Boris Johnson is back at the helm. And within a couple of hours, he was standing in Downing Street delivering the message that he is not prepared to contemplate easing the current lockdown restrictions.
There was much speculation over the weekend as to what the first phase of any easing would look like. The PM poured a lot of oil on that water in a few short moments.
Leaving aside political bias and personal views is difficult in a subject like this but what is hard to believe is that we are “at the crucial time in this fight”. The argument that now is the time to allow the economy to begin to recover has clearly lost this round of the battle.
What is clear is that business continues to suffer. My perspective is that without further significant government intervention, a large number of UK Companies are going to struggle to survive.
The pinch point anticipated at the end of April has been partly alleviated by the success and quick turnaround of the Job Retention Scheme.
But CBILS are still progressing with glacial slowness into the bank accounts of businesses. I have one client who had their application approved 24 days ago, who is still waiting for the funds to arrive.
Clearly, such external factors are outside the control of business owners and managers. So what are the controllables?
You’ve heard it before from me before but it bears repetition. Now is the time to focus even more intently on cash management. Most businesses are likely to be facing critical decisions about when to bring staff back off furlough, when to purchase supplies / raw materials. Doing it too soon will present a whole different raft of cash flow problems. Doing it too late risks a loss of much-needed business.
Use this the next two weeks wisely to model the cash implications of the different options and use this information to inform your decision making.
Cash remains king.
