More than third of small firms shut down during pandemic may never reopen, survey suggests

More than a third of small firms that have shut their doors during the pandemic fear they may never reopen, a new survey has found.

Figures from the Federation of Small Businesses found four in ten small firms have closed down since the beginning of the outbreak, and 35 per cent of those companies are unsure whether they will be able to reopen.

More than seven in ten small firms have used the government’s furlough scheme to pay their workers, the survey found, while more than a third (37 per cent) said they had made redundancies or would consider doing so.