Business support and advice
We provide support and help for businesses in a variety of ways.
GOV.UK (opens in a new window) is a place to find government services and information online. It replaces Directgov and Businesslink.
HMRC has an e-learning course called Starting Your Own business (opens in a new window) which covers issues such as tax, National Insurance, business records and expenses.
Specific support for small and medium sized manufacturers is available through the new Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS). Businesses interested in finding out more about the programme should visit mymas.org (opens in a new window) or call an advisor on 0845 658 9600.
Businesses who do well often have outside help. If you think you could benefit from talking to someone with a lot of business experience, you can find a business mentor at mentorsme.co.uk (opens in a new window)
Mentorsme.co.uk will put you in touch with mentoring organisations across the UK who can help you find the kind of mentor that suits you. Plus there's lots of advice on what to look for in a mentor.
If you would like to be a mentor and share your experience with a less experienced business person, the mentoring portal can help you find an organisation which can help.
Related documents
The following documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You can download software to view PDF documents for free from the Adobe website (opens in a new window)
The following document is in Word format. You can download software to view Word documents for free from the Word viewer page (opens in a new window) of the Microsoft website.
- Alan Walters - business planning (394KB)
- Angus Jones - cash flow forecasting (4047KB)
- HMRC briefing (39KB)
- Derbyshire County Council winning public business (635KB)
- Lloyds - negotiating with banks (62KB)
- Natwest (157KB)
- TBAT - cash flow forecasting (180KB)
- Yorkshire Bank (67KB)