Almost a third of smaller businesses will be forced to close by the end of the year if the national lockdown is extended, according to a new report.
A survey of more than 750 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) found that 30% said they will close for good if the lockdown continues until the end of March, and a further one in four believed they will continue to operate but make no profit.
Nucleus Commercial Finance said its study showed that the longer the lockdown lasts, the more businesses will have to shut.
Around one in 12 respondents said they would have to make redundancies if the lockdown continued, while a similar number warned they would be forced to close sites.
Nucleus Commercial Finance chief executive Chirag Shah said: "With a third national lockdown underway, many SMEs have limited time they can survive without delivering more income.
"Despite the government support measures in place, businesses can't continue operating under such uncertainty and with limited notice about changes to restrictions.
"Businesses need a clear road map out of the pandemic, so owners can plan and have clear visibility of the support available to them."
