SME Workforce Lead Voting Turnout for UK General Election

SME workforce lead voting turnout for UK general election

• Small business (SME) owner intention to vote on May 7th is running at 93% (up to 98% in some regions).
• In 2010, voting turnout among SME owners was 80% (versus a general turnout of 65%).
• 67% of SME owners say they'll be encouraging their staff to vote.
• 55% of SMEs allowing staff voting during working hours.

Research commissioned by MakeItCheaper.com suggests that SMEs will lead voting turnout at the 2015 UK General Election with 93% of SME owners intending to vote and two thirds (67%) encouraging their staff to do the same. Over half (55%) will allow their staff to vote during business hours (around 8.4 million employees1). The figures compare favorably to the 80% of SME owners who voted in the 2010 Election, where the general turnout was just 65%.

The North East is set to have the highest turnout amongst SME business owners, with 98% intending to visit the polling stations on May 7th. The region with the lowest intended turnout is the West Midlands with 90% - which is still 25% higher than the general turnout of 2010.

A breakdown of voting intention by region is shown in the table below:

Small businesses visiting the Polling Stations on May 7th will include*:

• Rockingham's in Southam CV47 0HE
• Academy Ballons in Liverpool L17 0BJ
• Jet Studios Limited in London SW6 4EH
• Zen Beauty in Manchester M45 6AA
• Zagal Limited in Bristol BS1 3AU
• Seli-Shuss in Sheffield S1 2GL
• Jobel Limited in Lymouth PL1 3LS
• Radfields Home Care Limited in Shrewsbury SY3 8JY

For more information on how small business owners intend to vote, visit Make It Cheaper: The Small Business Vote.

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Further information: Nick Heath 020 7654 0730 / 07720 297972 / nick.heath@makeitcheaper.com

Notes to editor:

* Case study contact details available on request.

1 Total SME employee populati Source:http://www.fsb.org.uk/stats

Research among 1,000 UK business owners and managers was conducted by Google on behalf of Make It Cheaper on 16/04/15.