SMEs need advice, not loans, Govt told

The Government should be focusing more on offering advice to small businesses rather than on boosting lending to them, a cloud services provider to SMEs has said.

John Davis, managing director of BCSG and former Product and Marketing director for Barclays business division, said that, by focusing solely on increasing business lending, the Government is effectively ignoring the 75 per cent of small businesses who opt not to borrow money.

“The Government are trying to throw money at SMEs whereas what they need is time and support. The government is obsessed with lending and lending only. They believe that by continuing to harangue big banks for not lending enough, and supporting challenger banks, they'll be able to lend more money to SMEs which will help them grow and become successful.

“This is completely misguided. Around 75 per cent of SMEs don't borrow so automatically this eliminates three out of every four companies who don't want to receive this 'help'. What they really need is time, guidance and tools.”

Mr Davis also went on to bemoan the removal of Business Link, which he called one of the few places new SME owners could go to for advice on all facets of business.

Government resources should be spent on offering SMEs a credible source of business assistance, rather than focusing on lending, he added. “That might actually help SMEs to build better businesses and drive the UK's GDP.”

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