On the 29 March, the UK will exit the European Union.
The Sheffield City Region (SCR) Growth Hub is working hard to ensure that businesses across the region are prepared for Brexit and that they understand the potential ongoing impacts for their company.
To help businesses to plan, the Growth Hub has launched an online Brexit planning tool, which will enable business owners to carry out a self-assessment.
The six areas covered in the planning tool are:
- Business strategy and operations
- People and skills
- Export
- Sales and marketing
- Finance
- Innovation
James Muir, Chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “Earlier this month the LEP board discussed the importance of encouraging and supporting businesses across the region to prepare themselves and understand the potential ongoing impacts of Brexit on their businesses.
“This online Brexit planning tool is a great way for all businesses, big or small to understand what they need to be thinking about regarding Brexit.
“This will be one of the region’s biggest challenges in the coming months and as LEP Chair I will be working with the other board members to ensure that businesses are prepared and that they continue to grow and thrive even after the UK exits the European Union.”
David Grimes, Head of the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub, said: “Nobody can possibly know what the full impact of exiting the European Union will be for every business across the Sheffield City Region, and indeed across the country.
“But here at the SCR Growth Hub, we’re ready and waiting with expert advice to support businesses and to help them understand, as much as possible, how to address their potential challenges.
“One common theme we’ve seen emerging from businesses is that they are waiting to see what happens with Brexit before thinking about how it might affect them and what action to take.
“We’re therefore encouraging people to start considering the impacts on their business at a much earlier stage than they may be anticipating – and this Brexit planning tool is an ideal step in that process.”
From Friday 1 February businesses will be able to go on the SCR Growth Hub website at www.scrgrowthhub.co.uk/brexit to carry out a self-assessment.
The tool will ask a series of questions and rank their preparedness based on the responses provided
The planning tool will then advise them on their strengths and weaknesses across the six areas and take a view on where they may be vulnerable, both pre and post Brexit.
Businesses will be provided with a personalised report which will make suggestions on resources that are available, and recommend actions businesses could take to mitigate the potential impact.
The planning tool can be used as a step in developing a targeted approach to responding to the challenges of Brexit and will also signpost businesses to resources and expert help that are available, both locally and nationally.
A recent report presented to the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership highlighted that South Yorkshire’s export market is heavily dependent on the EU, with 57 per cent of the value of all goods going to this market. This means that the region is exposed to the negative effects of potential increased delays and tariffs.
The report also highlighted that having fewer EU workers, especially lower-skilled workers, would cause challenges in businesses across the region. These impacts would be greater on the logistics and manufacturing sectors, as well as the health and higher education sectors if there are fewer high-skilled EU migrants.
Try out the online tool at: www.scrgrowthhub.co.uk/brexit