A speech for small business

Anna Scott

Trailed as ‘bold’, the Queen’s speech setting out the next Parliamentary session was slightly different from normal yesterday. The coalition government has now presented its final legislative proposals before the Conservatives and Lib Dems can battle more conspicuously in the run up to next year’s General Election.

Despite a slight derailment from the news agenda due to political infighting among Conservative and Lib Dem ministers, the measures announced in the speech have been broadly welcomed by business, which is not especially surprising in a Tory-led coalition.

At its core are measures designed to boost opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises – tackling late payments, reducing regulation for smaller companies and easier finance options – in the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Bill.

The recruitment sector in particular is affected by this, with agencies required to pay contractors while they are waiting to be paid by clients. Equally, accessing finance when master vendors or RPOs include ‘pay when paid’ clauses is often difficult for recruitment consultancies.

The government is also seeking to stop abuses of zero hours contracts by banning exclusivity clauses, and will introduce changes to the way people save for their pensions, putting individual contributions into a collective DC pot.

Understandably, associations representing the sector, including APSCo, the REC and the PCG, have welcomed the small sector focus, noting that they will continue to liaise with government to ensure the small print of the legislation works for their members.

However, the Labour Party’s views on some of these matters currently differ, and with Ed Miliband’s Party slightly ahead of the Conservatives according to the latest opinion polls, things may look different in the next few years.