The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is a UK business organisation representing small and medium-sized businesses. It was formed in 1974 as the National Federation of Self Employed (NFSE). The current name for the organisation was adopted in 1991. It is registered with Companies House as The National Federation of Self Employed & Small Businesses Limited (company number 1263540).
The FSB is a member-led, not-for-profit and non-party political organisation. The FSB is a lobbying organisation representing small firms and the self-employed to national, local and devolved government. The FSB offers its members of benefits, such as a 24-hour legal advice line and free business banking.
In 2017 the FSB has 184 branches around the UK and these are grouped into the 33 regions. Each branch and region has its own committee. In addition, there is a national committee which includes representatives from each regional committee.
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National campaigns
The FSB runs a number of national campaigns on behalf of its members, to highlight the needs of Small Businesses and the Self Employed. Though the FSB runs more national campaigns, these three are the main campaigns:
- Keep Trade Local: The FSB Launched the Keep Trade Local campaign in August 2008
- Real Life Entrepreneurs: The FSB launched Real Life Entrepreneurs in October 2011
- #ibacksmallbusiness: The FSB launched #ibacksmallbusiness campaign in July 2014 The #ibacksmallbusiness campaign has been a success and is still an active hashtag.
The FSB also supports a number of other national campaigns on behalf of its members, to highlight the needs of Small Businesses and the Self Employed.
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Lobbying
The Federation's past political lobbying activities have led in its own opinion to a number of benefits for small businesses, such as:
- Repeatedly overcoming attempts to impose unreasonable National Insurance Contributions
- The introduction of enhanced capital allowances and flexible working hours
- The reduction or removal of Corporation Tax for small limited companies
- VAT reform in the form of a flat rate scheme for small businesses
- An end to automatic fines for incorrect filing of VAT returns
Events
The FSB organises events aimed at supporting the FSB, its members and the small business community around the United Kingdom. National events are arranged by the FSB's Events Team based in the Blackpool office, with the assistance of a nation wide network of staff and volunteers.
The FSB National Conference attracts more than 1,100 attendees from all over the United Kingdom. Speakers have included Prime Ministers, Leader of the Opposition, Chancellor of the Exchequer and many more.
The FSB National Conference was replaced with a Business Show in 2017. The new Business Show model was questioned largely due to only managing to get 5 small businesses to take stands as exhibitors at a National Business Show.
In conjunction with Worldpay it promotes the annual FSB & Worldpay Business Awards.
The FSB is represented at local events like Nottinghamshire County Fair, Lincoln Show, Love Business East Midlands, and others. The Federation's Regions and Branches host regular meetings around the country. Generally Branch meetings are open to all members. The FSB also runs business networking events around the UK.
Membership
The FSB is a member-led federation. Membership criteria are as follows:
- Self-Employed or the owner, partner, or director of a business (or businesses) Based in the United Kingdom
- Fewer than 250 employees.
- Agree to the Members Code of Conduct
- Not barred from membership
The membership was 185,000 in 2006 and dropped to 160,000 in 2016. The membership is 200,000+ if Joint / Associate members are included.
Small Business Index
The FSB Small Business Index measures confidence among small firms. The FSB SBI has been quoted by the Bank of England, the BBC, Economia, and EADT.
Current logo
The current logo for the organisation was adopted in 2016. The costs of this re-branding was £0.3M and took well over a year to complete including a complete re-branding of the FSB Website.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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