How Has Brexit Impacted Business Developers?

In the years since the Brexit vote, businesses were concerned with what this will actually look like once the UK leaves. Depending on the way you voted, it either left businesses optimistic about the future or worried. Since leaving at the end of January 2020, the reality has been confusing for many as well as complicated by the advent of COVID-19 only a few months later. So, what has been the impact so far for businesses? Here we take a look.

Funding Difficulties

With uncertainty, many business developers have had to assess where funding can come from and how trade deals with the EU will affect business performance. For those self-employed, the issue of funding became more difficult due to lenders withholding lending activity during the first few months of lockdown in 2020.

This double effect of both Brexit and COVID-19 uncertainty meant many peoples finances struggled. Many turned to bad credit loans to help their situation, especially when emergency expenses cropped up. However, this was only for personal and not business expenses. Funding for new startups has been tough, so the hope moving forward is that the UK can recover from the worst recession in many years to help small businesses thrive.

Additional Fees & Delays

For businesses that predominantly sell products, there has been a supply chain impact since Brexit, where tariffs have to be considered. For those that have customers in the EU or buy stock from the EU to sell in the UK, tariffs on goods have to be incorporated into expenditure. This means either raising prices to meet rising costs, or to continue charging the same to customers but losing out on profits.

As well as tariffs and VAT payments on imports from the EU, there’s also been increased paperwork and custom checks to navigate. This has seen delays at UK ports and much more difficulty transporting goods. This has an impact on warehousing and storage facilities that have seen a higher demand due to businesses holding onto stock for longer periods. Developing a business model that aims to minimise the time between a customer order and delivery has been tough with uncertain delays that have led to customer dissatisfaction.

Staffing Shortages & Less Investment

Whilst the impact of COVID-19 has also played its part, staffing shortages cause huge disruption for business developers. Changes to free movement between UK and EU nationals has meant that bringing in short term labour if a business previously relied on this has become very difficult.

Businesses have had to adjust and focus on their UK workforce. Some businesses have had to relocate operations or staff due to shortages too. With a lack of employees to help their business run efficiently, many have held back on further investment and adjusted their spending. The lack of investment then has a knock-on effect on future plans, something business developers need to have a clear direction for.

Brexit has had a huge impact as a whole for small businesses to large corporations, and there is still much uncertainty in the years to come. For business developers, the hope is most issues that have arisen can subside and lead to a more stable trading future.

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