Good practice
Business Debtline (BDL), United Kingdom The telephone hotline BDL is a member of the project team. It targets existing small or micro-enterprises (up to 10 employees) based in England, Wales and Scotland. Next to dealing with sole traders, partnerships and limited companies, the BDL also provides advice to the self-employed after trading. It aims to ‘empower’ its clients to deal with their circumstances by providing them with telephone advice and supporting information. In taking a holistic approach, Business Debtline in the initial call is able to identify and prioritise the client’s needs and hence give them the available options to deal with their situation as a whole. The emphasis will be on protecting the client’s business and personal assets as effectively as possible. Whilst Business Debtline aims to keep as many small businesses trading as possible, it will also recognise situations where trading should cease and advise accordingly. The advisers will give advice on what the client needs to do even after trading ceases. The advice given will be backed up with supporting information in the form of Business Debtline’s self-help information pack along with detailed fact sheets covering a range of topics. It can be difficult for the client to absorb all of the information over the telephone so this additional information is vital. The client is encouraged to call back if there are any further queries. Most recently the BDL has developed an interactive budget sheet, which is available on the Internet.