Looking at the small business environment in the UK Direct Line has found that nearly a quarter of people running small businesses will not enjoy a day off on bank Holiday Monday.
Compared with the minimum 20 days holiday entitlement given to employees, small business owners take an average of just over 13 days holiday per year. The 20 days does not include Bank Holidays either, of which there are 8 each year. Looking at new start up businesses the holiday situation is even worse. Direct Line found that over 65 percent of people in business for less than 6 months have not taken any time off at all.
A Direct Line spokeswoman, commenting on the findings, commended the dedication shown by small business owners, seeing them working so hard to make their business a success.
According to the Lloyds TSB Business Unit the economy in Scotland is growing, albeit at a lower than hoped for rate.
Looking at the last three months almost 40 percent of businesses in Scotland reported that turnover was up, a third remained unchanged whilst 28 percent had seen a reduction. When combined these figures show a net gain of 11 percent – better than the quarter before but much less than the same time last year. A Lloyds TSB economist reported that Scottish businesses were expecting their figures to reduce in the next 6 months though their actual performance was better than the rest of the country.
Both manufacturing and service industries had enjoyed growth over the last quarter, which is a very healthy situation, though some business owners were telling the Lloyds TSB survey that they were beginning to notice the access to credit tightening up which could be a concern in the future.
82 percent of households in Britain are changing their behaviour in response to rising costs and future economic concerns say Legal and General.
With Summer holidays topical right now it is revealing to see that over a quarter of households have changed their holiday plans because of their uncertainty about the future. Lots of people have also cut down on how often they go out, with nearly 40 percent of people saying they now spend more time at home.
One of the biggest concerns from the Legal and General survey was the fact that about half the households spoken to are cutting back on food in order to manage their finances, with over a quarter of them also looking at selling possessions in order to manage. Lets hope the government sees the survey and does something about it, starting with fuel taxation, something that affects the cost of everything in the UK.