UK: £12bn to be wiped out from UK as hundreds of small businesses may shut by year end

London: As expenses continue to rise, a report has found that hundreds of thousands of the UK’s smallest businesses face the possibility of failure this year. 630,000 microbusinesses, or nearly one in eight of all businesses, dread going out of business. A microbusiness is one that employs fewer than ten people. Sky news reporters interviews a woman named Catherine sweet who organises exhibitions and sells artifacts made by her as well as other artists through a website called BobCat. She claims that “a massive decline in consumer spending” along with increasing living expenses is bad news. For businesses like hers, having physical premises would be a game changer, but it’s completely out of our reach. “I know that my business could grow fivefold If I had a physical space, but every negotiation I have entered into with the landlord has come to nothing because I do not have the funds right now,” she said. Reportedly, she is not the only one facing such situation. According to a Venture Forward survey conducted yearly by website builder GoDaddy, only one a fifth of microbusinesses believe that the government is doing enough. The cost of energy was the main concern for more than three quarters of those who said the present economic crisis was the biggest challenge they had ever faced. Microbusinesses make up 96% of all companies in the nation’s private sector, according to Andrew Gradon, CEO of GoDaddy UK. They are the backbone of UK companies, and as such, they are very much experiencing the direct effects of the cost of living crisis, he said. “Roughly 42% said they wanted assistance with tax incentives, but they also looked more broadly at business support, so they looked at technical assistance for company development as well as assistance with digital strategy.” According to the research, the loss of the 12% of threatened microbusinesses would cost the economy £12 billion. The data also demonstrates that microbusinesses run by underrepresented entrepreneurs are being disproportionately affected by the expense of living crisis. In comparison to 75% of white entrepreneurs, 85% of black entrepreneurs said it was the worst time they could recall, as did 84% of Asian entrepreneurs. A government representative told Sky News: “We recognise that businesses are having trouble paying their energy costs, which is why the government is offering billions of pounds in assistance to businesses. “With this support, some people will only have to pay about half of the winter’s anticipated wholesale energy expenses. From April on, we’ve promised to continue our support for electricity. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.