Accordingly to the quarterly yardstick of freelancer, contractor and small business confidence, the Federation of Small Business’ ‘Voice of Small Business’ index, the mood of the UK’s small firms crashed in the latter part of 2011 due to a combination of high inflation, rising utilities bills and reduced consumer spending power.
The FSB stuck their metaphorical thermometer up the rear-ends of 1,600 small businesses and recorded a record drop in confidence of -24.5, down a whopping 15.2 points on the previous quarter, with 12.6% of those surveyed expecting the economic situation to worsen over the next twelve months.
The FSB praise the Government’s schemes to reinvigorate the UK business market, but point fingers at the fact that some haven’t worked (most notably the failed National Insurance Holidays), and notes that the Government would do well to actually get the ball rolling on several of its schemes:
“The key now for all levels of government is to focus on implementation: small firms need to see action to match the rhetoric and to see tangible actions that will benefit their businesses and permanently change the business environment for the better.”
The FSB’s National Chairman John Walker said:
“The message is clear – things are going to get worse before they get better. But, we are hopeful that as the inflationary pressures lessen in 2012, that businesses will become more confident. There are some good policy proposals in the pipeline too. However, the Government needs to quickly put in place the actions that it has promised.”
The FSB believes that falling inflation and utility prices will improve the situation somewhat for businesses the short-term, but the outlook is still rather bleak.
Photo by William Warby – CC
