Business Link set to wind up

The online presence of Business Link, the state-funded resource for enterprise, is to be scaled back in the coming weeks to culminate in the closure of its regional hubs from next month.

From November 25th, regional Business Link offices and services will cease to operate, in what will be the agency’s most significant slimming down since its launch in 1992.

But a national call centre will be unveiled, to support more content and practical help being fed to BusinessLink.gov.uk, allowing offline businesses to access the same information as their online counterparts.

New features on the site are expected to appeal to employers – such as the provision of online training materials and better links to other government services.

But all businesses, of whatever size, will also be waiting to get to grips with an anticipated ‘tax dashboard’ – expected to offer traders a single overview of all their man liabilities.

Despite some buzz about the beefed up site, the overall narrowing of Business Link as a service is creating concern that enterprising types will find reliable, impartial and local advice about starting up harder to come by.

Some private sector groups are already saying that they have the answer. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, for example, hopes its new Business Advice Service will help fill the vacuum.