Shropshire Chamber of Commerce has launched its latest quarterly economic survey to gain a snapshot of the mood among local employers.

The survey quizzes business owners on a wide range of topics including sales forecasts, international trade, recruitment, training, cashflow, and confidence levels.

It is open to any business of any size in Shropshire or Telford & Wrekin. Companies do not need to be a member of Shropshire Chamber to take part.

All submissions are anonymous. Closing date for submissions is March 1.

Shropshire’s results are fed into the national survey by the British Chambers of Commerce, which is used by the Bank of England and other relevant bodies and economists.

Ruth Ross, Shropshire Chamber’s chief executive, said: “It’s really important for us that as many businesses as possible take time to fill in this survey.

“It is completely anonymous – so that you can speak freely - and takes only a few minutes. Every single business voice matters. The greater the voice, the greater the influence we can have to support the businesses of Shropshire.

“This is part of the largest and most respected quarterly business intelligence survey in the country, and the BCC asks us to gather business sentiment in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to feed this into the data.

“The results are used by multiple Government departments, as well as the Bank of England, to understand the business climate. We want it to paint as accurate a picture as possible of the local economy.” 

Shropshire Chamber’s previous quarterly survey revealed some of the most downbeat forecasts from the local business community since the pandemic, with fears of job losses and company closures.

Asked about the November Budget’s impact on the local business community, 72% described it as negative, and not a single employer felt it was positive.

The proportion of businesses now seeing taxation as a ‘fear factor’ in the coming months has jumped by a huge 40%, and there has been a 14% fall in businesses reporting rising sales.