Government disagrees with itself on the impact of Business Link’s closure

NFEA, which represents local enterprise agencies, made the claim ahead of the winding down of the local elements of government-backed Business Link services which will be replaced by the main national Business Link website and a call centre.

The group pointed to research commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in November 2010 which concluded: “A reduction in the availability of Business Link’s face to face service could result in a lower take-up of external advice, and confusion remains about which sources of advice to trust.

“Start-ups and new businesses will be particularly affected as they are the least likely to know what support they need, the least able to find or trust appropriate support and the least able and willing to pay for this support.”

The study also found that for many entrepreneurs, the Business Link website complements, rather than substitutes for, telephone and face-to-face support, is not a key route to face to face support and is ”barely looked at” by many company owners before getting in touch for advice.

Read more: http://www.businesszone.co.uk/topic/business-trends/government-business-link-research-variance-government-policy/33830?ref=ukbf

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