A small business owner needing help faces a labyrinth. Want a grant? Try the British Business Bank. Export advice? Department for Business and Trade. Energy-bill support? Ofgem. Apprenticeship funding? Education and Skills Funding Agency. Planning permission? Your local council. Late-payment help? The Small Business Commissioner. By the time you’ve found the right website, filled in the forms, and discovered you’re ineligible, another month has gone.
26 % of SMEs say they don’t even know where to go for support – the highest figure ever recorded by the Federation of Small Businesses in their 2025 Access to Support survey. Another 41 % say the process is so complicated they give up. That is not a system; it is a deliberate obstacle course.
We need one single, memorable solution:
- A national freephone SME Helpline – 0800 GROW UK – staffed by real people who can answer any question or transfer you instantly to the right expert.
- A matching website – growuk.gov.uk – that asks five simple questions (turnover, region, sector, need, postcode) and instantly shows every grant, loan, training course, export voucher, or tax break you actually qualify for. No jargon. No dead ends.
This is not rocket science. Australia has Business.gov.au – one portal, one number, 92 % satisfaction. Canada has Canada.ca/business – same model. Britain has 47 different LEPs, 12 regional mayors, and 333 local authorities all running their own schemes. No wonder owners walk away.
The cost? Less than £30 million a year to run – a rounding error compared to the £4.5 billion the government already spends on fragmented business support that barely reaches the people who need it.
One helpline. One portal. One Britain that actually helps its small businesses instead of exhausting them.
The 1832 Club is fighting for these changes. The more members we have, the louder our voice in Westminster.
Join today from just £5/month or £40/year and help to support pro-SME candidates.
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