More than half of small trade business owners and managers rely on spouses and partners to help run their company, research finds.

More than half of small trade business owners and managers rely on spouses and partners to help run their company, research finds.  

A study by Direct Line for Business, looking at businesses employing less than five people with an average turnover of £124,000, reveals that 46 per cent of small trade business owners and key decision makers rely on their partners to carry out general business administration while one in five (19 per cent) employ their partner as a receptionist.

More than one in seven (14 per cent) trust their partners to look after legal and accounting services, with a further 8 per cent looking to their partners to carry out sales, marketing and new business generation responsibilities.

However, despite small trade business owners and key decision makers suggesting their partners work on average two days a week (with one in four working three or more days a week), nearly a third (31 per cent) do not pay their partner any money at all.  

This selfless contribution is particularly apparent as the research shows that on average, partners have been helping each other for more than four and a half years.

In addition, two in three (65 per cent) people who help out in their partner’s small trade businesses have other employment elsewhere. Of these, one in four (26 per cent) work full time and two in five (39 per cent) work part time at another business.  

Jazz Gakhal, head of Direct Line for Business says, 'Small businesses are crucial in re-energising the UK economy. It is therefore, heartening to see partners working together to help sustain these small companies despite not being fully financially compensated and in many cases not paid at all.'

See also: Taxman is after small businesses