Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Social distancing rules are stopping a huge proportion of small businesses from reopening post lockdown.
A substantial 5.7m businesses closed at the height of the pandemic and a third are still shut. From those, one in five can’t reopen with the existing two-metre rule in place and those that can will be facing significant bills, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). A quarter expect to be forking out over £1,000 to meet the social distancing guidelines.
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The FSB is calling on the chancellor to make some changes to help these small businesses, to boost the economy and to save jobs. One such measure is vouchers that will cover the cost of making workplaces safe. Others include tax cuts, better infrastructure and flexible repayments for businesses that incurred debt during lockdown. It’s being suggested that debt should be repaid in a student loan-style scheme.
On top of that, moves like cutting National Insurance would help employers bring staff back after furlough and contributing towards apprenticeship and training costs would encourage new hires.
FSB chairman, Mike Cherry, said: “Millions of small firms and sole