UK small businesses scrap hiring plans in face of mounting economic uncertainty
The proportion of UK small businesses seeking to expand their headcounts has plummeted over the previous quarter, according to new figures from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Just 12 per cent of UK small and medium enterprises (SME’s) are currently looking recruit new staff, compared to 37 per cent in March, figures from ACCA’s monthly SME tracker survey show.
The drop come as just three quarters (75 per cent) of UK SMEs are currently seeking to grow their businesses, compared to 94 per cent in April, in the face of mounting concerns about the state of the UK economy.
The figures come as a fifth (20 per cent) of those surveyed said their growth had slowed over the past two months.
Meanwhile, seven per cent of UK SMEs predict they will run out of cash completely over the next 12 months, ACCA’s figures show.
Glenn Collins, Head of ACCA said: “The decline in SME optimism has clearly had an impact on business investment.”
“The stark recruitment figures demonstrate the stalling of investment in other lines of business and this is also filtering down to its people in terms of recruitment and development programmes.”
“Businesses are having to deal with soaring costs as well as supply chain bottlenecks which are having a huge impact on how they conduct business in a timely manner – as well as their ability to make capital investments. Our businesses need some certainty in these uncertain times.”