Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 16 June 2022

• Input price inflation was the main concern reported by businesses when looking ahead to July 2022 at 26%, which is broadly stable with the figure reported for May 2022; the proportion of businesses looking ahead with no concerns for July 2022 increased to 24% from the 21% reported for May 2022.

• In May 2022, 19% of businesses currently trading reported that they were either unable to get the materials, goods or services they needed from within the UK, or had to change suppliers or find alternative solutions to do so; the construction industry reported the largest proportion, at 33%.

• In May 2022, 21% of businesses not permanently stopped trading with 10 or more employees experienced global supply chain disruption; broadly stable with April 2022.

• Of businesses not permanently stopped trading, 15% reported that they were experiencing a shortage of workers in early June 2022, up from 13% reported in early May 2022, with 46% of businesses reporting their employees were working increased hours because of these shortages, this percentage was 62% for businesses with 10 or more employees.

• In early June 2022, 23% of not permanently stopped trading businesses reported that they were using, or intending to use, increased homeworking as a permanent business model; reduced overheads was reported as the main reason for doing so, at 49%.

The data presented in this bulletin are the final results from Wave 58 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS), which was live from 30 May to 12 June 2022.

Experimental single-site weighted regional estimates up to Wave 49 (24 January to 6 February 2022), are available in our Understanding the business impacts of local and national restrictions, UK: February 2022 article.

Please note that businesses were asked to exclude seasonal changes when answering questions contained within BICS.

Figure 1: Headline figures from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey

Notes:

1. Trading status, intra UK procurement: for presentational purposes, response options have been combined and/or removed.
2. Intra UK procurement: the data for the equivalent period last year are not available as the question was not asked for this time period.
3. Data are plotted in the middle of each wave.

Download the data

.xlsx

In early June 2022, 94% of businesses reported they were trading, with 87% fully trading and 7% partially trading (for example, trading with reduced hours or staff numbers). Meanwhile, 4% of businesses reported “temporarily paused trading” and 3% reported “permanently ceased trading”, as their business’s trading status.

Businesses not permanently stopped trading were asked what main concern they had for their business for July 2022.

More than three-quarters (76%) of businesses reported they have some form of concern for their business for July 2022. Input price inflation (inflation of goods and services prices) continued to be reported as businesses’ main concern for July 2022, at 26%, broadly stable with May 2022. Overall, the percentage for this concern continues to show a steady increase, up from 21% for late February 2022.

Businesses reporting no concerns also increased from 21% for May 2022, to 24% for July 2022; this is the highest percentage reported since late February 2022 (28%). At 47%, the human health and social work activities industry reported the largest proportion of businesses with no concerns for their business in July 2022.

The industries reporting the highest percentages for the top three main concerns were:

• the construction industry, who reported the largest percentage for input price inflation, at 48%; this was up from the 38% reported for May 2022
• the accommodation and food service activities industry, who reported the largest percentage for energy prices, at 47%; this was up from the 29% reported for May 2022
• the real estate industry, which reported the largest percentage for competition, at 18%; this was up from the 13% reported for May 2022

Table 1 suggests smaller businesses have fewer concerns for their business for July 2022 than larger businesses, with approximately one in four businesses with 0 to 9 employees reporting no concerns for their business, at 25%, compared with 1 in 10 businesses with 10 or more employees, at 10%.

Further details including the full list of concerns broken down by industry and size band are available in our accompanying dataset.

Of currently trading businesses with 10 employees or more, 17% had exported and 22% had imported in the last 12 months and reported how their exporting or importing in May 2022 compared with May 2021.

The percentage of businesses reporting that they experienced an increase in the time spent importing or exporting compared with the same calendar month last year was lower in May 2022 compared with March 2022, down from 49% to 40% for importing, and down from 48% to 39%, for exporting. Businesses also reported that the cost of importing and exporting had increased to 58% and 68%, respectively in May 2022 compared with May 2021.

Further industry and size band breakdowns are available in our accompanying dataset. This includes an unweighted data time series produced by linking samples from the Annual Business Survey (2018) and the Annual Survey of International Trade in Services (2019) to the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) microdata.

Global Supply Chain Disruption

Businesses not permanently stopped trading were asked whether their business experienced any global supply chain disruption in May 2022.

