Covid 19 - Current landscape release 21

The second stage of the England roadmap to returning from lockdown 3.0, which saw the reopening on non-essential retail can now be seen in the data. The third stage (17^th May) did not come into effect until the end of this wave’s reporting period, however it is unlikely to significantly affect current business operations.

• The proportion of businesses open and trading has increased from 77% to 94%.
• There has been a reduction in the proportion of automotive businesses trading who are reporting a decrease in turnover from 37% to 31%. Also, the proportion that reported their turnover had decreased by more than 50%, has also fallen from 8% to 5%.
• The proportion of those who said that their cash reserves would last more than 6 months has increased from 42% to 45%.
• 6% stated that they had low or no confidence that their business will survive the next 3 months; this is a decrease of 5% since last reporting, indicating more confidence in a bounce back. However, 2% of automotive businesses stated that they are at severe risk of insolvency; this has increased by 1% since last reporting.
• The proportion of those on furlough has significantly fallen from 20% to 7%. Currently 63% of the sectors work force is back in their usual place of work.
• There has been an 11% increase in demand for digital skills and soft skills.