Small businesses plan to freeze or cut pay, says the BCC
A survey has shown that 70% of small businesses in the UK intend to freeze or cut pay in an attempt to survive the recession.
Gathering the thoughts of 400 companies in their Monthly Business Survey, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) found that 58% of respondents will look to freeze wages, while 12% will cut them.
In addition to this, around one in four small businesses said that they would consider making redundancies over the next 6 months, with almost one in ten saying that job cuts were certain.
David Frost, Director General of the BCC, will comment on the findings in a speech at the group’s annual Birmingham convention today. He will use the figures to support his argument that, in spite of the recent Budget submissions, more Government action is required to assist small businesses. Frost said:
"It is the country's private sector that has faced all the pain of this recession. The Government must realise that the private sector cannot bear all of the pain.
"There was some support in the Budget, but more is needed to help Britain's embattled businesses so that they can drive our economy out of recession, creating jobs and wealth in the process".
The BCC had previously called for a freeze in the national minimum wage to support UK businesses, but the 2009 Budget failed to address this proposal.
28/04/2009 11:15:00
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