FSB - Federation of Small Businesses

112233

This is my first post and apologies if I am in the wrong place. I am trying to find out if the FSB is worth joining. There have been no reviews or posts since 2010.......is it still worth joining for a small business for £200 or so a year? I am finding out for my boss - we are a small engineering firm but quite attracted by the free legal advice. Any comments from people with first hand experience would be appreciated.
Thanks
C

Mistral001

112233 wrote: »

This is my first post and apologies if I am in the wrong place. I am trying to find out if the FSB is worth joining. There have been no reviews or posts since 2010.......is it still worth joining for a small business for £200 or so a year? I am finding out for my boss - we are a small engineering firm but quite attracted by the free legal advice. Any comments from people with first hand experience would be appreciated.
Thanks
C

I was a member a few years ago. The local group that I belonged to was quite active with regular organised lectures, visits and seminars, but I believe some groups are not so active. I joined for the activities and networking, so I thought that it was good value though I think it was not as expensive as £200. The free legal advice was not such a big draw for me to be honest or anybody else I met while was a member.

phill99

I've just renewed my FSB membership . Mine is £!120.


I use it as an insurance policy as they pick up the tab if I get investigated by HMRC (not that I have anything to worry about). plus they have the legal service which is beneficial.


For less than £2.50 a week I don't have an issue with being a member.

colino

Would you expect an employee to join a Union that took fees but delivered absolutely nothing? Of course not, add FSB to your ignore list.

OhReally_2

112233 wrote: »

This is my first post and apologies if I am in the wrong place. I am trying to find out if the FSB is worth joining. There have been no reviews or posts since 2010.......is it still worth joining for a small business for £200 or so a year? I am finding out for my boss - we are a small engineering firm but quite attracted by the free legal advice. Any comments from people with first hand experience would be appreciated.
Thanks
C

Your boss should be able to purchase commercial legal protection cover for a lot less than £200 a year.

Your boss should double check if he really needs it. Perhaps his existing insurance policies will cover him? Or perhaps he has already bought added legal protection cover as a bolt on?

If he really is that concerned about requiring legal advice, perhaps he needs to review how he does his business. Or get himself a very good defence lawyer

Pennywise

You really need to think which of their services you'll need. A lot of their "benefits" are hot air and similar deals could be obtained elsewhere (i.e. telecoms etc), but some are valuable. I've had a few clients who have benefited from FSB due to cheaper banking or credit card merchant accounts. Others have benefited from their legal helpline and/or employment helpline. It's horses for courses.

I don't think much of their tax enquiry service - sounds good in theory, but in reality, it's not all that comprehensive (a proper policy covers a lot more such as attendance at HMRC book-checking visits and aspect enquiries) and you tend to get allocated someone who may have an office at the other end of the country, so difficult to meet so communications can be difficult. A couple of my clients have used the FSB tax enquiry support and neither were impressed to say the least!

firefox1956

Total waste of money........

112233

Thank you to everyone for their feedback. I have to say their pushy salesperson telling me he had to be called URGENTLY really put me off!

PlutoinCapricorn

I vaguely remember posters saying positive things about them in the past, but that last post about the pushy salesman is very off-putting.

Horace

Pushy salesmen are always offputting regardless of whether or not they are working for the FSB or selling double glazing. I haven't come across a pushy salesman for the FSB.

When I was self employed I was a member of the FSB - I used them for their legal helpline (this came in handy when I needed some legal advice after being ripped off by a supplier), I also used their free meeting room offer via Regus because it saved me meeting people in my home which I didn't want to do. I went to some networking events and although I am no longer self-employed I am still in contact with the connections I made at those events. I also had free business banking through the FSB too.

The price of membership varies according to the size of business - a sole trader would typically pay around £120 but a bigger company would pay more.

I found membership to be useful and it gave me peace of mind.