Roughly half of South Yorkshire businesses have experienced some form of disruption over the last five years as a result of not being able to access the financial support they need, according to the findings of a poll on the subject by the regions three regional chambers of commerce.
The Access to Finance Survey was open from mid-August to mid-September and canvassed the views of organisations from across Doncaster, Sheffield, and also Barnsley & Rotherham. Among other things, respondents were asked if they feel confident that they know where they can turn to for business finance, which forms of relevant support are on their radar, and what their top considerations would be when it comes to making a decision here.
One headline finding is that, while four in ten South Yorkshire firms have in fact sought business finance in the past five years, only around half are actually confident that they would know where to turn in this situation.
As the questionnaire results then go on to explain, the vast majority of firms in our region are unaware of the full suite of options available to them here. Indeed, although banks might be recognised as an obvious route to take (as identified by 83% of respondents), awareness of all other forms of support and lenders was well below 50%, and some beneath 10%.
The Chief Execs of all three South Yorkshire Chambers issued the following joint statement “These findings are eye-opening and worth paying attention to, especially once we take into account the very tangible impact that it can have for a business when they cannot find the financial support they need. Concerningly, 44% of our respondents told us that a lack of said access has indeed caused disruption for them, or otherwise forced them to scale back their ambitions, in the last half-decade alone.
“It is therefore important that we, as a region, heed what the private sector is telling us and respond to these challenges. While we certainly have a good number of high-quality, trustworthy lenders & financial organisations on our doorstep in South Yorkshire, there is clearly a visibility issue; with so few firms being cognisant of all their options.
“In terms of what businesses are looking for, a convenient application process and the ability to talk to somebody were regularly cited as top considerations. In fact, both of these ranked above the competitiveness of the offer in question, or even the reputability of the brand they were speaking to.
“Elsewhere, almost half of respondents indicated that they would be interested in accessing a programme designed to connect them up with new investment opportunities, while there was also a similar appetite for a low percent government loan targeted at supporting investment in decarbonisation.
“With the business community having articulated its needs, it is now incumbent upon the region to ensure that they are being met; the Chambers can provide a conduit to local businesses but it is incumbent on the providers of alternative finance to work with us and to extend their marketing and business engagement efforts to ensure that finance is getting to the parts of the economy that need it.”
