Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The latest research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) shows that 23 per cent of firms had already cut jobs in the last quarter, which is an all-time record for the survey.
This is predicted to become even more of an issue as the furlough scheme starts to taper off next month. The scheme has covered the wages of over 9m workers since it was introduced in April. But starting August 1st employers will need to start paying national insurance and pension contributions for furloughed staff, putting a further financial strain on bosses.
Begbies Traynor have carried out research of their own showing that an increasing number of small businesses are in distress. In fact, the number has risen by 16,000 since the end of March this year, now totalling 52,000 businesses. By ‘in distress’, Red Flag means that a businesses has had a minor County Court Judgement (of less than £5k) filed against them or that they’ve been identified in Red Flag’s credit scoring system as having a key or marked deterioration in key financial indicators.
The firm’s latest Red Flag report shows that this Q2 was the seventh consecutive quarter showing an increase