Businesses have demanded for more support and relief measures after Prime Minister Boris Johnson plunged England back into another national lockdown in an attempt of curbing the surge of Covid-19 infections.
U.K. clothing retailer Next had previously stated that recent minimal gains from the holiday period will almost entirely be eroded by the new lockdown. Already, 178,000 jobs have been lost in the retail industry and more could go without additional support, if statistics provided by the British Retail Consortium are to be believed. The group is calling for the government to extend business-rates relief, a form of property tax, from April,
Commenting on further lockdown restrictions in England, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) National Chair Mike Cherry said, “Current business support is plainly insufficient – There must now be a step change in support to equal the compensation offered during the first lockdown. The level of government grants is off the mark by an order of magnitude and has not kept the pace with events.
“Schemes such as the business rates 100% relief expire within weeks to be replaced by the next year’s bills landing on the doorsteps of shuttered businesses. FSB wrote to the Chancellor just before Christmas with a five-point plan to save the small business community and help it get through the toughest Quarter One of any year that they have ever faced, providing a bridge to a vaccine-enabled recovery from Easter. This includes a full second round of £10,000/£25,000 Small Business Cash Grants, a German-style Revenue Loss Scheme, a Directors Income Support Scheme and help for the more recently self-employed at the same time as the SEISS Grant, and extended repayment and limits for bounce-back loans.
“It must not be forgotten that all this comes at a time where 69% of small businesses are now in debt, with 40% saying the level of debt is “unmanageable”. Many are trying to navigate the UK’s new trading relationship with the EU, which to avoid tariffs adds further bureaucracy and cost pressures. This is why support should be given to small businesses through £3,000 transition vouchers for tech, training or expertise. Small businesses are the lifeblood of communities and the economy, accounting for 60 per cent of private sector employment in the UK.”
