- By Buckinghamshire Business First
- 9 April, 2020
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Through our conversations with businesses and our COVID-19 impact survey, as well as our close work with other business support organisations and partners, we have compiled an overview of business’s hopes, concerns and adaptations during these challenging times.
Businesses hardest hit by COVID-19
Through our extensive conversations and interactions with businesses, we know that some sectors in Buckinghamshire have been particularly affected by COVID-19. These include:
- Retail (non-food, car dealers)
- Hospitality (restaurants, pubs, cafes, hotels, catering)
- Leisure and tourism (cinemas, theatres, visitor attractions, tour operators, travel agents)
- Events (business events, music events, venues, event industry suppliers such as printers and lighting suppliers)
- Professional services (training companies, recruitment consultants, business consultants)
- Personal services (hairdressers / barbers, beauticians, osteopaths, well-being consultants, dental technicians, fitness instructors, animal care)
- Creative and media (performers, artists, designers, photographers)
- Vehicle maintenance
Concerns within the business community
We are aware that suppliers to the hospitality and education sectors have been particularly hard-hit, while we are also aware of work stopping on construction sites across the county and manufacturers who trade internationally facing disruption to supply chains.
Our Business Support Team have been speaking with countless businesses over the last few weeks about the support they need and their worries about the support available to them.
Those concerned include:
- Those who don’t pay business rates and therefore will not benefit from rates relief (for example those who are home-based or who rent premises from landlords who pay the business rates)
- Those not eligible for grants as they are not operating within the retail or hospitality sectors
- Those operating from premises with a rateable value of over £51,000
- Those unable to furlough staff but who cannot afford to pay them (for example, businesses that have lost their income but still need staff to work to care for animals)
- Those who have recently become self-employed and do not have the requisite account filing history
- Those unable to secure loans (due to the length of time they have been operating or for other reasons)
- Company directors who pay themselves via dividends
- Those not wishing to take out loans with the future so uncertain
- Those with severe cashflow issues who may go out of business before grants / loans are made available
Responses to our COVID-19 impact survey
In order to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on Buckinghamshire’s businesses, we encouraged businesses to fill in our online COVID-19 impact survey.
Between March 13th-31st, 286 businesses responded to the survey, with the vast majority of respondents (99%) reporting being affected by the virus outbreak.
We’ve summarised the key feedback we received from the survey:
Supply chains / customer reach
- Around one fifth have experienced supply chain problems and staff availability issues
- Just under half of all respondents have experienced problems accessing domestic customers
- Just over one in 10 have experienced problems in relation to access to overseas customers
Current and future concerns
Businesses were asked about their main current and future concerns.
- In both cases, loss of income was the main concern, cited by around two fifths of respondents
- 25% are currently concerned about the possible cessation of trading, which increases to 30% if the virus was to continue to spread over the next few months
Adaptation and flexible working
- Just over a third of all respondents have introduced new flexible working methods and patterns in response to the Covid-19 pandemic
- Just over a quarter have provided additional hygiene advice and supplies
- 17% have been looking for alternative / new supply chain solutions
- 17% have been offering sick pay to all staff
- 4% of respondents have been stockpiling
View of government advice
Respondents were asked how useful they have found the government’s overall advice.
- Most have found it useful to some degree, although a sizable minority (nearly a third) have not found it useful
Stay informed of the latest business support re: COVID-19
Visit the Buckinghamshire Business First COVID-19 business support hub for the latest support and information from the government, business support organisations and other avenues of support. Bookmark www.bbf.uk.com/covid-19 so you can easily find it in the future.
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