Government criticised for taking six months to process redundancy payment rebates for SMEs

THE Government has been accused of double standards in its approach to the small business community by taking up to six months to process redundancy payment rebates for small to medium-sized enterprises.

The Small Firms Association (SFA) said yesterday that many SMEs are experiencing serious cashflow difficulties due to “government ineptitude” and warned that more jobs will be lost if the payment process is not overhauled.

“While on the one hand, theGovernment is emphasising the need to support small businesses’ cashflow and putting rightful pressure on the banks; on the other hand, it itself is adding substantially to the problem by holding out on money it owes to small businesses for as long as six months,” said SFA director Patricia Callan.