The British Chamber of Commerce are in the process of releasing their second survey of the impact of the pandemic lock downs on smaller businesses. There are reports in this morning’s press and fuller results are being released, piecemeal, on their web pages. I understand (not entirely clear to me yet) that this survey covers 1,000 firms and was conducted towards the end of last week. It reveals a picture of limited access by late last week to the various government support schemes. Highlights:
- Just 1 per cent of firms had successfully accessed CBILS and 7 per cent are receiving grants
- 57 per cent of firms have three months cash in reserve or less, 6 per cent of respondents have already run out of cash
- 37 per cent of respondents said they were planning to furlough between 75 to 100 per cent of their workforce over the next week
Links: The BCC Coronavirus impact tracker and a Financial Times article