Social distancing clarity needed to help Glasgow firms

● Survey also finds such businesses need longer-term support to avoid job losses

clarity on how to operate with social distancing, while longer-term support is required to avoid redundancies, according to a new survey.

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has reported the results of what it says is the largest survey of businesses in the city since the Covid-19 lockdown began, and found that almost half of the 200 firms that responded are not confident that they could return to work under current social distancing rules.

The study also found that about a fifth said they could not operate under the rule that says people must stay two metres apart to avoid passing on the virus. Additionally, 24 per cent said they didn’t know if they could due to staff having to work closely together or trading space being too tight.

Glasgow Chamber chief executive Stuart Patrick said: “The views of our members show there is a need for greater government policy guidance on how to operate with social distancing. Largely this is about what is going to be needed for businesses to start reopening in a safe way under social distancing rules.

“The results of this survey show there is not going to be a swift return to normal working for many Glasgow businesses. This implies there must be longer-term support for them, which supports the view that tapering of the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) is important.

“This support is needed, or people will be made redundant. There must be no cliffedge on JRS, as the Chancellor has said. But it must not be switched off in July, rather we could be talking about well into the summer in Glasgow and [elsewhere] in Scotland.”

Of the survey’s respondents, three quarters were small and medium-sized enterprises. The sectoral breakdown was broadly representative of the sectors in the city’s economy – with 26 per cent in businessto-consumer sectors like tourglaswegianfirmsneedgreater ism, retail and leisure, 19 per cent in financial and professional services, 15 per cent in constructionandmanufacturing, 8 per cent education and health, 8 per cent creative and media and 4 per cent in transport.

Patrick also said: “Let’s make this survey the basis of what we must do in the next three weeks until the next lockdown decision at the end of the month to prepare for businesses to re-open.

“We need decisions on the retention of the JRS, with 57 per cent of companies asking for that, and an understanding of how that is going to play out beyond the end of June, with 63percentofglasgowcompanies currently using it – a third of whom are currently closed.

“A longer lockdown needs more support and the support needs to shift to from simply keeping businesses alive and keeping their staff to helping them understand what social distancing is going to look like and helping them to reopen.

“Businesses are part of the solution to the effects of the pandemicontheeconomy,not part of the problem, and their concerns must be addressed.”