Rising from ashes of budget bonfire

Aug 27 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

Business Link Northwest was born out of a bid to streamline small business support. Tony McDonough reviews the effect of the change

IN HIS 2006 Budget, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, announced a bonfire of the quangos in an attempt to streamline support services for small businesses.

One of the direct effects of that was a reorganisation of the North West Business Link service.

In April last year, around 40 staff in Liverpool were redundant when Business Link for Greater Merseyside ceased to exist.

Most of the staff who lost their jobs were in administrative or “back office” functions. A team of “front line” business advisers transferred to North West Business Link but remained based out of Liverpool city centre.

In recent weeks, the renamed Business Link Northwest has hailed the reorganisation a success, claiming that, in the first year of its operation, it had added an estimated £113m to the wealth of the Merseyside economy.

In 2007/08, more than 13,750 businesses in Merseyside used the service – a year-on-year increase of 28%.

It also revealed that, during the same period, 1,370 companies in Merseyside accessed tailored one-to-one support from a Business Link “broker”, double the number that were helped in the previous year.

The agency’s role is to act as the first point of call for small businesses and sole traders looking for advice and practical assistance. It frequently refers people on to other agencies or companies for more specialist help. Business Link Northwest has two main strands. The first is what is known as the “universal” service, and comprises a team who will take queries from business people either on the telephone, on the web or in person, and act as brokers to get people the help they need.

Firms can get advice from the website 24 hours a day or talk to someone on the phone from 8am to 8pm on weekdays and 8am to 2pm at weekends and Bank Holidays.

The second strand is a “targeted brokerage” team whose job it is to concentrate on firms in those core sectors identified by the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) as being key to the region’s economic development.

The sectors are food and drink, finance and professional, digital and creative, advanced engineering and materials, bio-medical and environmental, and energy.

Business Link managing director Peter Watson said that, at an operational level, the reorganisation had resulted in a much-improved service for small businesses.

“We now have one single point where people can call to get help,” he added. “And this allows us to give a consistent service right across the region.

“Previously, there were differences in the level of service that people would receive depending on where in the North West you were calling from. We have also doubled the number of people out working in the field which means we can help even more businesses.”

UP UNTIL July this year, Business Link was in charge of administering the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funded programme to help small businesses.

Under the scheme, SMEs were able to gain access to a 40% discount off the cost of professional advisors and hands-on consultancy.

That was funded by the European Objective 1 pot which, of course, has now come to end. More cash is coming through from Europe to help fund more business support programmes and the NWDA is currently considering how that will be spent. A regional venture capital loan fund, along the model operated by Merseyside Special Investment Fund, is one of the likely projects.