Petty cash... the next PPI scandal

⬤ A decision by the government to scrap caps on the numbers of apprentices that small businesses can take on could enable your firm to recruit more widely. Until 3 April, the Apprenticeship Levy scheme limited businesses that don’t have to pay the charge – including most smaller firms – to taking on a maximum of ten apprentices. That rule has now been scrapped, but small businesses will still be able to reclaim 95% of training costs from the state, with the payouts funded by businesses that do pay the Apprenticeship Levy.

⬤ Were more than a million small businesses mis-sold fixed-price energy tariffs at the top of the gas and electricity market last year? Trade groups including the Federation of Small Businesses and British Chambers of Commerce say as many as a quarter of small companies in the UK were forced to sign up for fixed-price energy contracts that run for several years, just as prices in the sector hit a peak. Campaigners are calling for an investigation of last year’s sales amid allegations that this could prove to be the “biggest mis-selling scandal since PPI”, the payment-protection insurance scandal that rocked the banking sector.

⬤ Customer relationship management (CRM) systems enable growing small businesses to capture all relevant data on their customers within a single software package. A new survey from Startups.co.uk has identified several affordable packages tailored to smaller firms. It deems HubSpot the best CRM software for small firms, with honourable mentions for tools including Monday.com, Freshsales and Zoho CRM.