Skip to main content
Helping your business to Start, Grow and Develop.

Search

For a successful business, you need a viable business idea, the skills to make it work and the funding. Discover whether your idea has what it takes.

Forming your business correctly is essential to ensure you are protected and you comply with the rules. Learn how to set up your business.

Advice on protecting your wellbeing, self-confidence and mental health from the pressures of starting and running a business.

Learn why business planning is an essential exercise if your business is to start and grow successfully, attract funding or target new markets.

It is likely you will need funding to start your business unless you have your own money. Discover some of the main sources of start up funding.

Businesses and individuals must account for and pay various taxes. Understand your tax obligations and how to file, account and pay any taxes you owe.

Businesses are required to comply with a wide range of business laws. We introduce the main rules and regulations you must comply with.

Marketing matters. It drives sales and helps promote your brand and products. Discover how to market your business and reach your target customers.

Some businesses need a high street location whilst others can be run from home. Understand the key factors from cost to location, size to security.

Your employees can your biggest asset. They can also be your biggest challenge. We explain how to recruitment and manage staff successfully.

It is likely your business could not function without some form of IT. Learn how to specify, buy, maintain and secure your business IT.

Few businesses manage the leap from start up to high-growth business. Learn what it takes to scale up and take your business to the next level.

Brexit worries give way to COVID-19 gloom

14 July 2020

Growth prospects for small firms in the UK are looking bleak as business owners say cash flow problems, red tape and lack of funding are holding them back.

A new poll has found that the proportion of UK small business leaders that say they are facing significant barriers to growth has jumped from 75% to 91% in the past six months.

Hitachi Capital Business Finance has been tracking small business opinion on growth for five years. During 2019, with concerns over Brexit, the net percentage of small businesses that worried about barriers holding them back was regarded to be high. Six months on, the advent of COVID-19 has taken fears to a new level.

The latest YouGov survey of 1,268 small business leaders has found that the percentage of small businesses that predict growth has fallen from 39% to just 14% in the past three months. Across all key industry sectors, there has been a rise in the number of businesses that are now more concerned about the future of their business (up from 27% to 32%).

However, since the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been a fall in the percentage of small firms worrying about economic uncertainty specifically linked to Brexit (down from 53% to 49%).

As some business sectors prepare to come out of lockdown, around half of those polled cited specific challenges that they regard as barriers to getting their business back on track in the post-lockdown era. The biggest barriers are:

  • Volatile cash flow (cited by 24%);
  • Red tape (11%);
  • Banks being restrictive on lending money (10%);
  • Lack of understanding from lenders (7%);
  • High bank fees and charges (6%);
  • The cost of skilled labour (5%);
  • The value of sterling/exchange rates (5%).

The sectors most worried about barriers to growth in 2020 are: hospitality and leisure (96%), medical and health (95%), manufacturing (94%), legal (94%), construction (93%), media and marketing (93%), transport and distribution (92%), retail (91%), education (91%) and finance and accounting (90%).

Gavin Wraith-Carter, managing director at Hitachi Capital Business Finance, said: "Our latest findings make clear the scale of the challenge with nine in ten business owners feeling there are things holding them back. Market-related factors from Brexit and COVID-19 are hard to deal with, but there are also specific issues relating to red tape, cashflow and finance that can be tackled."

Written by Rachel Miller.

Stay up-to-date with business advice and news

Sign up to this lively and colourful newsletter for new and more established small businesses.