East Cambridgeshire District Council is launching an online survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 on businesses in the District.

The survey will remain open until 16^th October 2020.

The purpose of the survey is to capture information about how the pandemic has affected businesses and provide an overview of the predicted long-term effects.

The Council will use this data to further tailor the support and advice it provides as part of its COVID-19 recovery plan.

The survey will cover everything from the financial impact of business disruption, measures taken to cope with the impact of the pandemic and if support was obtained from the Small Business COVID-19 Grant Funding schemes.

It will also cover how COVID-19 has affected training and apprenticeship programmes, the impact on supply chains, key concerns for the year ahead and what additional support businesses feel they need.

Councillor Ian Bovingdon, Chairman of the COVID-19 Working Group, said:

“We want to gather data on the impact of COVID-19 to date to provide us with insight into how we can further support our local organisations as they restart following the lockdown period.

“This survey is just the start of what we hope will be an ongoing conversation between the Council and local businesses as we all work towards getting back to some sense of normal.

“We want to know how organisations have been affected and what their concerns are about the months ahead so that we can establish what additional guidance and support will be most useful in helping them recover.”

Councillor Anna Bailey, Leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council said:

“COVID-19 recovery is one of our top priorities as a Council.  Rejuvenating the District’s economy, business and tourism are key promises in our 2020-2023 Corporate Plan, and we want to do everything we can to ensure we are helping businesses as they navigate the ‘new normal’.

“Lockdown may be over, but the pandemic has not gone away.  The new normal is one of social distancing, hygiene and safety.  We need to support both residents and businesses as we try and get back to doing the things we enjoy as safely as possible.

“We can and will get our local economy back on track. A key part of this is establishing how organisations in the area have coped so far, how they feel about the future and what they need from us a Council to help them.”

Click here to complete the survey. 

For more information about the financial support for businesses visit our dedicated web page.