Welsh SMEs take the fewest days holiday
New research from Aldermore shows Welsh businesses plan to take the fewest days holiday in 2015 compared to other regions across Britain.
Excluding bank holidays, Welsh business decision makers surveyed on average plan to take 15 days leave, with around one in seven (14%) businesses saying they planned to take no holidays at all.
The research, which surveyed over 1,000 small businesses, found the national average is 19.5 days. London business owners surveyed said on average they plan to take the most days with 22.5 days, while Scottish businesses say 19 days.
These findings follow earlier research into the savings habits of British small businesses which found:
– The average interest rate received on surplus funds is 0.60%;
– More than half of all SMEs (51%) receive between 0 – 0.5%, 23% of these receive 0%;
– 26% of SMEs review their accounts more than once every six months and 12% once every six months. 11% admit they never review their accounts;
– 20% of SMEs do not have any surplus funds.
Commenting on the findings, Simon Healy, managing director for savings at Aldermore, said: “We all understand how hard working small businesses are, but it is interesting and impressive to see how much time they are devoting to growing their businesses. Especially when you consider that Britain only has eight bank holidays a year.
“Given that there is no such thing as holiday pay for small business owners, it is important that they ensure that their hard-earned income works as hard as they do and this should include regularly reviewing the interest rate they earn on surplus funds. Too many are missing out on better interest rates by keeping their surplus funds in their business current account or keeping it in an account with a high street bank that is likely to be paying them very little.”
To improve the information available to the UK’s time-poor SMEs, today sees the launch of Aldermore’s SME Rate Checker. Working with Savings Champion, the new independent service uniquely available on Aldermore’s website allows SMEs to check the rates of 91 savings institutions to see the current rate of interest being earned on their current or business savings in just a few clicks. The process, which takes a matter of seconds, then gives a comparison to what they could be earning at Aldermore.
