PARTNER BLOG: Competition law redress: getting back what you’ve lost
The Competition and Markets Authority writes on how SMEs can now more easily and quickly seek legal redress if they have been the victims of anti-competitive business practices. In 2008, a group of fans supported by the Consumers’ Association were each handed £20 compensation by JJB Sports after the Office of Fair Trading found that […]
PARTNER BLOG: Confidence from new freelancers remains strong in first quarter of the year
By Lorence Nye, IPSE Economic Advisor IPSE’s Freelancer Confidence Index is drawn from a quarterly survey of freelancers which assesses the recent performance of their businesses, as well as their outlook for the performance of their businesses and the economy in the three and 12 months following. The main index figures are calculated using an […]
Supporting local business through Growth Hubs
The growth hub network is now complete with a hub in each of the 39 LEP areas, covering 100% of the registered business population in England. Growth hubs work with local and national partners – such as universities, Enterprise Zones, Banks, Business Bodies and Local Authorities – acting as a catalyst to make things work […]
PARTNER BLOG: Sick as a parrot; Football club feels the full force of the Pensions Regulator
We should all be aware of pension auto-enrolment by now, here our Corporate Partner HR4UK reports on a recent case where one business got it wrong, and how they can help ensure you and your clients don’t! Swindon Town Football Club has scored an own goal with a late penalty – or, at least, a […]
StartUp Britain bus to visit record 30 towns in summer StartUp Tour
National enterprise campaign StartUp Britain, run by the Centre for Entrepreneurs, is hitting the road again this summer to provide inspiration and support to thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs. Now in its fifth year, the StartUp Britain bus tour, powered by NatWest, will visit a record 30 towns and cities over six weeks. The StartUp Tour […]
Why it’s important for us to support UK Employability Day – 15th April 2016
As a membership body, we’ve always been really proud of the work undertaken by our members, so each year we compile a set of statistics that demonstrates the impact of their work. One of the statistics that we published as part of our #NENAndProud campaign at the beginning of 2016 showed that 62% of the […]
NEN member NSEA has a flying start to the year
We were delighted to hear that one of our members, North Somerset Enterprise Agency (NSEA), kicked off 2016 with a great start. In January 11 new business start-ups were launched in ventures ranging from a pizza delivery service to a mobile barber and an agricultural contractor to an online magazine, with all receiving local and […]
NEN member receives outstanding loan officer award
We are proud to congratulate one of our members for receiving a prestigious industry award at the 2016 Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards, held in Manchester last month. Tim Daniels, Investment Manager at Finance For Enterprise beats off stiff competition to win Outstanding Loan Officer at the 2016 Responsible Finance Awards ceremony held in Manchester. Andrew Austwick, […]
PARTNER BLOG: Competing fairly in business – why it matters to start-ups
Judith Frame from the Competition and Markets Authority writes this blog on competition law compliance. I recently listened to a brilliant podcast called ‘Start-up’. Unsurprisingly, it’s about a guy who’s starting his own business. What is surprising – at least to someone who isn’t in the middle of starting a company from scratch – is […]
Understanding Self-Employment
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) recently published the results of research it has conducted in order to better understand self-employment – you can see the research results here. Whilst there is nothing in the research which will come as any great surprise to National Enterprise Network members, there are some interesting conclusions […]