{"id":12331,"date":"2020-08-05T11:20:40","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T11:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.openbusinesscouncil.org\/?p=12331"},"modified":"2022-05-04T21:37:55","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T21:37:55","slug":"only-a-third-of-businesses-fully-confident-of-retaining-furloughed-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.footballthink.com\/only-a-third-of-businesses-fully-confident-of-retaining-furloughed-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Only a third of businesses fully confident of retaining furloughed staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
James Endersby, CEO at Opinium said<\/strong> \u201cBritain\u2019s businesses are clearly eager to get back to normal trading as soon as possible and most of the business community have responded positively to the government\u2019s initial measures to get the economy moving again. Nevertheless, profits are still stubbornly down, and a sizable minority are still facing a serious threat of insolvency. This has left most business leaders still very much holding their breath, waiting to see if reality meets the hopes that consumers will return to spending in large numbers next month.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Pablo Shah, Senior Economist at Cebr said<\/strong> \u201cEconomic conditions continued to improve in July, as further lifting of lockdown restrictions were met by a brightening of sentiment and reduction in insolvency risks. However, a concerning finding is that profits remained 26% down due to the coronavirus pandemic in early July, which is only a marginal improvement compared to the height of lockdown.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSince March, many businesses have engaged in the fight of their lives to survive the unprecedent deterioration of trading conditions brought about by the coronavirus crisis. For many households however, the true test will come towards the end of the year as government support \u2013 most importantly the furlough scheme \u2013 is gradually withdrawn. While businesses remain broadly supportive of the government\u2019s economic response, only a minority feel the \u00a31,000 job retention bonus is the right path forward.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Business Distress Tracker \u2013 full findings<\/p>\n The gradual re-opening of the economy continued in July, most significantly with the re-opening of the hospitality sector on July 4th<\/sup>. However, the road ahead is littered with obstacles, and more than a third (36%, or 1.9 million) of businesses still feel there is a risk they will enter insolvency as a result of coronavirus-related disruption.[1] This includes more than one in twenty (6%) of firms that say there is a high risk of being forced to close permanently as a result of the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\nBusiness insolvency risks<\/h3>\n