As the United Kingdom continues to struggle through unexpectedly severe winter weather, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has urged the government, banks, local authorities and landlords to support small businesses that in many cases were already struggling.

According to FSB estimates, the snow and icy conditions are costing the UK economy between GBP600mn and GBP1bn daily, with retailers especially hard hit, and many smaller retailers potentially likely to go under in the New Year, unless there is some kind of intervention.

"Even before the weather struck, businesses dependent on discretionary spending were predicting job losses and a difficult year ahead – almost 40% of retailers thought that their business prospects in quarter four would be worse than in quarter three, and the recent cold snap will only serve to compound this," the small business organisation warned.

With the severe weather conditions reportedly set to continue in many parts of the country, among the recommendations made by the Federation are that:

• HMRC should extend its Time to Pay scheme to allow small businesses time to recoup lost takings in order to have the cash-flow to be able to pay;
• Landlords, especially where the landlord is the local council, should push back rent reviews due in the New Year;
• Local councils should use their powers to grant hardship relief and temporarily reduce business rate bills for those businesses in financial difficulty, using the powers available to them under Section 49 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (England and Wales); and
• Banks, utilities and insurers should give small businesses some breathing space.

John Walker, National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses, observed that:

"The last thing this Government needs is a wave of bankruptcies and shop closures in 2011, but small firms will find it very difficult to bounce back in the New Year when VAT increases to 20 per cent and the spending cuts start to bite."

"We need to see a co-ordinated effort from Government, banks, local authorities and landlords to give small businesses some breathing space to recover in the New Year."