More than half of businesses that took part in a survey have had some sort of involvement in one or more of the government’s support schemes during the lockdown.
Some 57.42% said they had either applied or planned to apply for help.
More than 80% of businesses surveyed were aware of the Covid-19 Salary Support Scheme (84.71%), the Manx Earnings Replacement Allowance (MERA) (85.99%) and the £1,500 single grant payment (89.17%).
Fewer were aware of the Isle of Man Disruption Loan Guarantee Agreement (51.59%) and the Business Adaptation Grant (45.86%).
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However, it would appear the government has ensured it has got the help message across as only 2.55% said they were not aware of any government support scheme.
In addition, nearly three quarters of companies (70.83%) said they had been feeling the effects of the ’circuit breaker’ and had seen a negative impact on their businesses.
Just 1.79% felt there had been a positive effect and 27.38% said there was no impact.
The statistics are contained in the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce’s latest results from its ’Impact Tracker’ survey which it says serves as a barometer of the pandemic’s impact on businesses and the awareness of the government’s support measures.
There were 168 respondents from businesses representing a broad cross-section of the island’s economy.
Some 28% of respondents are self-employed, and 16% have between one and 10 employees.
Chamber of Commerce chief executive Rebecca George said: ’We began conducting the impact tracker surveys during the island’s first lockdown, and they proved to be an effective way to gather the opinions from the business community.
’As always, we’re grateful to everyone who took the time to take part because the results really do help to get an insight into how businesses are coping, their concerns about the future, and the support they need.’
Among the other results the survey found:
l Just over half of respondents (52.14%) reported a 75% to 100% reduction in turnover/sales.
l Some 27.85% said they had cash reserves for three to six months, while a similar number (26.58%) only had reserves in the kitty for one to three months.
l Asked if they have had to furlough or offer a leave of absence to any employees in the last week before the survey on January 15, some 22.78% said yes, 51.90% said no.