Commenting on the latest Covid-19 review announcement from the First Minister, Ben Francis, FSB Wales Policy Chair, said:
“Today has seen a wide series of announcements for businesses, many of which will be welcomed and afford an element of certainty in some sectors. The many businesses in hair, beauty and close contact services now have a better idea as to when they’ll be open which will give hope to many business owners and their staff. We welcome the fact that the First Minister has acknowledged too that the 2 metre social distancing law is problematic for some of these businesses. However, there will need to be clarity of what mitigating measures will be expected where 2 metres cannot be maintained.
We welcome too the confirmation that indoor tourism businesses will be able to open from Monday which along with the opening of self-contained accommodation signals the gradual re-starting of our hugely important tourism sector.
“After several weeks of lobbying from FSB for a proper timeline for reopening all tourism and hospitality businesses, the First Minister seems to now be moving in this direction, although several concerns remain.
“Firstly, we cannot get around the fact that for indoor hospitality, the 3rd August is still a very long time away at a crucial time of year. It is self-evident that businesses are going to miss out on the first three weeks of the VAT cut announced by the Chancellor at a very important time in their trading calendar. It is worth noting that indoor hospitality in Scotland is reopening on the 15th July – a full 2 and a half weeks before Wales. There will be significant disappointment and concern from the hospitality community on this. We will be closely monitoring the effect of this on Welsh businesses and our economy and it may well be that this delay will necessitate a call for further financial support from government for Welsh hospitality businesses.
“Secondly, many firms who have furloughed staff in this sector will not be given the lead-in time to be open and earning before being expected to contribute to the furlough scheme in August, which is something that FSB warned against for some time. This places another financial burden on firms that are already facing several hurdles to reopen successfully.
“Thirdly, the issue of timeliness of guidance that is available for businesses must be remedied as a matter of priority. If Welsh Government makes clear that the situation as regards the pandemic is different in Wales than in the rest of the UK, business owners will rightly expect Welsh Government to provide their own guidance to assist them to reopen safely in a timely way. We know that firms have been preparing to reopen for some time, but how can firms have the confidence that they are compliant with Welsh Government rules if Welsh Government does not provide them with the guidance that they need?
“There is much to welcome in today’s statement but the headlines about company closures and job losses among some of Wales’ larger companies as well as the hundreds more which we know are being lost among smaller businesses remind us that while this is a public health crisis, it is also an economic crisis. The need to protect, promote and give certainty to Welsh SMEs as we go forward has never been so important to mitigate the effects of that economic crisis on our communities.”