Onward

🚨 Closing tomorrow - an excellent opportunity to lead one of Westminster's most innovative think tanks. Apply below ⬇️

Another prominent voice joins the chorus of orgs calling for something to be done about #IR35 📢 A new report by the centre-right think tank Onward, out today, looks at the biggest obstacles to entrepreneurship in Britain including high #tax costs and excessive red tape. IPSE fed into the report (which also features stats from IPSE's own research). Here's what they say should be done about IR35: - Shift the responsibility for determining IR35 status back to the individual - Simplify the CEST tool - Institute 5 simple criteria to identify the #selfemployed - Publish information about the amount of tax at stake in IR35 litigation Is a consensus finally forming around the need to do something about IR35? 💭 IPSE - The Self-Employment Association, Onward, Kevin Hollinrake MP https://lnkd.in/exmUwmTE

This is a great report from the team at Onward on the rise of the British Entrepreneur, including some surprising stats on just how many people of all backgrounds want to start a business. I don't know what will be in the budget. But the press coverage suggests entrepreneurs will be amongst the hardest hit financially. This is causing huge disruption in the UK's start-up ecosystem at the moment. I hope HMT take a look at this report and some of the very sensible recommendations here on how to support start-ups, rather than squeeze them out. ( Not dissimilar to some of the ideas laid out in Start-Up Century): Key proposals include: > Lowering the VAT threshold and introducing a tapered rate to remove the disincentive for businesses to grow. > Reforming business rates to be fairer, more efficient, and less burdensome for high-street businesses. > Simplifying IR35 rules to reduce the tax burden on freelancers and contractors. > Introducing new funding mechanisms and improving existing ones to provide better access to finance for startups and growing businesses. Check-out the full report here: https://lnkd.in/er_U7eGX

The latest report from Onward identifies access to finance as a major constraint on entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. It highlights that the UK has one of the highest SME loan rejection rates in the OECD at 45%. It identifies Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) as an important but underused way to improve access to finance for entrepreneurs. CDFIs are under-capitalised, and increasing capitalisation could significantly boost SME funding. Introducing commercial bank-backed CDFIs could increase SME funding by £1.5-£1.7 billion and support 50-60k more businesses. The report recommends that the UK should follow the US's lead in getting banks to support CDFIs through a combination of regulatory capital relief (for lending to CDFIs) and a scorecard system.  Full report here: https://lnkd.in/eAAH_hEd #CDFIs #ResponsibleFinance #SMELending

A number of years ago, I helped establish a new think tank Onward which has helped shape the policy agenda. With the great Sebastian Payne moving back into journalism at The Times, Onward is looking for a new Director. This is a great opportunity for someone to lead the organisation as it looks to continue its influence on the policy and political landcsape. https://lnkd.in/eqYY4hSr

This is a great report from the team at Onward on the rise of the British Entrepreneur, including some surprising stats on just how many people of all backgrounds want to start a business. I don't know what will be in the budget. But the press coverage suggests entrepreneurs will be amongst the hardest hit financially. This is causing huge disruption in the UK's start-up ecosystem at the moment. I hope HMT take a look at this report and some of the very sensible recommendations here on how to support start-ups, rather than squeeze them out. ( Not dissimilar to some of the ideas laid out in Start-Up Century): Key proposals include: > Lowering the VAT threshold and introducing a tapered rate to remove the disincentive for businesses to grow. > Reforming business rates to be fairer, more efficient, and less burdensome for high-street businesses. > Simplifying IR35 rules to reduce the tax burden on freelancers and contractors. > Introducing new funding mechanisms and improving existing ones to provide better access to finance for startups and growing businesses. Check-out the full report here: https://lnkd.in/er_U7eGX

🚀 New Report from Onward: The British Entrepreneur 🚀 Britain’s startups & small businesses are failing to grow, held back by high costs, poor access to finance, endless red tape, and a uniquely British fear of failure. Delighted to have worked with authors Shivani H Menon & Andrew Barclay on this project. The report sets out a roadmap to unlocking a new generation of growth-oriented entrepreneurs to get Britain back in business. Key findings: * 1% of businesses drive over 11% of productivity. * 26,000 businesses are intentionally holding back to avoid VAT costs. * The UK has one of the highest SME loan rejection rates in the OECD at 45%. * The UK has a 20% higher fear of failure compared to global median. With original polling from JL Partners, our report identifies a pipeline of entrepreneurs and those on the brink of entrepreneurship, and we set out what targeted support they need to remove the barriers to scale. Recommendations include: 1️⃣ Reform VAT with a tapered rate and overhaul business rates. 2️⃣ Improve access to finance by expanding community-based lenders and upgrading the British Business Bank’s tools. 3️⃣ Cut bureaucracy by simplifying planning and reducing the regulatory burden on small businesses. Read the report here: https://t.co/q0acNMQrJY

Conservative Party Conference, alongside the beauty pageant of picking a new leader, was an opportunity to ask difficult questions of what the previous government failed to achieve. Of particular interest to me is the continued disparity between economic growth in London and the rest of the country, despite the “levelling up” project, and how in some places that gap only widened over the past 14 years. Thanks to shadow Business and Trade Secretary Kevin Hollinrake MP, Shadow Paymaster General Rt Hon John Glen MP, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Karim Fatehi MBE and Onward Deputy Head of Research Shivani H Menon for the chat.

Thanks Onward for inviting me on to your panel on entrepreneurship last night. Great discussion on the barriers that would-be business owners, start-ups and scale-ups face every day from accessing capital and operating costs such as business rates to the lack of clarity on regulations.

Great to see Onward’s Head of Science and Tech Allan Nixon named among POLITICO top 20 people shaping the Conservatives’ tech policy agenda. https://lnkd.in/etQMCi-9