Small Business Commissioner Survey (disputes and dispute resolution)

Overview

The Government is determined to see smaller businesses thrive and grow, to help support our economy, both locally and nationally. We are proposing to establish a Small Business Commissioner to lead a culture change in how businesses resolve – and ultimately avoid – commercial disputes.

We have published a consultation paper setting out our current thinking and seeking views on its scope, functions and powers. This survey is crucial in complementing the consultation paper by seeking information from businesses on their experience of disputes and dispute resolution.

The survey has the following six sections:

1. Firm information
2. Approach to handling past disputes
3. Costs of handling past disputes
4. Overall issues
5. Issues that you felt were detrimental but no action was taken
6. Setting up a government sponsored and idependent service

Why your views matter

Small businesses are not always sure where to turn to help them sort out disputes with other businesses. There are existing dispute resolution bodies which provide valuable services. But for general contractual issues, including where smaller businesses feel that other businesses treat them unfairly, the Government is concerned that not enough small businesses are able to settle their problems with larger corporations sufficiently quickly and inexpensively while maintaining their business relationships.

Once it’s up and running, we want the Small Business Commissioner to act as a strong disincentive to poor practices.  This survey explores the Government’s current understanding of the problems that small businesses face and our thinking about possible solutions.  Have we got it right?  Could we improve our proposals?  We’re asking for views and further evidence about the problems and how the proposed Commissioner can help. We will only need you to respond to the full questionaire once and it will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. 

The Government will consider the views expressed in response to the consultation paper, along with further evidence and consideration of other factors including cost implications to inform our final proposals.

We will publish a summary of the views expressed and reasons given for decisions finally taken. This document will be published on www.gov.uk with paper copies available on request.

What happens next

The Government will consider the views expressed in response to the consultation paper, along with further evidence and consideration of other factors including cost implications to inform our final proposals.

We will publish a summary of the views expressed and reasons given for decisions finally taken. This document will be published on www.gov.uk with paper copies available on request.