Federation of Small Businesses

Structure

The current National Chair of FSB is Martin McTague who was appointed on 8 March 2022

Prior to 2018 FSB had 184 branches around the UK and these were grouped into 33 regions. Each branch and region has its own committee. In addition, there was a national committee which included representatives from each regional committee.

In January 2018, FSB underwent a modernisation programme and the Board of Directors altered the organisation's volunteer structure by switching from elected Branches and Regions to a new election and selection process. In 2021, the Board of Directors appointed a new scrutiny body, made up of members appointed through an independent selection process, to act as a critical friend to the Board of Directors in assessing its performance and effectiveness. The Scrutiny Body’s overall purpose is to obtain assurance on behalf of FSB members that the strategic direction of the organisation is in line with the principles and objectives set out in its Constitution.

Lobbying

FSB claims that its past lobbying activities have contributed to changes benefiting small businesses:

• The introduction of, and periodic increases to, an Employment Allowance for small business employers: the allowance enables smaller businesses to reduce their National Insurance liability
• Fast introduction and expansion of a range of government support for small businesses and the self-employed affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (‘furlough’); the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS); business rates relief and various grants.
• The reduction or removal of Corporation Tax for small limited companies
• Creation of small business rates relief
• Preventing the wholesale expansion of VAT to smaller businesses under the current threshold

Membership

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 160,000 in 2016. The membership is 200,000+ if Joint, Associate, Retired, Connect and Business Creation (pre-start-up) affiliates 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 November 2015. 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.

References

References

1. "History". Federation of Small Businesses.
2. (1991). "FSB Annual Report 1991". FSB.
3. "About the FSB".
4. "FSB Lobbying".
5. "FSB Member Benefits".
6. (2022-03-07). "Business costs and supply chain practices are priorities, says Martin McTague as he is appointed new FSB National Chair".
7. "FSB Annual Report 2016".
8. (2016). "FSB MSP". FSB.
9. Businesses, FSB, The Federation of Small. "Campaign Listing Page".
10. Seddon, P., [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxl1zd07l1o Budget 2024: Key points at a glance], ''BBC News'', updated on 30 October 2024, accessed on 12 December 2024
11. "Membership Requirements".
12. "FSB Members Code of Conduct".
13. (2006). "FSB Annual Report 2006". FSB.
14. "FSB Annual Report 2016".
15. "FSB Website".
16. "FSB Entrepreneurship Manifesto".
17. "FSB SBI".
18. "Bank of England and the FSB SBI".
19. (21 September 2016). "BBC and the FSB SBI". BBC News.
20. "economia and the FSB SBI".
21. "EADT and the FSB SBI".
22. "FSB Annual Report 2016".