Of businesses with 10 or more employees, 21% reported that they had experienced global supply chain disruption in May 2022, broadly stable with April 2022.

Among the top three industries reported in Figure 5, for businesses with 10 or more employees, the manufacturing industry continued to report the largest proportion of businesses experiencing global supply chain issues in May 2022 at 37%, however, this was down from 42% reported in April 2022.

Moreover, the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles industry reported a decrease from 35% to 33%, and the construction industry remained broadly stable over the same period.

Further details of global supply chain issues broken down by industry and size band are available in our accompanying dataset.

Nearly half (47%) of currently trading businesses were able to get the materials, goods or services they needed from within the UK in May 2022, without having to change suppliers or find alternative solutions to do so.

Across all industries, 19% of currently trading businesses reported that they either had to change suppliers or find alternative solutions or were unable to procure materials, goods or services from within the UK; broadly stable with April 2022.

Businesses within the construction industry reported the highest percentage of businesses facing challenges while procuring, at 33%, up from 27% reported in April 2022.

Homeworking

In early June 2022, the percentage of businesses with 10 or more employees who reported that they were using, or intending to use, increased home working as a permanent business model, remained broadly stable compared with early April 2022.

The main reason businesses reported that they were using, or intending to use, increased homeworking was improved staff well-being, at 79%. However, this percentage has decreased from 83% reported in early April 2022.

Further details, including the full list of concerns broken down by industry and size band, are available in our accompanying dataset.

Worker shortages

In early June 2022, 15% of businesses not permanently stopped trading reported that they were experiencing a shortage of workers, up from 13% reported in early May 2022.

Among businesses not permanently stopped trading, the biggest reported effects of these worker shortages were that:

• 46% of businesses reported their employees worked increased hours, up from 40% in early May 2022
• 44% of businesses were unable to meet demands, down from 50% in early May 2022

When excluding businesses with fewer than 10 employees, the percentage of affected businesses that reported their employees were working increased hours was higher, at 62%. In comparison, the percentage for businesses unable to meet demands was lower, at 39%.

Further details including the full list of concerns broken down by industry and size band are available in our accompanying dataset.

Access to microdata

You can access the BICS microdata for Waves 1 to 57 through the Secure Research Service (SRS). The BICS microdata for each wave are released on a rolling basis in the week following the publication of each wave. The microdata are made confidential and do not disclose information on any specific business.

Only researchers accredited under the Digital Economy Act are able to access data in the SRS. You can apply for accreditation through the Research Accreditation Service (RAS). You need to have relevant academic or work experience and must successfully attend and complete the assessed Safe Researcher Training.

To conduct analysis with microdata from the SRS, a project application must be submitted to the Research Accreditation Panel (RAP). To access the SRS, you must also work for an organisation with an Assured Organisational Connectivity agreement in place.

Reporting unit

The business unit to which questionnaires are sent is called the reporting unit. The response from the reporting unit can cover the enterprise as a whole or parts of the enterprise identified by lists of local units.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) QMI, updated on 24 January 2022.

The BICS is voluntary, and the results are experimental. More information is available in our Guide to experimental statistics.

The results are based on responses from the voluntary fortnightly BICS, which captures businesses' views on financial performance, workforce, prices, trade, and business resilience. The Wave 58 survey was live for the period 30 May to 12 June 2022. The BICS survey questions are available.

Coverage

The Monthly Business Survey (MBS) covers the UK for production and Great Britain (GB) only for services. The Retail Sales Index (RSI) and construction are GB focused. Therefore, the BICS will be UK-focused for production-based industries but GB-focused for the other elements of the economy covered. The industries covered are:

• non-financial services (includes professional, scientific, communication, administrative, transport, accommodation and food, private health and education, and entertainment services)
• distribution (includes retail, wholesale, and motor trades)
• production (includes manufacturing, oil and gas extraction, energy generation and supply, and water and waste management)
• construction (includes civil engineering, housebuilding, property development and specialised construction trades such as plumbers, electricians, and plasterers)

The following industries are excluded from the survey:

• agriculture
• public administration and defence
• public provision of education and health
• finance and insurance

For more information on the methodology of producing the BICS, such as weighting, please see our BICS quality and methodology information.

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) QMI.