Have you tried to find money to fund your business? If so did you need working capital or money to invest for growth. If the banks are persuaded by Government to lend more to small businesses that could be positive but only if businesses get the right typr of funding for the stage their business is at. Just getting a loan isn't the answer if the business will have problems, or get into deeped problems, trying to repay that loan or if it comes with the worn strings attached. I know of businesses where lending was dependent on personal guarantees and those guarantees were called on when the repayments fell behind. I know of businesses that got loans but weren't able to grow the business and ended up worse off trying to create enough income to service the loans. We need support for businesses to make sure they are ready for the funding, are looking for the best kind of funding for the stage their business is at and have the right support to make sure they are using the funding in the right way. It's about more than just money. Please let me know your experience.

Unemployment hit 5.1%, the highest since January 2021 and wage growth slowed in the 3 months to October. Those figures were for the period before the budget, with all the uncertainty the various rumours and the speculation caused for businesses. Is that behind us now. Will business respond to the budget by getting on with the plans they had before uncertainty paused activity or will the quiet quitting we've been seeing especially in the retial and hospitality sectors continue. Let us know in the forum discussions what you're seeing in your sector.

More than a quarter of small businesses are having problems recruiting because of a shortage of qualified applicants and although the shortages of skilled people are fairly stable, they're persistent. The figures are from the Office of National Statistics for November. The unemployment figures are going up but if the people looking for work don't have the skills you're looking for you've got recruitment problems. We need the right people in our businesses to help us grow and the costs of recruitment and wages, including National Insurance Contributions are so high that it's leaving small businesses unable to compete with their bigger competitors even if they have decided to hire. How do we resolve this situation?

Small Business Saturday is the first Saturday every December. Look out for the signs in shop windows. The idea is to get shoppers to do their shopping from small businesses especially at this point in the year when Christmas is approaching. Are you taking aprt this year and if so what difference does the campaign make to the volume of sales in your business? How could we encourage more small business shopping all year round to help keep our high streets and small businesses alive?

There are plans to make e-invoicing the way to do business from 2029. There's lots of time to get ready but many firms are using e-invoicing already. If your customers require you to use their e-invoicing platforms what's your experience? Please share.

As a small business what are the digital tools that you use most in your business and do you have a feel for how much time they save on admin? If you do have that extra time how does that help you to work on your business? Would liove to hear from you.