Latest South of Scotland Business Panel Survey results revealed
South of Scotland Enterprise have published a report on their latest survey of more than 600 businesses across the region.
The South of Scotland Business Panel survey sees Ipsos interview 601 companies and social enterprises from across the region each year, providing a temperature check of business confidence and helping identify challenges and opportunities.
The findings of the latest survey, carried out in November and December 2024, present positive change in Net Zero planning and businesses supporting their employees.
With a number of external and national challenges over the last year, the survey also highlighted issues related to confidence and financial outlook.
The full survey is available to view here.
Key themes and figures
Workforce
• 75% of employers were taking some form of action in relation to supporting their workforce, with training (54%) the top action followed by flexible working (38%) and making pay and rewards more competitive (35%).
• Half of employers (50%) planned to absorb the additional costs associated with the cost of staff, while 48% planned to increase prices.
• For employers, temporary or seasonal roles were more of a challenge than permanent roles to fill – 29% did not have enough staff to fill temporary or seasonal roles and 22% did not have enough staff to fill permanent roles.
• Fewer were planning to pause or stop recruitment (29%), reduce or stop pay increases or benefits (20%) or reduce the number of staff (16%).
Net Zero
• The number of businesses with a formal plan in place to reduce emissions has more than doubled, from 14% in March 2023 to 32% in November/December 2024.
• More than half (58%) said they needed financial support with their Net Zero aims, while 46% said they needed information about opportunities, guidance on what changes to make (46%), and access to equipment and technology (44%).
Planning and prioritisation
• Over half of businesses (59%) were either currently investing (39%) or planning to invest in the future (20%), with only around two-in-five (39%) not investing or planning to invest.
Optimism and Performance
• Businesses largely expected stability in the months ahead, with the majority (64%) expecting to perform at much the same level over the next six months.
• The biggest challenge facing businesses was economic uncertainty (52%).
• Views on performance were mixed, with 25% saying their business had performed well, 44% saying their performance had been fairly steady and 30% saying they had struggled.
• Over the past six months, sales or turnover performance was mixed – 27% said it had increased, 29% decreased, and 43% remained the same.
• A similar proportion of business were striving for growth (42%) as were content with their current level of performance (39%). Fewer businesses (16%) were wanting to downsize in the future.
• Confidence had decreased in 58% of those who took part in the survey, 4% said it had increased, and 36% said it had stayed the same.
• 37% of businesses were confident in the economic outlook of Scotland, while 61% were not.
• Construction sector was more confident (55%) – notably, fieldwork took place after the announcement of Center Parcs’ plans to create its first Scottish holiday village in the Scottish Borders.
Financial outlook
• Most businesses (94%) said they had a significant financial concern.
• High and increasing costs was a significant concern for almost three-quarters of businesses (73%).
Jane Morrison-Ross, Chief Executive with South of Scotland Enterprise, said:
“These are challenging economic times and it is understandable this has impacted the confidence of businesses, and appearing to influence some decisions around investment and growth.
“What is good to see is that three-quarters of businesses are taking positive action to help their workforce and more than double the number from 2023 are realising the importance of Net Zero planning.
“We understand there are a number of challenges for the business community at this time and we remain committed to working closely with economic agencies and our other partners to realise value and provide as much financial and non-financial support as we can.
“For example, in 2023/24 our support for SMEs in the South of Scotland amounted to £6.9million – making up 92% of the funding awarded to businesses.
“This support aims to ensure the South of Scotland becomes the rural economic powerhouse we know it can be.”
Adam O’Sullivan, SOSE’s Lead Analyst for Economic Insights, added:
“The South of Scotland Business Panel provides an important temperature check on what current business sentiments are across the region, as well as their priorities for the future.
“We must thank all 601 businesses who took the time to be part of the latest survey.”