Legal and compliance toolkit to help firms with regulatory changes
Legal protection provider FirstAssist has created BusinessCare, a new legal and compliance toolkit for SMEs.
BusinessCare will be targeted at specialist small business brokers and can be added to commercial package policies.
BusinessCare offers SMEs a compliant solution to the increasingly complicated legislative maze that smaller businesses face.
BusinessCare targets the key areas of employment law, health and safety, debt and credit control in addition to the unique area of employee health management – a topic not covered by any other equivalent package on the market.
A distinguishing feature of the site is its highly developed online document creation capability, enabling the compilation of over 100 complex legal documents with a minimum of expertise, all drafted in accordance with user’s requirements through an intuitive ‘question and answer’ session.
Once complete, the user even has the option of sending the document through to FirstAssist’s specialists for a thorough legal review.
Andy Glynn, head of sales at First Assist, believes that government red tape has forced SMEs to be more proactive about their legal and compliance advice to avoid the rug being pulled out from under them in the event of a problem, but this doesn’t come without costs.
“Currently, around 50 per cent of smaller firms spend about £1.4bn on external advice on how to follow regulation. With small businesses struggling through the recession, it is vital that business owners are making informed decisions, over issues like debt recovery and making employees redundant, to avoid the often costly problems of ending up in court," he said.
FirstAssist saw a gap in the market for a competitive SME product that allows owners who may need to consult solicitors, consultants or compliance experts to seek advice on regulation and avoid incurring significant cost to their bottom line by having access to a more cost effective service. With research showing over 50 businesses in the UK closing each day due to financial constraints² SMEs need to save costs across the board.
Mr Glynn believes that brokers have an opportunity to provide some vital assistance to their clients whilst maximizing their revenue potential: “Businesses still have to jump through legislative hoops and need practical low cost solutions backed up by excellent customer service,” he concluded.
