Economic Impact of COVID-19 on London’s Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

This is a summary report on the economic impact of COVID-19 on London’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It presents a uniquely granular and timely analysis of the impacts on London’s SMEs by sectoral, financial, employment, and risk indicators and includes deep dive case studies on the economic impact on the Night Time Economy, high streets and town centres, and the Culture and Creative industries.

The analysis was undertaken on a pro bono basis by Bloomberg Associates, for and in close collaboration with the GLA providing guidance and direction. Partners supporting Bloomberg Associates included Slalom, Burning Glass Technologies, DueDil and CK Delta. It leverages a combination of public and private data from a range of financial, economic, behavioural, sociographic and demographic sources and complements the macro-economic scenarios for the London economy.

The study was conducted between March 2020 and June 2020 and leverages the most updated data that was available at the time. It is important to note that new data and evidence constantly emerges and could be integrated in a potential future iteration of this work. The report has sought to:

• Illustrate the impact of the pandemic on London’s SMEs and local employment and improve understanding of the scale and scope of the economic challenges that London faces in recovery.
• Demonstrate the application of “bottom-up” and localised data to create a more complete, granular picture of overall economic impact
• Show the intersection of impact by sectors and geographies, exploring the relationship between these two factors to demonstrate the risk hot spots across Greater London.

If you have any comments or questions related to the report, please email GLA Economics