Monthly Archives: July 2021

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Over half of SMEs have already bounced back from the pandemic

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By Anna Jordan on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

More than half (54 per cent) of UK SMEs have already met or exceeded pandemic turnover levels.

One in five (22 per cent) have already exceeded pre-Covid levels while 31 per cent predict they’ll match pre-Covid figures soon. Only one in seven still deem their path to recovery ‘uncertain’.

The study from Paragon Bank also shows that nine in ten businesses feel positive about Covid recovery. This positive sentiment is especially high among SMEs, up from 86 per cent in September to 92 per cent at the end of May.

Companies with fewer than 100 employees expected the fastest rate of recovery, with 64 per cent reporting turnover matching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels, compared to 47 per cent of larger SMEs (100-249 employees).

The survey revealed that 58 per cent of SMEs experienced cash flow difficulties during the pandemic, making it the most common challenge for UK businesses. Loss of profit was the second most common challenge, faced by 53 per cent of SMEs, followed by late payments, which affected one in three (34 per cent).

>See also: How to deal with late payment

Levels of cash reserve remain a

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Hot Business News Today

GDPR three years on: make sure your small business is compliant

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By Chris Cook on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
The UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) came into force on January 1 2021 and sets out the key principles, rights and obligations for processing data in the UK. It is almost entirely based on the EU GDPR (which applied in the UK before January 2021) and sits alongside the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).
With the plethora of initialisms, some small businesses are understandably overwhelmed. Some actively ignore what they deem to be an administrative burden, while others unknowingly stray into breach of data protection regulations. Regardless of your view of the UK GDPR, one thing is clear; overlooking it could have costly repercussions by way of hefty fines and reputational damage to your business.
The body in charge of enforcing data protection breaches in the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Much of the enforcement action pursued by the ICO relates to aggressive direct marketing techniques, such as nuisance calls and emails. For example, ColourCoat Ltd, a home improvements business based in Hastings, was fined £130,000 by the ICO in June 2021 following a substantial amount of direct marketing calls.
Businesses should also be

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