Great Big Business Survey: What you told us about impact of Covid-19 on business
Firms' views on government support, furlough, pay cuts, the recovery and more
Annie Gouk
Survey asked businesses how they've fared while much of Scotland has been in lockdown
Nearly half of businesses in Scotland who responded to our Great Big Business Survey say coronavirus has had a 'catastrophic' impact on them.
Only one in five said they will definitely bring furloughed employees back once the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has ended.
And 45% believe the UK Government has not done enough to support companies through the lockdown.
More than half say it will take them more than a year to return to their pre-coronavirus level of turnover.
UK-wide, 2,738 businesses took part in the survey, carried out by our sister website for England and Wales, Business Live.
In Scotland, the largest share, 15.4% of respondents were in retail or wholesale and 13.5% were in accommodation and food service activities. Just over 62% which responded had been operating for more than 10 years. 19.4% had been for 3-10 years, 13.1% for 1-3 years and 5.3% for less than one year.
56% of businesses had fewer than 10 employees. 20.3% had 10-50, 16.9% had more than 250, and 6.8% had 51-250.
64.1% of businesses had an annual turnover of less than £1 million. 13.1% above £50 million, 10.7% of £1-5 million, 8.3% of £10-50 million, and 3.9% of £5-10 million.
46.9% of businesses were currently closed. 32% trading at substantially lower levels than normal, 12.2% trading slightly below normal levels, 4.8% at improved levels, and 4.1% trading as normal.
38.4% of businesses have furloughed above 75% of their workforce
34.9% have furloughed none of their staff
7.5% have furloughed 51-75%
When asked if they will be bringing furloughed people back into their business before the scheme ends in October:
41% responded they don't know
21.6% said yes, all of them
17.3% said no, it won't be possible
17.3% said yes, some of them
2.9% said they will rotate furloughed staff.
Asked if they will be taking advantage of the part-time furlough scheme
37.9% said don't know
36.6% said they won't be
25.5% said they will be.
Asked if they thought October was the right time for the furlough scheme being due to end:
29 said it was about right
27.6% said they don't know
27.6% said it was too early
15.9% said it was too late
Pay cuts
64.1% of businesses haven't introduced a temporary pay cut. 4.8% had imposed cuts of 10% or less, 11.7% of 10-20%, 12.4% of 20-50%, and 6.9% of more than 50%.
52.1% said they haven't introduced a temporary pay cut for senior executives/directors. 2.1% of businesses said they had introduced cuts of 10% or less, 10.4% of 10-20%, 13.2% of 20-50%, and 22.2% of more than 50%.
40.1% have cancelled or cut dividends and bonuses since the lockdown. 12.9% said they have not, while 46.9% said the question did not apply to their business.
79.3% of businesses haven't had job losses for senior executives/directors
8.3% cut 10% or less of the workforce; 3.4% cut 10-25%; 2.1% of 25-50% of our workforce; and 6.9% had cut more than 50%.
9.7% of businesses said their turnover hasn't declined since the lockdown.
10.3% said it had fallen by 90-99%
35.9% said it had fallen by 100%.
Rent holidays
13% of businesses said they have asked their landlord for a rent holiday or similar, but were turned down.
17.1% have asked and their landlord agreed
33.6% said they haven't asked
36.3% said they do not rent.
21.9% of businesses owners said lockdown has had a major negative impact on their mental health
50.7% said it has had some negative impact
27.4% reported no change.
Working from home and social distancing:
49.7% of businesses said their business can't operate from home
20% said the business had adapted to operating from home extremely well
10.3% said very well, 11.7% said OK, 3.4% said not very well, and 4.8% said not at all well.
When asked how staff had adapted to working from home:
51.4% said they can't work from home.
13.9% said they had adapted extremely well, 15.3% said very well, 12.5% said OK
2.8% said not very well, and 4.2% said not at all well.
Asked how well they could adapt to social distancing:
26.7% said it would be extremely difficult for their business to implement social distancing measures over the medium or long-term.
39% said it would be somewhat difficult
19.2% said somewhat easy, and 15.1% said very easy.
Overall impact of coronavirus
49% of respondents said the lockdown has had a catastrophic impact on their business.
37.2% said it has had a negative impact.
6.9% said it has made little difference
4.8% said it has created some opportunities for their business.
2.1% said they can see positive opportunities.
Asked about support measures introduced by the UK Government:
34.9% of businesses think they have been right.
45.2% thought they were too little
19.9% didn't know.
Asked if the advice about closing or staying open has been clear:
24.7% of businesses said it has been fully clear and easy to understand.
36.3% said it has been somewhat clear and easy to understand.
26.7% said not really.
12.3% said not at all.
Asked if they felt confident about surviving the pandemic:
22.6% of businesses said they feel very confident.
39.7% said they were somewhat confident.
16.4% said not very confident.
17.8% said not confident.
3.4% said they are already closing down.
Asked how their business will look after the pandemic is over:
17.8% said they would consider pay cuts for staff.
11.5% said they would consider reducing bonus payments.
13.5% would consider removing bonus payments,
26.9% would consider reducing staff hours.
8.7% could reduce overtime.
19.2% could freezing annual pay increases.
9.6% may use more zero hours contracts
26.9% would consider redundancies.
16.3% said they would consider other measures.
Asked whether they are more likely to close high street premises and focus on online sales and services:
6.3% said yes.
2.8% said it has not made it more likely.
2.8% said they don't know.
88.2% said they do not run a high street retail business.
Asked if they would need more space over the next five years
10.3% said they will need more space.
6.9% of businesses said much more.
52.4% said the same amount of space.
11.7% said a little less space.
18.6% considerably less space.
Asked if they would consider encouraging staff to continue working from home:
42.6% said they will not consider encouraging their staff to continue working from home once the pandemic is over.
34.7% said they will consider it.
22.8% said they don't know.
How long will it take your business to return to 100% of pre Covid-19 turnover?
56.4% said they think it will take their business more than a year.
12.9% said they think it will never get back to that level.
18.8% said they think it will take six months to a year.
6.9% said one to six months.
5% said they had experienced no negative impact.
Respondents' comments gave an insight into how they had been impacted. Here are a just a few:
"I think the hardest thing to conquer is the fear people have of each other and the fear of catching Covid which won't be alleviated until a vaccine is found."
"People do not realise the full effects on the economy yet. Demand will be way down as unemployment will be way up, house prices will crash due to no one fueling the market at the bottom and pay cuts etc, rents will fall putting pressure on the small rental people."
One said that in for childcare businesses there had been "no sector specific financial support at all… hairdressers got more than twice the financial support childcare teceived".
"As a removal company we do not qualify for any of the available grants. Our business is not going to bounce back when the easing is lifted as people are anxious about letting potential buyers into view so we are going to have to wait months before we can get back to any working capacity.
"I have zero income at the moment and £19.53 left in my account. I can earn money once I'm allowed to start entering peoples house again but most of my clients are older or in the shielding category so it may be a very long time before I am able to start paying bills again."
"Small Bed and Breakfast establishments have fallen through the cracks, not eligible for support except for SBBG, BBL not reaching us."