Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Two in five small businesses face temporary closure because of coronavirus, according to productivity organisation Be the Business.
Thirty-nine per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have already closed temporarily or plan to do so within the next month.
The research, conducted by Opinium, also found that 7 per cent of firms have already shut permanently, and a further 12 per cent think they are likely to do this within the next month.
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And 23 per cent have made or are planning to make redundancies.
Responding to the coronavirus threat, SMEs say they are equally focused on managing cash flow (31 per cent) and accessing grants and government loans (31 per cent). However, the longer-term issue of supporting their staff was highlighted by a quarter (24 per cent) of firms.
As for the types of support and advice SMEs are looking for, this varies according to size.
For micro-businesses (those with fewer than 10 employees), cashflow is crucial, with 40 per cent stating they need advice on this
Small businesses (10-49 employees) are looking for support to access grants and government loans (31 per cent)
Medium-sized firms (50-249 employees) want