£56 million to boost business productivity

Businesses will benefit from a £56 million funding boost to drive up productivity across the UK economy, Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst announced last week.

The funding supports the findings of a joint report by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury, published last week, which sets out 10 key actions that will support businesses to become more productive.

It finds that businesses of all sizes that embrace the best leadership and management models and techniques, as well as adopting tried-and-tested technologies, are more profitable, productive and are better to work for.

The review advises businesses to enhance leadership skills and drive up good management practices; harness the benefits of technology; seek external support and advice from peers; and benchmark their performance against their competitors.

"We are determined to make the UK the best place to work and start a business – and boosting productivity is key to that.

"As a former small business owner, I know how important it is to harness technology to make your business more productive and our review sets out crucial actions that businesses can take to boost their own productivity," said Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst.

"This £56 million of government funding will help businesses of all sizes seize the opportunities of scaling up in new markets when we leave the EU."

The government has previously committed £9 million over 4 years for the Business Basics programme to test and evaluate new and innovative ways to support small businesses to improve their productivity. 

The government also provides up to £18.6 million of funding to Be the Business to help SMEs better understand the simple changes they can make to raise their productivity levels by adopting best practice leadership and management techniques and making use of tried and tested technologies.