Small business has enough on its plate at the present time, without having to contend with spurious issues that are largely the result of poorly constructed legislation, red tape or other annoyingly unnecessary bureaucracy. The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has made it its own business to identify these challenges to an already over-regulated sector and expose them for the mischief they are. Reports of the FPB’s campaigning efforts against the restrictive practices of a variety of organisations, both public and private, make interesting reading.
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 whether or not a company is even obliged to comply with this procedure, which isn’t as simple as you might think.
Getting permission from either the PRS for Music or Phonographic Performance (or even a combination of the two organisations) is tedious enough; the applicant company then has to dig deeper into its rapidly emptying pockets to stump up the fee, which varies according to circumstances.
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, for example, to telephone music on hold, or music at staff social or sports clubs, which are chargeable under the appropriate PRS tariff.”
Clearly there is a need to protect performers from the unauthorised broadcasting and copying of their work, but sometimes things seem to go a bit too far. In a bid to tackle this rather over-zealous stand by the Performing Rights Society, the FPB is currently campaigning for a review, citing that there should be an exemption for small firms, which clearly do not play music in their workplaces for commercial gain.
And the government is far from innocent in these matters of burdensome bureaucracy, as small business grapples with bales of government-woven red tape on a daily basis. More recently it announced plans to tax small businesses for using company car parking spaces. Under the Transport Act 2000, local authorities have the power to introduce Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) schemes, effectively penalising firms that provide employees with private parking on their own land.
While the Department for Transport seeks feedback on how measures in the Act should be implemented, the FPB is wasting no time petitioning the government to scrap the legislation altogether, arguing that it is unfair and discriminates against small business employers.
Towns and cities imposing WPL schemes are likely to suffer in comparison with those that do not because the practice is essentially counter-productive. Rather than cease providing essential parking spaces for employees, companies are more likely to consider relocating and the local economy suffers as a result. It’s enough to drive you round the bend!
Being misled by the arcane tariff structures of utility companies is hardly new, but contractual agreements between the utilities and their business customers are a source of concern for small companies. This has prompted the FPB to call on suppliers of essential services to state clearly on bills exactly when contracts with commercial customers are set to expire. It seems that many struggling firms are being tied into 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 and save money. The FPB’s adviser on utilities Colin Beake, who is also managing director of consultancy, Utility Options, is not impressed.
“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. 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.”
And then there’s the bank. If all the foregoing wasn’t enough to keep you occupied until the end of the day, then you need to keep at least one eye fixed on the activities of your friendly local branch, because there is plenty of evidence to suggest that small business customers are being treated poorly.
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, while 13.5% have had their facilities removed altogether. 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. UK200Group president, Kevin Dickens sees room for improvement.
“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.”
And if the FPB’s campaigning is anything to go by, Mr Dickens’ sentiments might equally apply to all those other legislators, rule-makers, service providers and jobs-worths hell-bent on making things difficult for an important wealth creating sector of our economy.
Les Hunt
Editor