Home business groups are urging the government and other authorities to stop using staff numbers as eligibility criteria, saying the figures do not reflect the way small firms are growing. Some business support, mentoring and export programmes are available only to firms with a minimum of five staff, for example.

Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, the advice network, said this ignored the benefits that digital technology had brought to entrepreneurs. “Home business owners are making the most of technology to outsource work and subcontract to other companies and experts. It’s a most modern way to grow, yet is not recognised in business support programmes and policy,” she said.

“We call on central government, enterprise agencies and business support groups to take action to ensure support schemes recognise outsourcing as a form of company growth, and allow for ‘increase in turnover’ as opposed to ‘increase in headcount’ as a factor in being eligible for support and grants or incentives.”

Ecademy, the networking site, will next month launch a manifesto for change called Digital Business Britain. It will demand that “large, influential institutions such as the banks understand that the measurement of a successful business is not employee headcount or office overheads, but can be measured in terms of network size, influence and sentiment”.

Source:http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/small_business/article403605.ece