One in five are looking at alternative sources of finance and of these, one-third are being forced to dip into their personal savings.
The survey, aimed to provide a snapshot of the health of smaller firms in and around the capital, shows a dramatic fall in the number of London small businesses who think it is easier to obtain credit now compared to a year ago. Just 8% now find it easy to access loans, compared to 17% between April and June.
WUBS finance director Gareth Heald said: “The continued lack of credit available to small businesses is an on-going, legitimate challenge to the point that we are now seeing more SMEs turning to their own private savings just to try and keep liquidity moving in the face of increasing late payments and slowing supply chains. This makes the need for increasing cashflow all the more imperative.
“Government efforts have as yet seem to have yielded little results, with SMEs who think credit is easier to obtain now versus a year ago hitting a new low for the second quarter running.”
