Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Kent economy on a knife-edge as lockdown hits
The scale of the crisis gripping the country was vividly underlined by the government announcing a staggering £330bn fund to help businesses get through an increasingly bleak outlook for the economy. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said that if that was not enough, there would be more to come. On top of a raft of emergency measures announced in the budget, it would seem that struggling businesses are being offered a large financial cushion. Commitments to scrap business rates altogether for the rest of the year for those with a rateable value of £51,000 or less, along with cash grants of £3,000 for those that are already exempt, have gone down well. But with the growing expectation of a prolonged crisis, will the measures be enough? Speaking before the new steps were unveiled, Jo James, chairman of the Kent Federation of Small Businesses is more optimistic than might be expected. She says that many have been quick to react.
“With Brexit, we were continually trying to get businesses to do contingency plans and nobody was doing anything but the one thing with the coronavirus crisis is that everybody has responded immediately. “Many firms are working with 50% of the workforce in the office and 50% in the home. Businesses are looking at how they can protect themselves as much as they possibly can.” But she is circumspect about whether the government has gone far enough in its package of measures.
“I think the government’s saying the right words but what they haven’t done is put in all the detail,” she said.
A survey by the Institute of Directors has underlined the concerns small businesses have, with one in five firms rating the threat to their organisation from the coronavirus as high or severe.
She says the government needed to set out how businesses could access some of the schemes sooner rather than later.
“There’s no point talking about putting something in place when the impact of the coronavirus is going to be quite immediate. And if you take, you know, 90% of our businesses or small businesses, they’re not going to be able to sustain this for too long.” Nevertheless, she is is more buoyant about the resilience of businesses to withstand the crisis, provided the government comes good with its promises. “They need to ensure that everything they’re setting up is clearly understood, easily accessible, and they don’t have to wait too long for it,” she said. “Time and time again, we have shown our resilience and we’re going to have to prove that resilience yet again, and be very agile and able to change as things move forward.” Tourism chiefs are also remaining optimistic, saying the sector can draw on its experience of other challenges. After a bruising year in which the sector was buffeted by Brexit, another crisis is hardly what businesses need. Deirdre Wells, chairman of Visit Kent, said: “We’ve sort of been here before - we’ve had foot and mouth and SARS; this is not unprecedented. The industry is pretty resilient and tends to be able to bounce back once these things die down. “What’s difficult is everyone was really hoping this was going to be the year we could really bounce back after the uncertainty of last year. So there’s no doubt it’s challenging for businesses.”
The Kent Big Weekend in April - seen as the curtain-raiser to the season - is still going ahead. Assuming it does, the annual
‘We’ve sort of been here before - we’ve had foot and mouth and SARS; this is not unprecedented’