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For a successful business, you need a viable business idea, the skills to make it work and the funding. Discover whether your idea has what it takes.

Forming your business correctly is essential to ensure you are protected and you comply with the rules. Learn how to set up your business.

Advice on protecting your wellbeing, self-confidence and mental health from the pressures of starting and running a business.

Learn why business planning is an essential exercise if your business is to start and grow successfully, attract funding or target new markets.

It is likely you will need funding to start your business unless you have your own money. Discover some of the main sources of start up funding.

Businesses and individuals must account for and pay various taxes. Understand your tax obligations and how to file, account and pay any taxes you owe.

Businesses are required to comply with a wide range of business laws. We introduce the main rules and regulations you must comply with.

Marketing matters. It drives sales and helps promote your brand and products. Discover how to market your business and reach your target customers.

Some businesses need a high street location whilst others can be run from home. Understand the key factors from cost to location, size to security.

Your employees can your biggest asset. They can also be your biggest challenge. We explain how to recruitment and manage staff successfully.

It is likely your business could not function without some form of IT. Learn how to specify, buy, maintain and secure your business IT.

Few businesses manage the leap from start up to high-growth business. Learn what it takes to scale up and take your business to the next level.

£20 million SME Brexit Support Fund opens for applications

16 March 2021

The fund is intended to help smaller businesses adapt to new trade rules with the EU; however, the latest data shows that UK trade with the EU has already fallen dramatically since the UK left the EU at the end of January this year.

Smaller businesses can now apply for grants of up to £2,000 to help them adapt to new customs and tax rules when trading with the EU. The £20 million SME Brexit Support Fund enables traders to access practical support, including training for new customs, rules of origin and VAT processes.

Small and medium-sized businesses that trade solely with the EU - and are therefore new to importing and exporting processes - are being encouraged to apply for the grants. To be eligible, businesses must import or export goods between Great Britain and the EU, or move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"We recognise that changes to customs rules have been challenging for small and micro-businesses, and this is why we are encouraging business owners to apply for support through the SME Brexit Support Fund," said Katherine Green and Sophie Dean, directors general, borders and trade at HMRC.

The government has set out a new timetable for introducing import border control processes to give UK businesses more time to adapt and to recover from the pandemic. Full import border control processes will now be introduced on 1 January 2022, six months later than originally planned.

Mike Cherry, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: "The vast majority of UK small firms that do business overseas trade with the EU. Not only are they trying to stay afloat as lockdowns gradually ease, they now have new, unfamiliar paperwork and costs to navigate when they buy from, or sell to, Europe … We encourage all eligible small businesses to take a look and apply for this new source of help."

However, there are questions over whether this help is too little, too late. New research by the Institute of Directors (IoD) has found that almost 20% of business leaders who normally trade with the EU stopped doing so in January.

The IoD survey of over 900 directors saw just under one in five of those trading with the EU report that their organisations had stopped during this period. This cohort was narrowly split between those who stopped trading with the EU temporarily and those who say it is a permanent change.

IoD head of policy Roger Barker said: "The hit to trade with our largest and nearest market needs to be addressed to ensure it does not become a permanent dent in our global ambitions … To help industry recover and build back better, going global must look both near and far when it comes to the needs of our economy."

Written by Rachel Miller