As businesses wave goodbye to 2021, some fear the worst is yet to come
After another tough year for business, companies fear that the worst is yet to come, new research has found.
More than a quarter of business owner expected the next 12 months to be ‘horrific’, according to a poll by Business Champion Awards.
With more than 80 per cent also saying that 2022 will be worse than 2021.
The pandemic has not only placed a raft of restrictions on certain business, with hospitality and the high street particularly hard struck – but it has also pushed a penny-pinching culture among Brits.
“There’s clearly huge amounts of concern among the business community about how things will fare in the next 12 months,” Business Champion Awards CEO Richard Alvin said.
“These are times like no other, and the pandemic, and Britain’s response from the top down, has resulted in a crisis of confidence.”
Eight in 10 have lost faith in the prime minister to help them navigate the public health crisis, the poll of 2,000 British businesses also revealed, as resilience in the face of the latest wave of Omicron begins to dwindle towards the turn of the year.
While more than 81 per cent of those polled lack faith in minister for small business Paul Scully.
“Businesses across the UK have suffered like everybody else from Covid over the past two years, from lockdowns to pingdemics – but the last few weeks seem to have been a turning point for businesspeople when it comes to Boris Johnson,” Alvin added.
“Tax and fuel price hikes, supply line shortages, the Peppa Pig World speech to the CBI and accusations of sleaze and unlawful lockdown parties have all taken their toll.”
Despite resilience seemingly wearing thin, the pandemic has made many entrepreneurs and business owners more resilient.
Nearly nine out of 10 of those polled said that the last two years have made them stronger – a silver lining for business going into 2022.