Covid-19 ASSC Business Support Surveys

The ASSC has undertaken a series of surveys of both members and non-members over the course of the Covid-19 crisis, in order to gauge the ability for the self-catering sector to access financial support.

These were publicised via ASSC newsletters, as well as on the ASSC’s social media pages on Twitter and Facebook.

On 24th June, the ASSC conducted a further one question survey to gauge just how many self-catering operators had benefited from business grant support in Scotland. This demonstrated that over one-third (34%) of the respondents had not received any financial support from the Scottish Government. The fact that such a large proportion of self-catering operators have not benefitted from Scottish Government support, months after it was first announced and when self-catering units were instructed to close, is a major concern given the importance of tourism to the Scottish economy.

Prior to the aforesaid survey from 24^th June 2020, the ASSC conducted a number of sectoral surveys to assess the level of take-up and access to business support in Scotland. While there was some welcome movement in terms of business grant applications being approved from our first survey, self-caterers from across Scotland are still experiencing difficulties in accessing business support grants from the Scottish Government that are being administered by local authorities.

As evidenced by our surveys, access to business support grants from local authorities has caused multiple problems for self-catering operators in Scotland. This has included but was not limited to:

An inconsistency of approach between local authorities and evidencing 140 days occupancy (which particularly impacted those in rural areas)
Difficulties evidencing the criteria in relation to primary source of income
The inability to evidence 2019/20 incomes
The lack of an appeals process in some local authorities
The lack of clear guidance from the Scottish Government to local authorities
The cumbersome and bureaucratic nature of the application process itself
Even when applications have been approved, many self-caterers have endured lengthy waits of more than two weeks or more to receive funds.

Surveys

Links to the full results and analysis of our multi question sectoral surveys can be found below:

ASSC Sectoral Survey into Self-Caterer Access to Covid-19 Business Support

ASSC Sectoral Survey into Self-Caterer Access to Covid-19 Business Support Week 3

ASSC Sectoral Survey Week 4

ASSC Sectoral Survey Week 5

ASSC SUBMISSION TO THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER

ASSC-Sectoral-Survey-on-Social-Gathering-Restrictions

ASSC Sectoral Survey on Social Gathering Impact of Single Household Restrictions