Shoreham businesses warn of 'perfect storm' as energy and product costs rise

Many businesses which survived the pandemic are now facing rising costs and sky-rocketing energy bills and need urgent help.

This is the bleak picture painted by the Shoreham Independent Traders Collective (SITC).

SITC launched in August 2020 a time which it remembers as ‘one of the most difficult periods in trading history’.

Ben Towers is the owner of The Pad, in East Street, and also runs SITC.

“Our traders are facing massive challenges including increased energy and product costs,” he said.

“A lot of our members supply baked goods. Wholesale butter has gone from £50 to £75, a massive jump of which only a small part can be passed on to customers.”

During the pandemic, the UK government provided businesses with financial help totalling almost £70 billion.

But that help has dried up since restrictions were lifted in the latter half of 2021.

Mr Towers has warned that, without urgent help, ‘an already depleted high street will be gone’.

Lee Cowen, leader of Adur District Council’s Labour group, criticised what he called ‘government silence’ on business support.

“For many of Adur’s 2,200 businesses, simply surviving these last two years has felt like winning,” he said.

“Small businesses have been left out in the cold when it comes to energy bills, with the vast majority excluded from the household energy price cap and other protections designed for domestic household consumers.

“Many Adur businesses simply cannot afford to wait another month without practical support measures being put in place.”

Mr Cowen said ‘eye-watering’ energy bills could be the ‘final nail in the coffin’.

Last week Prime Minister Liz Truss outlined a ‘freeze’ to energy bills for households and businesses which is expected to see them paying less than the projected price cap.

Whilst this will apply to households for two years, businesses are expected to benefit for six months and there have been calls for more details.

Denyse Whillier, business liaison officer for the East Worthing & Adur County Labour Party and founder of Built to Succeed, has been hearing first-hand about the challenges.

“My clients have had to cope with overlapping economic shocks over the past three years – the pandemic, Brexit, and now the cost of living crisis,” she said.

“They expect the UK economy to worsen significantly over the next year in the face of rising cost pressures and are very concerned about the lack of a coherent long-term strategy for the UK economy.”

Ms Whillier says that half of her business clients will increase prices, while some are putting expansion plans on hold and not making any new hires.

Mr Cowen is calling on the government to strengthen regulation of the energy market for businesses; cut VAT to five per cent; raise business rates relief to £25,000; and provide a £1 billion contingency fund for energy-intensive industries.

“Small and medium businesses are the backbone of our local economy,” he said.

“Without them, we lose a vital part of what makes Adur tick as well as local jobs.”