And while the Government has been forced to acknowledge that Britain is still in a recession that is likely to be longer and deeper than originally feared, the findings reveal a small increase in the number of small businesses confident that they will survive. 81% now think that they will get through the downturn, compared with 76% in the first quarter of this year.
However, small business owners expect the recession to have a long lasting impact. Over a quarter (27%) say that it will take their business between six months and a year to get back to normal again, while 26% say that it will take them more than a year. Incredibly though, 32% say it will only take up to six months to recover with 14% of these saying it will take them no time at all to get back on their feet.
The findings come from the latest uSwitchforBusiness.com SME Confidence Survey, which tracks small business confidence over time and highlights current issues and concerns facing Britain's small traders. It shows that, despite increased optimism, 58% of small companies are finding trading conditions difficult (59% in Q1). However, there has been a small increase in those saying that current trading conditions are OK (40% compared with 38% in Q1).
