Appointment details

Small Business Commissioner

Summary

• Organisation: Small Business Commissioner
• Sponsor department: Department for Business and Trade
• Location: Various
• Sectors: Business and Trade
• Skills: Audit and Risk, Business, Change Management, Commercial, Communication
• Number of vacancies: 1
• Time commitment: 37 hour(s) per week
• Remuneration: £120,000 to £145,000 per annum
• Length of term: 2 years
• Application deadline: 3pm on 7 April 2025

Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

Timeline for this appointment

1. Opening date

   10 March 2025

2. Application deadline

   3pm on 7 April 2025

3. Sifting date

   21 April 2025

4. Interviews expected to end on

   5 May 2025

Timeline dates are only an estimate and can change

About the appointment

Introduction

The DBT Secretary of State is seeking to appoint a new Small Business Commissioner (SBC) from July 2025 with a UK-wide remit focused on improving business-to-business payment practices. In particular, the new SBC will be a key actor in tackling late payments and long payment terms, which significantly impact upon small businesses and the self-employed.  We are looking to appoint the new SBC on a two-year term, subject to ongoing review by DBT Ministers alongside an upcoming consultation on strengthened statutory powers for the SBC and the development of a new Business Growth Service. The successful candidate will be expected to show flexibility in helping to shape the SBC role as it continues to evolve.

Location: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Salford

Appointment description

The SBC is an Accounting Officer with responsibility for a budget of £1.15m per year and management of 12 staff. The SBC is responsible for publishing an annual report and annual statement of accounts to lay before Parliament.

The SBC’s statutory functions are: 

• To provide advice and information to small businesses in connection with their supply relationships with larger businesses, including signposting small businesses to existing services.
• To consider complaints from small businesses relating to payment matters relating to the supply of goods and services to larger businesses and make (non-binding) decisions and recommendations. 

The SBC has the following strategic objectives, designed to address the key drivers of late payment, long contractual payment times and unfair payment practices:

1. Improving large business understanding and approach to payments

Improving understanding of the impact of withholding payments from smaller businesses and promoting good practice

• Reducing the number of larger businesses using supplier payments to create leverage or financial gain
• Creating a culture in which payment practices are routinely cited in annual reports and included within ESC measures as standard practice
• Securing commitments from larger businesses to improve payment systems and use mediation to settle disputes
• Ensuring larger businesses meet their legal and voluntary obligations and improve compliance and enforcement regimes
• Establishing sector led activity to promote fair payment practices and supporting co-ordinated action to address sectoral issues

2. Improving small business capability

• Improving small business understanding of contracting, their legal rights and where to get contract advice
• Giving small businesses the confidence to negotiate fairer payment terms and challenge late payments and unfair payment practices
• Supporting small business to understand their legal options and associated costs and increasing the use of mediation.

3. Raising awareness and access to support

• Ensuring that a range of support is available and accessible, which is not resource intensive and provides value for money
• Ensuring more small businesses are aware of the available support and tackling barriers to uptake
• Enhancing the work of the OSBC by working in partnership and ensuring the support landscape is joined up and effective.

4. Increasing digital adoption

• Raising awareness of the benefits of digital adoption to address late payments and providing advice and support on adoption
• Working with Government and providers to address issues around interoperability between platforms
• Working with providers to address concerns around the cost of implementation and resource to adopt technology.

Organisation description

The Small Business Commissioner (SBC) is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) established in December 2017 via the Enterprise Act 2016. It supports small businesses to get paid quickly and on time, influences large businesses to improve payment times to suppliers and works with all business to improve the culture of payment practices across the whole of the UK - England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

To learn more about the SBC please visit About us - Small Business Commissioner

Regulation of appointment

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website 

Person specification

Essential criteria

1. Knowledge: a clear understanding of the work, priorities and challenges of the organisation and the context within which it operates.
2. Experience: track record of effective leadership of significant teams or organisations.
3. Relationship building ability to build strong stakeholder relationships, including with Ministers and Senior Government officials and external stakeholders.
4. Communication: strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to listen, accept challenge and constructively challenge others in discussions with clarity and respect.
5. Judgement: effective decision-making skills with the ability to critically analyse a wide range of information to make clear and objective evidence-based recommendations to support the delivery of the organisation's objectives.
6. Collaboration: ability to work closely with the executive board and other key stakeholders, providing support, constructive challenge and assurance as appropriate. 

Desirable criteria

 7. Working with or within the small business sector and demonstrating a strong understanding of how small businesses operate.

Application and selection process

Additional information for candidates