A reduction in anticipated earnings is the last thing anyone wants to experience at Christmas

Business Comment by David Richardson, Highlands and Islands development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses

Caithness and Sutherland may be very diverse economically, but wherever one lives, the run-up to Christmas is traditionally a highlight of many businesses’ calendars, and especially those that help make living in local communities a pleasure such as shops, restaurants and bars. For Christmas is the time they make the money needed to tide them over the fallow winter months before the economy reawakens in the spring.

Of course, recent Covid lockdowns have reduced all-important summer seasons and condensed trading for worried business owners who have had a lot of catching up to do. Thankfully, however, our most recent FSB survey, which closed earlier this week, reveals that Highland businesses have recovered a lot of lost ground since unlocking in April, and the future really should have been much brighter. But now we have the Omicron variant, and it’s no surprise that confidence among these retail and hospitality businesses has plummeted.

Following Tuesday’s announcement from the First Minister, numerous customer-facing businesses are now looking at having to reintroduce Covid measures – measures that they had hoped to have seen the back of for good, such as physical distancing and screens in retail and hospitality. Not only that, there is a very real danger that the call to minimise social contact before and after Christmas will act like a bucket of iced water on those planning to go out and spend in our high streets or take short breaks away from home.

But it doesn’t end there, for what about the many producers and distribution firms that supply these frontline businesses? Drops in demand hit them hard too and, if fewer people visit cafés and restaurants, these businesses will need fewer staff. A reduction in anticipated earnings is the very last thing that anyone wants to experience at Christmas.

We all hope that the current Covid upsurge will be short-lived and that 2022 will indeed be very good for our local independent businesses. However, if they are to survive to thrive, those in dire need must be supported now, and it is essential that the grant support announced by the First Minister reaches firms soon.

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