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Can Rishi Sunak do enough to stop small firms closing?

25 October 2022

More than half of business owners aren't confident that the Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide enough support as new PM Rishi Sunak is under pressure to do more to help small businesses.

A new survey of UK business owners by NerdWallet has found that 69% say that more needs to be done by the government to keep businesses afloat during the cost of living crisis. Specifically, 54% say that the government's Energy Bill Relief Scheme is only a short-term measure and 15% say the support isn't enough.

In fact, more than a quarter of business owners want to see the kind of support that businesses got during the pandemic - either in the form of grants for the winter (14%) or Bounce Back style business loans (13%). Perhaps not surprisingly, almost half of those polled (47%) also want to see an increased levy on oil and gas companies, alongside lower price caps for energy prices.

NerdWallet's business finance expert, Connor Campbell, said: "Our survey found overwhelmingly that business owners don't feel fully supported through the energy crisis at the moment, so it's clear the new prime minister has a lot of work to do to keep businesses in the UK afloat this winter."

A UKHospitality poll of its members, reported in The Guardian this week, has found that one in five hospitality business owners say they won't make it through the current economic crisis. A further three in five say their businesses are no longer profitable.

It comes as the government's Insolvency Service figures show that UK company insolvencies in September 2022 were 1,679 - 16% higher than in the same month in 2021. Restructuring and insolvency professional Oliver Collinge from PKF GM said: "Unfortunately I think this is the start, not the peak, of rising insolvencies."

This week, business groups are calling on the new prime minister to prioritise business support in the upcoming Fiscal Statement. Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: "The government must provide more certainty on the energy support package for businesses and quickly communicate how the system will work from April. Firms need to know what support to expect in the medium and long term."

Martin McTague, national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: "The promised energy support package for small business owners must be delivered swiftly, followed by a plan for what happens after the initial six months of support which takes a realistic view on the inherently vulnerable position that smaller firms find themselves in when dealing with energy suppliers."

Written by Rachel Miller.

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