About

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR.

Business Technology

Business IT security threatened by the use of inferior passwords 

One in five British businesses use ‘password’ as their password despite more than 70 per cent ranking IT security as vital for their work, according to new research.

Employing & managing staff

Shared parental leave for small businesses – the legal view

Three advisers and a business owner give their opinion on the proposed shared parental leave initiative.

News

New government initiative cuts red tape for small businesses

Thousands of small companies are to be spared from red tape after a government shake-up on business regulations.

News

Chasing payments most unpopular task among small businesses

The most unpopular administrative tasks among entrepreneurs are chasing payments and processing expenses, research finds.

Government Grants

Government grants for small businesses in Scotland

David Kelly applied for a range of grants for his pre-revenue social business platform Shareflow. He tells SmallBusiness.co.uk about them.

Employing & managing staff

Small business owners lukewarm on RTI implementation

The introduction of real-time information reporting could prove to be a time-consuming nuisance, small business owners fear.

Business Loans

Majority of small businesses bootstrapped initially – with just 3 per cent achieving a bank loan

Almost three quarters of small company owners launched their new business venture with working capital of £2,000 or less, research finds.

News

Consumers want ‘more bang for their buck’ as business landscape intensifies

Bargain hunting and rampant discounting have become the norm in a tough economy, according to new research.

Government Grants

How to get a government grant for business coaching

Liz Mowatt secured a government grant for business coaching for her company A Giving Tribute, which offers tribute cards for funerals.

News

Large percentage of employees unimpressed by their superiors

One in three bosses are judged as 'badly-behaved' by their employees, according to a survey of more than 1,000 British workers.

News

FPB speaks out against abuse of Prompt Payment Code

The Forum of Private Business is urging changes to the Prompt Payment Code after it has learned firms with payment times as long as 90 days are planning to sign up.

News

UK SMEs clueless about their own finances

The majority of UK small businesses do not understand their finances, according to the accountants that represent them.