fund to boost small business productivity
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Tech start-ups have called for a digital adoption fund to help small businesses upgrade to digital technology.
Adopting digital technology has long been seen as key for the UK to boost its woeful productivity levels.
One in three small businesses – those with fewer than 250 employees – cite cost as the biggest barrier to them adopting digital tech, whether it’s video conferencing such as Teams or Zoom, customer relationship management software such as Salesforce or enterprise resource planning like Oracle Netsuite.
See also: Best UK small business accounting software 2020 – review guide
The digital adoption fund would be based on Singapore’s “SMEs Go Digital” initiative, which offers grants covering over two thirds of what small businesses spend on digital tech. The proposed UK version of the scheme would cover 70 per cent of what it costs to upgrade capped at £22,500 per company.
The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) report says such a digital adoption fund would close the gap between Britain’s most productive larger companies and the long tail of its unproductive SMEs.
If SMEs were to match the productivity levels of their larger cohorts, it would boost GDP by £92bn.
And if the UK’s 1.1m
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Future Fund – government tech start-up bailout scheme how it works
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
UPDATED: The government has announced its £250m Future Fund tech start-up bailout scheme to help innovative companies get through the coronavirus pandemic.
The widely anticipated Future Fund will issue convertible loans between £125,000 to £5m to innovative companies that are facing financing difficulties due to the Covid-19 outbreak. These loans will have to be matched by private investors.
>See also: Government eyes taking equity stakes in tech start-ups
These loans will be for three years and will be charged at an interest rate of 8 per cent.
Crucially, the government could end up owning half of some of Britain’s fastest-growing tech businesses. Future Fund loans may convert to equity at a discount of at least 20 per cent when companies undergo their next funding round.
This scheme will launch in May 2020, which may be too late for some start-ups reliant on investors to survive. Investment through government tax schemes such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme has dropped by 70 per cent this year.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has charged British Business Bank with delivering the Future Fund.
See also: How do I apply for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan?
The news will go some way to allaying tech start-up fears that
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Government eyes taking equity stakes in tech start-ups
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The government is considering various rescue packages to help Britain’s tech sector start-ups excluded from business rescue schemes announced so far.
Although government has lauded the UK’s tech sector as the spearhead of Britain’s new economy – Boris Johnson wrote the foreword to Tech Nation trumpeting UK tech investment report last year – banks are refusing to offer state-guaranteed loans to loss-making start-ups.
Yet France has announced a €4bn (£3.5bn) start-up bailout fund – called a liquidity plan – to help French start-ups stricken by the coronavirus crisis.
One idea being considered is the government offering loans to start-ups, which could either be repaid by businesses after the crisis or turned into equity stakes in tech start-ups owned by the state. Venture capital would have to match whatever the government invests, according to the Financial Times, to prove commercial viability and also keep within EU state aid rules, which ban direct state intervention.
See also: Why government needs to boost EIS tax relief to 80% to save our start-ups
It would be similar to 3i, then called the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation, the government scheme launched after the Second World War to help regenerate the economy.
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Number of tech start-ups double since Brexit vote
by Owen Gough • • 0 Comments
An analysis of Companies House data by audit, tax and consulting firm RSM finds that the number of tech start-ups in the UK has more than doubled since the Brexit referendum. In the eight month period prior to the referendum in June 2016, 2,325 software publishing, computer programming, and business and domestic software companies were incorporated. However,
The post Number of tech start-ups double since Brexit vote appeared first on Small Business.