Federation of Small Businesses - FSB Weekly Brief 33

In this week’s issue: identity fraud, pricing in proportion, Tesco in trouble over planning laws, authorised economic operators licences, supply chain security, pensions, Badger is back.

1. New threat to small businesses from fraudsters
Remember the issue of small businesses having their identities stolen through fraudulent filings at Companies House? Well it seems the fraudsters are at it again, this time pretending to be Companies House officials and calling up unsuspecting small businesses to ask for passwords for the new secure online filing system that Companies House set up to combat the initial problem. The bare-faced cheek of it is astounding! Anyway, Companies House confirmed on their website this week that they will never make such calls and the FSB shouted about the latest scam from the rooftops to alert small businesses and get some welcome media coverage in the process. David Croucher, FSB Home Affairs Chairman, told The Times: “Company identity fraud…is on the increase and can go undetected for a long time. When it does happen, it can be devastating for small firms.” The Daily Telegraph and the BBC News website also covered the story.

2. New postal pricing scheme is here!
Regular readers of this newsletter will be aware that Royal Mail in its wisdom is changing the pricing structure for post from Monday when it will charge customers according to the size as well as the weight of their post. We’ve been crowing about it for a while now, which is more than can be said for Royal Mail. The FSB is of the view that communication with small business customers about the changes left a lot to be desired, with the possibility of widespread confusion next week. For more information on Pricing in Proportion (PiP) see www.royalmail.com/pip. And there’s still a chance to let us know what you think about the whole thing in our quick poll, which can be found here: http://www.fsb.org.uk/data/default.asp?id=404&loc=policy.

3. Tesco accused of breaching planning laws
The behemoth supermarket chain Tesco (curse them!) is breaching planning conditions on some of its stores according to the BBC this week. Hmm, why are we not surprised?! An investigation found that a store that opened for business in 2004 was 20% over the agreed size. The company is now filing a new planning application, which seems a little pointless at this stage given that they allegedly just went ahead and built to whatever specifications they wanted to anyway.

4. Authorised Economic Operators Licences
Some FSB members have emailed with concerns about new EU requirements for importers and exporters to be identified as "Approved Economic Operators" or risk having their goods delayed at Customs posts. Further information and sector-specific guidance can be found at: www.revenue.ie/pdf/AEO_guidelines_en.pdf#search='Authorised%20Economic%20Operators%20Guidelines%20European%20Commission%202006. A copy of the FSB’s briefing note on this subject can be obtained by contacting Andrew Cave at andrew.cave@fsb.org.uk.

5. Proposal for a Regulation on Enhancing Supply Chain Security
Whereas the above mentioned regulation deals with imports and exports of goods from the EU to other countries, the proposal for Enhancing Supply Chain Security, which is currently being considered by the EU does pose potentially massive financial burdens on any small business which is part of a domestic and EU supply chain. It seeks to introduce a quality standard to ensure that firms in a supply chain are secure against terrorist attack. By the European Commission’s own admission, this proposal could cost each firm in the supply chain a one-off start-up fee of £91,000 and a further yearly cost of £88,000. The FSB is mounting a major lobbying campaign to lobby against this measure. More will follow shortly.

6. TV programme on pensions
ITV is making a programme on the crisis facing Britain’s occupational pensions system. They would like to hear from companies offering employees a pension, but are now facing difficulty with the cost; employers disappointed by the investment returns their company pension funds have earned; and employers objecting to Government proposals for a compulsory workplace scheme. Please contact Martin Small 0207 261 8182/ martin.small@itv.com.

7. The Badger is back
No, we’re not talking about the furry, black and white kind. This is Ruth Badger, the runner up on BBC 2’s The Apprentice. It seems there’s no end to the current glut of entrepreneurship/business reality TV shows and here comes news of another: the aforementioned Badger will be the adviser on Sky One’s The Big Idea. This being reality TV, Joe Public is being encouraged to sign up for the heats in Manchester and London in September. More info and an application form can be found here: www.skyone.co.uk/thebigidea.

8. Coming up next week…
Look out for stuff on business rates. Mind how you go with the post next week!