UK small businesses are being restricted in getting awarded contracts for the 2012 London Olympics

The Forum of Private Business reports that the UK Government’s target of awarding 30% of all public contracts to small businesses is under threat because of recent Government proposals.

Government plans require businesses to enforce gender and racial equality standards, and to offer trade union membership to their employees, for companies to be eligible for contracts, and this disadvantages small businesses dramatically.

In the 2008 Budget, the UK Government said it wanted small businesses to get 30 per cent of public contracts, but then announced companies had to promote trade union membership to be awarded contracts.

This inherent contradiction creates a substantial barrier for small UK businesses to share in the large amount of revenue that the 2012 London Olympics public contracts will provide.

Small businesses are under stress due to the current economic slowdown and this is another example of the difficulty of competing with larger companies.

Our UK Business Directory, which contains of 1.6 million businesses, most of which are small businesses, is assisting, by providing qualified prospects to them with no cost for the businesses that are listed.