FSB surveyed its members in March in the run-up to the easing of lockdown and saw confidence levels – which had crashed in 2020 – bounce back to their highest levels since 2014.
These regional survey results are part of a national report which showed a large across-the-board UK upswing in optimism among small business owners – but the South West figures were even higher than the national average. In a previous survey when asked how confident they felt businesses regionally recorded a -39 per cent index reading but that has now been transformed into a +40-point figure.