Small business and the local economy

Local Procurement research report: FSB

• 58 per cent more of the money spent by local authorities with small firms is re-spent in the local economy compared to that spent with large businesses in the same area.
• Small local firms generated £746 million more for the local economy compared to large local businesses
• For every £1 spent with a small or medium-sized business (SME) 63p was re-spent in the local area compared to 40p in every £1 spent with a larger business.
• Local authorities across the UK in the last year spent a total of £8.7 billion buying goods and services in their local area
• If each authority had spent an additional five per cent of their budget locally and committed just three per cent more of that to small local firms, an additional £788 million could have been generated for local economies.