About Family Business UK
Family Business UK (FBUK) is an independent trade body representing the UK’s five million private & family-owned businesses. Our members represent the bedrock of British enterprise, spanning every sector of the economy, from manufacturing and retail to agriculture and professional services. Collectively, family businesses employ over 15 million people and contributing over £422 billion in tax revenues each year – making them a vital engine of national prosperity and regional resilience. They are driven by long-term thinking and a responsibility to communities across generations.
Family Businesses at the Heart of UK Trade
The UK Government has made clear, through both its Trade Strategy and Plan for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses , that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are central to Britain’s future prosperity. Ministers have committed to creating the right conditions for these types of businesses to trade by improving access to finance, integrating export support into the new Business Growth Service, and modernising border processes to reduce costs and delays. These plans show genuine intent to empower small and medium-sized firms and FBUK strongly supports this ambition – their success however will depend on practical delivery, and that requires government to work closely with organisations like FBUK to ensure policies translate effectively for family-owned businesses on the ground. Family businesses are natural exporters: trusted, resilient, and committed to reinvesting in people and places over generations. Yet while four in ten large companies trade internationally, only around one in ten SMEs do [1] - a gap that represents huge untapped potential.
This position paper offers a series of recommendations to support the Government’s drive to boost international trade amongst family businesses.
Key Recommendations
• Export finance targeted at family businesses • Further skills support for family businesses keen to trade internationally • Boosting export mentoring services to support family businesses • Expanding trade touchpoints for family businesses • Targeted trade support for mid-sized family-owned businesses • Digital trade facilitation to aid family businesses • Private family-owned business involvement in trade agreements
Registered in England and Wales. Registered Number: 4258666. VAT Registration Number: 911234075.
T: 020 7630 6250 | E: info@familybusinessuk.org | W: familybusinessuk.org 80 Brook Street, London, W1K 5EG, United Kingdom
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