Quarter of SMEs believe economy has been damaged irreversibly by Brexit and pandemic

A poll by software company FreeAgent has found that a quarter of SMEs believe the economy has been damaged irreversibly by Brexit and the pandemic.

The poll also showed that 64% of businesses are worried their businesses may not survive the next 12 months. The study found that while a fifth of SMEs believe there is a much greater chance of their business surviving now that Rishi Sunak is Prime Minister, the rate is just 7% among accountants.

An earlier version of the survey in October saw 28% of accountants and small business owners say they believed economic pressures would ease within three-five years. This has now increased to 38% after the mini-Budget and election of Rishi Sunak.

When looking ahead, 43% of SMEs want ministers to expand the energy cap to cover small businesses, 37% want to see new government loans specifically for energy bills and 33% want officials to implement a windfall tax on energy and fuel companies. Among accountants, 43% agree that a windfall tax would be the most useful measure for ministers to introduce, alongside expanding the energy cap (41%) and introducing government-driven discounts on bills (34%).