Small businesses with pioneering ideas to combat climate change are being offered the chance to win awards of up to £40,000 from Shell.

The Shell Springboard programme, now in its fourth year, will give six awards of between £20,000 and £40,000 to SMEs in each of three UK regions -

The London Development Agency (LDA) has launched a support programme to match small firms developing new products with institutions offering the specialist help they need.

The Knowledge Connect programme is open to any firm with fewer than 250 employees which is based in the Greater

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned business owners who intend to file paper self-assessment tax returns that they must do so before the new deadline of 31 October or face an automatic penalty of £100.

Self-employed entrepreneurs filing paper returns could previously file up to 31

Employees in small businesses are more likely to be taking steps to reduce their energy use than staff in larger organisations, according to energy company E.ON.
Research from E.ON found that the smaller the business, the more energy efficient the staff. It revealed that more than a third of

Twice as many small firms would choose to recruit school leavers over university graduates as they are a more affordable source of staff, according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB).

Research from the FPB revealed that when small firms are recruiting, 20 per cent would specifically

Small-business owners are being forced to work longer hours and scrap holiday plans to counteract the effects of the slowing economy, according to the Bank of Scotland (BoS).

The BoS survey of 1,000 UK small firms revealed that business owners are now working an average 50 hour week - an

Britain might be picking up gold in the Bejiing Olympics, but UK small businesses are sceptical about the benefits that London 2012 will bring them, according to entrepreneur think tank the Tenon Forum, writes Emma Allen.

Research from the Tenon Forum revealed that only 10 per cent of UK

Start-ups developing low-carbon products and services can now benefit from free consultancy with two of the UK's top business and legal advice firms as part of the Carbon Trust's Incubator Programme.

Business advisers Grant Thornton and law firm Mills & Reeve have pledged to give up to 17

Almost half of UK small-business owner-managers fail to reward employee achievements despite knowing that it leads to better performance, a survey has found.

According to research conducted by loyalty firm Nectar Business, 48 per cent of 250 small-business owners polled admitted they did

A government drive to crack down on rogue employers has been unveiled, which aims to stop employers exploiting vulnerable workers and ignoring workplace regulations.

The creation of the Fair Employment Enforcement Board is expected to benefit honest businesses that have previously been

Small firms should chase late payments diligently and carry out credit checks on customers to maintain income without raising prices, say business groups.

The advice comes in the wake of a survey showing that almost half of small businesses are increasing their prices to customers as they

The economic downturn has caused increasing numbers of businesses to use social networking websites as a low-cost way of reaching potential customers, according to business networking website Ecademy.

Penny Power, founder of the website, said membership of Ecademy has doubled in the last