FSB urges AI minister to put small-firm trust at the heart of policy

TL;DR:

• An FSB report finds 59% of small firms using AI report productivity gains and 24% report higher revenue.
• Adoption has almost tripled since 2023, but 92% still hold concerns about data, copyright and liability.
• The FSB wants a certification scheme, adoption vouchers, clearer guidance and standardised model cards.

The Federation of Small Businesses has published its AI report days after Kanishka Narayan was given a Cabinet seat, arguing the elevated role is an opportunity to fix small firms’ confidence problem rather than restate the opportunity. The FSB puts the prize at more than £42bn a year to the UK economy from deeper AI use.

Adoption without confidence

The findings describe uptake running ahead of assurance. Nearly three in five AI users report productivity gains and a quarter report increased revenue, averaging a 3% uplift. Yet 92% still hold concerns about data security, copyright and liability. A third (34%) say better implementation guidance would encourage adoption; 31% want support using AI legally and ethically.

That pattern is consistent across the UK evidence base. ONS data showed British firms adopting AI widely but shallowly, and a separate survey found two-thirds of Scottish firms using AI only lightly. Three independent datasets now point the same way: the constraint is not awareness, and not access — it is that owners cannot answer basic questions about who owns AI output and who is liable when it is wrong.

Policy chair Tina McKenzie set out four asks: a government-backed Responsible AI Essentials certification, AI adoption vouchers, clearer guidance through the AI Skills Hub, and standardised model cards so firms can see how providers use their data. “That will only happen if he puts trust at the heart of the Government’s approach,” she said.

Looking forward

Responsible AI Essentials borrows deliberately from Cyber Essentials, which worked partly because procurement made it compulsory. The FSB is asking for something small businesses can point at, rather than a framework they must interpret. Whether the new Cabinet Office AI Taskforce treats SME adoption as core to growth or as a secondary concern behind public-sector transformation will largely settle whether these asks progress.