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Kingston upon Thames COVID-19 Business Support Survey
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This survey has closed
THANK YOU
Following the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown, Kingston Council and its partners, Kingston First and Kingston Chamber of Commerce, shared a short business survey to understand the immediate impacts on and needs of its businesses. We received 120 responses, across a broadly representative sample of sectors and business sizes - thank you for taking the time to contribute. The insights gained from this are informing council and partners' responses to the crisis, and planning for next steps.
If you would like us to keep in touch about future surveys, consultations of information regard business in Kingston please fill out this form
If you have any further comments or questions on the survey findings, or need the results in a more accessible format, then please contact the Regeneration and Economy Team by emailing business@kingston.gov.uk
The full report can be found in the documents sections on this page.
HEADLINE RESULTS
40% of respondents indicated a temporary pause in trading
46.7% of respondents are unable to trade online
82% of respondents think their business will survive less than 6 months
Many respondents feel their business is vulnerable after not receiving/ being ineligible for grants
Those who are self-employed and operate from home are most vulnerable
FURTHER FINDINGS...
Of those who responded:
ABILITY TO WORK REMOTELY
51.3% said they and / or their staff are unable to work from home
26% are fully able to work from home
47% are unable to trade online.
43.7% are unable to deliver their products to customers’ homes.
43% indicated a temporary pause in trading
IMPACT ON BUSINESS OPERATIONS
82% think they will survive fewer than 6 months
78% said the biggest impact on their business is reduced footfall / no. customers
55% are having difficulties paying utilities and other costs while 52% are having difficulties paying rent
37.3% have no contingency funding
Less than 2% have business insurers who will support them
16.8% said COVID-19 was having a positive impact on their business
IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES
27% do not think they will need to make redundancies or stop deploying people on zero hour or agency contracts. 22.7% said they would need to
RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Respondents expected to benefit most from the Job Retention Scheme (49%) and Small Business Grant Funding (48%)
12% said they were ineligible for Government support
76% said they had little to no confidence in Government measures
SUPPORT NEEDED
Respondents said they would benefit from Financial advice (42%), Marketing and sales support (29%) and Business planning support (25%)
33% wanted no support _________________________________________________________________________
WHAT WE ARE DOING WITH THESE FINDINGS?
We immediately implemented a new 90-day business support programme, through commissioned partners, engaging 360 businesses through webinars, online training and one to one support. This complemented boosting the profile of government, GLA and other support programmes, to target local businesses.
We tailored our regular communication, via a new database of 3500 businesses, around key information and support opportunities, requested through the survey.
We are considering the benefits of launching a follow-up survey in six months time, in order to assess changes in businesses’ circumstances.
We will continue to analyse and review the survey responses to inform communication needs and the implementation of potential future business support packages; the findings from this will be shared both internally and with our partners to inform our broader work.
THANK YOU
Following the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown, Kingston Council and its partners, Kingston First and Kingston Chamber of Commerce, shared a short business survey to understand the immediate impacts on and needs of its businesses. We received 120 responses, across a broadly representative sample of sectors and business sizes - thank you for taking the time to contribute. The insights gained from this are informing council and partners' responses to the crisis, and planning for next steps.
If you would like us to keep in touch about future surveys, consultations of information regard business in Kingston please fill out this form
If you have any further comments or questions on the survey findings, or need the results in a more accessible format, then please contact the Regeneration and Economy Team by emailing business@kingston.gov.uk
The full report can be found in the documents sections on this page.
HEADLINE RESULTS
40% of respondents indicated a temporary pause in trading
46.7% of respondents are unable to trade online
82% of respondents think their business will survive less than 6 months
Many respondents feel their business is vulnerable after not receiving/ being ineligible for grants
Those who are self-employed and operate from home are most vulnerable
FURTHER FINDINGS...
Of those who responded:
ABILITY TO WORK REMOTELY
51.3% said they and / or their staff are unable to work from home
26% are fully able to work from home
47% are unable to trade online.
43.7% are unable to deliver their products to customers’ homes.
43% indicated a temporary pause in trading
IMPACT ON BUSINESS OPERATIONS
82% think they will survive fewer than 6 months
78% said the biggest impact on their business is reduced footfall / no. customers
55% are having difficulties paying utilities and other costs while 52% are having difficulties paying rent
37.3% have no contingency funding
Less than 2% have business insurers who will support them
16.8% said COVID-19 was having a positive impact on their business
IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES
27% do not think they will need to make redundancies or stop deploying people on zero hour or agency contracts. 22.7% said they would need to
RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Respondents expected to benefit most from the Job Retention Scheme (49%) and Small Business Grant Funding (48%)
12% said they were ineligible for Government support
76% said they had little to no confidence in Government measures
SUPPORT NEEDED
Respondents said they would benefit from Financial advice (42%), Marketing and sales support (29%) and Business planning support (25%)
33% wanted no support _________________________________________________________________________
WHAT WE ARE DOING WITH THESE FINDINGS?
We immediately implemented a new 90-day business support programme, through commissioned partners, engaging 360 businesses through webinars, online training and one to one support. This complemented boosting the profile of government, GLA and other support programmes, to target local businesses.
We tailored our regular communication, via a new database of 3500 businesses, around key information and support opportunities, requested through the survey.
We are considering the benefits of launching a follow-up survey in six months time, in order to assess changes in businesses’ circumstances.
We will continue to analyse and review the survey responses to inform communication needs and the implementation of potential future business support packages; the findings from this will be shared both internally and with our partners to inform our broader work.
The Council and its partners Kingston First and Kingston Chamber of Commerce want to understand how the current crisis is impacting your business so we can consider how best to respond. Please take 5 minutes to respond to this survey to help us to help you through this.
The survey is open to any business in Kingston upon Thames, including small businesses such as sole traders, freelancers, as well as those with employees - up to the largest companies.
Thank you for your time and wishing you, your family and friends well.
This survey has closed
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