The value of claims for R&D tax relief has gone up by £380 million in the UK and much of the rise comes from the small business sector.

Our round-up of other small business stories making the headlines this week...

The number of people working excessive hours has risen by 15% since 2010, according to the TUC.

Thousands of people have taken to social media in the past year to complain about the time they have had to spend waiting to speak to someone at HMRC, the UK's tax authority.

Facebook has announced a number of new features for businesses to help them improvement their engagement with consumers.

Small business confidence is cooling according to the latest findings from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Our round-up of other small business stories making the headlines this week...

Many consumers experience the feelgood factor when they are shopping but new research suggests that Brits are much happier when buying from small businesses compared to big names.

More than £2.5 billion was spent using contactless cards in the first half of 2015 and this week the upper limit for contactless payments was increased to £30.

A poll of senior decision-makers in SMEs has found that they are anticipating strong growth over the next five years.