Councils Battle It Out for Small Business Titles

More than 250 councils in England - including those from Coventry and Warwickshire will be battling it out to be chosen as the biggest supporters of local business at the first ever national awards run by Britain's biggest business representation groups.

Councils from all across England – including Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and Warwick District Council responded to the call when the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) launched their inaugural Local Government awards aimed at highlighting those that have made the biggest impact on local SMEs during the Covid crisis and beyond.

Entries have been received by councils at district, town, city and county level and they will all now be chasing FSB national and regional titles across four different categories including the All-Round Small Business Friendly award.

Lee Osborne FSB’s Development Manager for Warwickshire and Coventry said the judging team were delighted by both the quality and quantity of the entries.

“We launched this competition to highlight outstanding work done by our local authorities to ensure they have a thriving community of SMEs and the self-employed - and we have been overwhelmed with the response. 

“We have seen some truly excellent examples of best practice which showed real innovation and commitment and we are looking forward to showcasing the winners from a very high-class field.”  

Awards will be presented to regional and national winners in the following categories: COVID-19 Support and Recovery, Programme of Business Support, Future-Ready and the All-Round Small Business Friendly trophy to recognise an overall outstanding contribution to the life and health of the local business community.

The winners of the awards, which are sponsored by Maybe*, will be announced at a virtual online final on Friday 14 October.