Rising confidence for SMEs

The Federation of Small Businesses has reported record confidence among its members in the Q3 edition of the Small Business Index. The UK-wide index stands at +41 and every sector recording a positive outlook for the three months to the end of the year.

Three-fifths of the small businesses surveyed were expecting to grow in the next 12 months and one in ten expected to grow rapidly. Financial services was the most confident sector while the most improved were health, social work and hospitality. The FSB is encouraging political parties to spell out how they will continue to support the small business community’s recovery and wants to see measures which will reduce costs and enhance members’ ability to create jobs.

“We’re seeing record breaking confidence from our members which suggests small firms will continue to spearhead the UK’s recovery,” said National Chairman John Allan. “We want policy-makers to lock in this optimism and continue to back the self-employed and small businesses.