Bodyshop cost pressures blowing up
When we think we’ve overcome one challenge, it feels like another is thrown our way. We’re just now starting to get back to normality when it comes to the Covid pandemic, but this year has thrown up a number of other challenges when it comes to costs.
Energy prices are up, fuel prices are up, and inflation is at levels we’ve not experienced since the 1980s. Inflation expectation, in particular, has hit record highs.
Conducted between 23 August and 13 September, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Quarterly Economic Survey – the UK’s largest independent survey of business sentiment, involving 5,737 businesses, and a leading indicator of UK GDP growth – has shown that while businesses continue to recover from the deepest recession on record, persistent weakness in several indicators highlight concerns over the strength of the recovery. For example, 62% of industrial firm respondents are planning price hikes over the next three months.
The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the cost of living inflation had risen from 2% to 3.2% in August alone, with the Bank of England expecting that figure to rise to more than 4% by the end of the year.
To read more, visit bodyshop’s December issue.
