Member Article

FSB rides to rescue of business flood victims

The Federation of Small Businesses has this week announced the establishment of a half-million pound fund to assist businesses that have been affected by the floods across the country. The FSB has set aside the sum of £500,000 as a fund available to grant short-term interest free loans (not exceeding £5,000 per individual case) to any FSB member suffering severe trading hardship resulting from the present flood crisis – especially where there is no other financial support available to them.

Colin Stratton, FSB North East Chairman, said: “I have been as horrified as the rest of the country at the extent of the devastation from the recent flooding across the country. The FSB, as the UK’s largest business organisation, is determined to help our members get back on their feet as soon as possible following this disruption. We operated a similar assistance fund during the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001.

“But we still need Government bodies such as the Environment Agency to focus as much on assisting businesses to get back on their feet as they do on helping people get back to a normal life in their homes. It will be little comfort to someone to arrive back in their house only to find out that their employer has gone bust.”

Any FSB member in the North East wishing to apply for assistance should email ro.northeast@fsb.org.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .