Most Doncaster firms '˜don't feel prepared for Brexit'

Less than half Doncaster's businesses feel they are prepared for Britain leaving the European Union, business leaders have revealed.
Lee Tillman addresses the Doncaster Business Insight meetingLee Tillman addresses the Doncaster Business Insight meeting
Lee Tillman addresses the Doncaster Business Insight meeting

A study run by Doncaster Chamber, called the Doncaster Business Insight Survey, reveals only 45 per cent of firms reported feeling prepared as opposoed to unprepared for Brexit, with or without a deal.

The results of the survey were among figures revealed at a meeting at the Mount Pleasant Hotel, which looked at the last three months.

Lee Tillman addresses the Doncaster Business Insight meetingLee Tillman addresses the Doncaster Business Insight meeting
Lee Tillman addresses the Doncaster Business Insight meeting
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Lee Tillman, assistant director of strategy and performance at Doncaster council, presented the figures, which showed seven per cent of firms felt '˜very prepared', and 38 per cent '˜prepared. A total of 38 per cent felt neither prepared nor unprepared. with nine per cent '˜unprepared' and seven per cent '˜very unprepared'.

The survey also showed only around a third of firms felt informed about the consequences of Brexit on their business.

Seven per cent felt '˜very informed' and 25 per cent '˜informed'. He revealed a total of 24 per cent felt '˜neither informed nor uninformed, 21 per cent felt '˜uninformed' and 23 per cent '˜very uninformed'.

Mr Tillman said: 'It is about doing the right things and doing all the things that are important to people in Doncaster.

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'The chamber and its partners are doing all they can to make sure that businesses have the information they need.'

The chamber is issuing a business Brexit checklist.

Chief executive Dan Fell said: 'There is a strong feeling that a disorderly Brexit would be bad for the economy. Business prefers certainty that we can plan for. We need to get back to focusing on the fundamentals for the domestic business environment to grow.'

Other information revealed firms' overseas sales were up 11 per cent over the last three months, but were at a lower level than last year.

Employment growth was up three per cent and was at a higher level than 12 months ago.

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And five per cent of firms expected their workforce to increase in the next three months.

The survey also revealed skilled manual and technical workers to be the most difficult to recruit, although year on year they were having more problems finding clerical workers than last year.

Plans are moving forward to open a University Technical College in Doncaster to train technical skills.

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