Business Link is the government-funded business
advice and guidance service in England, delivering integrated
business support through two main channels: an online portal
(www.businesslink.gov.uk) and advisors working at a local level,
supported by a national helpline (0845 600 9 006). The departments
in charge of this programme are
BIS (for the
regional network) and
HMRC
(for the website).
History
The concept for Business Link was established in December 1992 by
Michael Heseltine, then President
of the Board of Trade, when he was in charge of the
DTI. At pilot stage, these
were called One Stop Shop. Initially, there were plans to open 54
Business Links, but by the end of 1993, a year in which the
government spent some £3m on the programme, only three branches of
the service had been formed.
The first opened in Leicester on 27 September
1993, with others following in Birmingham and Congleton
.
While Chambers of Commerce (also known as Boards of Trade) had long
promoted co-operation and social interaction among local companies,
the new services offered by Business Link included business support
and education, and in some areas the possibility of government
funding. There was some overlap, with Chambers of Commerce also
running local Business Links.
Five years after the launch of the Business Link concept, a network
of 89 Business Links had been established, and each week some
10,000 businesses in England were using the service. The service
employed about 650 personal business advisers, who worked mainly
with businesses that employed between 10 and 200 people.
Early business support in Scotland was called Scottish Business
Shop. In Wales, the name was Business Connect, and in Northern
Ireland, it was called Local Enterprise Development Unit.
The website
www.businesslink.gov.uk in its current form was launched in May
2004 as part of the Transformational Government programme – a
larger initiative aimed at rationalising and converging hundreds of
government websites on fewer, larger and more usable sites.By 2011,
it is intended that www.businesslink.gov.uk will host the majority
of official government information for businesses. Three
“super-sites” are
business,
health and
general information.
Website sections
Support on the Business Link site is broken up into themes – groups
of relevant information for potential, new or established
businesses. The current themes are:
- Starting Up – information for people who are
starting a business, or thinking of it
- Finance & Grants – information on managing
business finances and on the support available
- Tax, Returns & Payroll – all essential
information for businesses on the subject of tax
- Employing People – information on hiring and
firing, handling disputes, minimum wages, flexible working and
other relevant employee information
- Health, Safety & Premises – information on
regulations relating to business premises, and health and
safety
- Environment & Efficiency – information and
advice on environmental regulations and how to make businesses
greener
- Exploit your Ideas – advice and guidance on
all areas of research, development and intellectual property
- IT & eCommerce – information on getting
the right digital infrastructure for your business
- Sales & Marketing – information on how to
market businesses on and offline, and relevant regulations
- International Trade – information on how to
trade overseas, including commodity codes
- Grow your Business – advice and guidance on
how to grow a business
- Buy or Sell a Business – information on how to
buy or sell a business, including franchises
- For Professional Advisers – information for
intermediary professionals such as accountants, tax advisers and HR
professionals
- Your Business Sector – specific information
tailored to sectors, such as farming and transport
Information on the site comes in the form of
guides (pages of text information),
interactive tools (in which businesses can get
personalised information) and
transactions (in
which businesses can for example, calculate their VAT). All content
is developed by sector specialists from within government and
business support organisations such as the Chartered Institute of
Marketing.
The regional network
Business Link’s face-to-face service operates on a regional basis
across England and is funded by the relevant
Regional Development Agencies
(RDAs). These regions are:
Personal support
Face-to-face support uses an IDBT (information, diagnostic,
brokerage and transaction) model to advise businesses based on
their individual needs.
Regional Business Links run a variety of events and workshops on
topical issues and general business skills.
Regional variation
Business Link only operates in England.
Sister-services are
Business
Gateway in Scotland (run by
Scottish Enterprise),
nibusinessinfo.co.uk in Northern
Ireland (run by
Invest Northern
Ireland) and
Flexible
Support for Business in Wales. These provide their own regional
networks as well as a rebranded version of the Business Link
website.
Sponsorship
It sponsors the
UK Startup
Awards.
See also
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