Further support needed urgently to prevent an additional 378,418 unemployed in the Yorkshire & Humber Region

Kevin Hopper Managing Partner at Forrester Boyd says we need to Stay Focused, Protect the Economy, and Save Jobs

NEW research that we have conducted during April shows that 378,418 people in the Yorkshire and Humber region are potentially at risk of unemployment. This is a stark and worrying number, but this is the reality of what the UK could be facing.

31% of the 1,793 SME businesses who participated in our research believe they could close permanently if the lockdown continues beyond June. Given there are 16.7 million people employed by SMEs according to the government’s own statistics released in 2019, this could result in over 378,418 in Yorkshire and Humber region being made unemployed and 5 million in total across the UK.

This news comes through at the same time to Government announces a ray of hope in terms of the bounce back loan for small business which could just be the lifeline needed.

Commenting on these figures, Kevin Hopper, managing partner at Forrester Boyd said; “It is good news that the Government has listened to some of the concerns from the business community however, there are still some major gaps in the support that need to be addressed. Clearly one of the most important issues that the government needs to focus on is to rebuild the economy. SMEs, who account for a significant proportion of the UK’s economy and workforce, need to be a priority. Whilst the bounce back loan scheme will be a major relief for many of these businesses, for some it may be too little too late.”

Together with the other member partners of the UK200Group, Forrester Boyd has written to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak highlighting the 3 key areas of concern for SMEs that the research has identified:

1. Access to bank funding to preserve their business;
2. Help rebuilding their business once the pandemic eases; and
3. More support for the self-employed to tide them over.

In our letter, we have called on the government to prioritise support for SMEs and in particular, we have highlighted the following measures that will help address SMEs current challenges:

1. Removing some of the administrative hurdles of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
2. Continued support for furloughed employees, rather than a hard end to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
3. Refining the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to ensure it is well targeted.

Concluding, Kevin Hopper from Forrester Boyd said; “In these unusual times we need to Stay Focused; Protect the Economy and Save Jobs. We are committed to doing our bit to support our clients by raising issues with the government on SMEs behalf and by collaborating with the government and others to achieve these goals.