We‘re familiar with the story of how businesses start. One person has an idea, develops it in their spare time, grows a small business, gets funding, makes a bigger business. Some fall by the wayside, others thrive and grow.

But there’s something missing from the picture. The moment when an entrepreneur takes the massive step of quitting their 9-5 and going full time in their business. The ultimate risk is to step away from the security of a regular salary, to rely solely on your ability to make a profit, and support yourself and your family. Through thick and thin, through the ups and downs of a harsh and unforgiving marketplace.

What if it fails? What if the ultimate gamble doesn’t pay off?

Alongside the razzmatazz of Small Business Saturday, it’s worth reflecting on the impact a solid welfare safety net has on entrepreneurialism. Knowing it’s there makes a world of a difference. Knowing that, even though failure sucks, your family won’t be destitute, that you’ll still be able to cover the basics, makes it easier to take that step away from the corporate world and follow your dream.

That’s why entrepreneurs and the self-employed need Labour’s welfare policies. While the Tories label themselves as the party of business, their policies favour the rich, not the brave. As Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights noted, the message that goes out from our current benefits regime – Universal Credit – is that you’re on your own. The State has not got your back.

Entrepreneurs are risk takers, but they’re not fools. If they are to put their assets on the line – and, let’s face it, the State needs them to do just that if our economy is to grow and thrive – they need to know that the State has their back. It’s only fair, isn’t it?

One unexpected consequence of the extension of healthcare in the USA, through the passage of the Affordable Care Act (which we know as Obamacare), was a flourishing of small, entrepreneurial businesses. Freed from dependence on employers for health insurance, entrepreneurs could pursue their own American dreams. While the UK’s healthcare landscape is – thankfully – very different, the principle is consistent. Entrepreneurs want to build an enterprise. To take the step into self-employment, they need to know that there’s a Plan B. A solid welfare state safety net, to catch them if they fall and provide enough to get them on their feet again, is an important part of their risk calculation.

It goes without saying – but I’ll say it anyway – that entrepreneurs who already have the cash to fall back on, whether that’s family wealth or rich backers, aren’t the people I’m talking about here. Let’s face it, with that sort of cushion, their personal entrepreneurial risk is already so soft-edged as to be almost zero. Losing £10,000 from a £100,000 fortune is worlds away from having your home repossessed. No, the entrepreneurs whose choices are limited when the welfare safety net goes are the working-class heroes, the first-generation business starters, the self-employed people who are pioneers for social mobility.

Universal Credit, with all its flaws, doesn’t just fail the poor, sick and disabled. It fails the strong, the brave and the risk-takers. It fails the people with the fire in their belly to take an idea, to make an invention, and to turn it into a business. A business that could support them, their families and many more in their communities. If we are to refresh our country’s entrepreneurial spirit, we have to put the safety net back. We have to show our entrepreneurs that we appreciate their risk and – if things don’t turn out – yes, we have got your back.