The research was carried out by Hull University Business School, Cranfield School of Management and the University of St Andrews. It found that, although entrepreneurs in the north are more successful in creating jobs than their southern competitors, there are, in fact, fewer of them.

 

The research revealed that 23% of men and 11% of women are self-employed in the south, compared with only 17% of men and 8% women in the north. However, while self-employed entrepreneurs in the north employ an average of 3.529 employees per company, those in the south employ just 2.652.

 

"It is pleasing to see that business owners in the north are in a position to employ more staff. However, it is important that the Government helps greater numbers of people to start and grow their own businesses. Encouraging entrepreneurship will create even more jobs and boost the economy," said the FPB's National Chairman, Len Collinson. "It is equally as important that businesses in the south are given the confidence to grow and take on more staff. One way of achieving that would be to improve the support services offered by the Government."

 

Although the study highlights differences between regions of the UK, it suggests that the oft-quoted ‘north-south divide' – which usually centres on the notion that there is better economic performance, lower unemployment and higher gross domestic product (GDP) in the south – could be more complicated.

 

It also suggests that ‘structural factors', rather than any differences in personality traits between northerners and southerners, lie behind the self-employment gap.

 

The FPB is urging the Government to take these regional differences into account as it continues to streamline its business support service from more than 3,000 to just 100 schemes. Under the plans, a team of 25 economists appointed by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) will examine the business case for each one.

 

It plans to group its products under eight ‘themes': Starting Up, Access to Finance, Management, Recruitment, People Development, Operations and Efficiency, Product Development, and Marketing and Sales Development. The FPB believes that the levels of support services offered to small businesses should not be eroded as part of the simplification process.

 

"The findings are sufficiently different between the north and south of England as to require corresponding regional variation in enterprise policy, particularly regarding education and finance," said Dr Michael Nolan, of Centre for Economic Policy at Hull University's Business School and the report's co-author.

 

"The north-south economic divide is not merely a traditional industrial phenomenon but a hallmark of self-employment too."

 

FPB member, Rachel Andrews, Financial Director of Andrews Computer Services Ltd, Hertfordshire, has experienced first hand the inconsistency of the Government's convoluted business support services. She criticised a tax incentive designed to encourage people to buy IT equipment through their employers, which was withdrawn without warning after two years and changed into a taxable benefit.

 

"Talk about a u-turn," said Mrs Andrews. "It is these kinds of short-term measures that leave businesses confused and angry. We need to be able to plan ahead for five years, and not have the rug pulled after a year or two, unless a measure is designed to be a simple one-off and is publicised as such right from the start, so we know where we stand."

 

For more information about how the FPB's range of products and services can help to support businesses from birth to growth, click here.