In July this year, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) notified all Consumer Credit License holders that responsibility for the regulation of consumer credit activities would be transferring to the FCA from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) with effect from 1 April 2014. As a consequence of this, current licenses issued by the OFT will no longer be valid after 31 March 2014.

As you may be aware, any business that intends to continue offering consumer credit after this date is now required to register with the FCA for an ‘interim permission’. The cost of interim permission is £150 for sole traders and £350 for limited companies, partnerships and other types of businesses. There is currently an "early bird" discount of 30% for businesses applying for interim permission prior to 30 November 2013.

However, at this time, no firm details of how the FCA will regulate consumer credit have been released, nor have the OFT clarified to what extent existing licence holders will be entitled to a rebate on fees already paid.

Understandably, this situation is causing considerable anxiety and frustration for our subscribers, many of whom are now having to consider whether or not they can afford to continue offering finance.

We believe that the Government and the FCA have not fully understood the impact of the changes on small businesses, and would like to ask for your help in putting together an evidence base to ensure that the new regime is both fair and proportionate for businesses of the kind that are represented across the Ride it away, Slide it away and Take it outdoors retailer networks.

We would be very grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete this short survey to help us understand a bit more about your business/organisation and the consumer credit license you currently hold.