Business organisations form coalition in response to coronavirus
Leading employer organisations have joined forces to create a united voice for business in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
A group of more than 20 organisations have formed the Business Action Council (BAC), which claims to represent more than half a million businesses across the UK.
Its founding members include the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Institute of Directors (IoD), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
The council’s main aim is to “act as an instrument that provides government with a more coherent perspective from business.” The BAC said it is developing policy proposals to submit to the government.
Lord Bilimoria, vice president of the CBI said: “It is a historic moment to see organisations that sometimes see each other as competitors put aside differences and unite in the national interest.”
“There are no simple answers to the myriad problems that the pandemic has created: entrepreneurship organisations will need to work together over the coming months to develop the bold and imaginative solutions necessary to help us recover as quickly as possible.”
Six specialist working groups are working on policy proposals to help guide the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Among them is work on employee retention, to fine-tune the government’s furlough scheme.
Business groups have urged Rishi Sunak to extend or amend the job retention scheme as worries mount that it could cause mass redundancies. The chancellor has moved to assure people that “there will be no cliff edge” to the scheme.
The BAC is also working on a tax framework that puts SMEs at the “heart of the recovery”, as well as supporting high growth startups.
In recent days, the government’s bounce-back loan scheme has received praise from small businesses. Nearly 70,000 loans, totalling over £2bn, were approved on the first day of the scheme being launched.
The government has guaranteed 100 per cent of these bounce back loans. Sunak announced the scheme after banks were criticised for being slow to lend out larger sums to small businesses.