TOO many bosses of small firms are failing to invest in skills to meet current and future demands because they are caught up in everyday pressures, warns Business Link Wessex.

"Failure to recognise the value of training and skills can be very costly to any business," said BLW's newly-appointed Dorset business skills manager Ian Girling.

"Businesses often don't take time out to look at where they are going and what is needed in order to achieve targets and remain competitive in a constantly changing environment.

"There are also often real training needs in areas such as communication, customer handling and team working that go unrecognised."

Business Link Wessex is offering firms a free skills review and action plan - either face to face, online or by phone.

Last year Business Link Wessex and the local companies it assisted injected around £19.5 million into the Dorset economy, latest data suggests.

That equates to £8 for every £1 that Business Link Wessex receives in funding from the South West Regional Development Agency.

This GVA (gross value added) is the measure of wealth created by a business for distribution to employees, shareholders and government - the sum of salaries plus pre-tax profit (taking into account the cost of depreciation).

Business Link Wessex operations director Deborah Wyatt said: "Measuring GVA change allows us to estimate the rate of Treasury return so determine whether the money spent was a good investment for the taxpayer.

"It's a great economic measure for our customers, enabling them to evaluate our impact, demonstrating the difference Business Link can make."

First published: October 17