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New techUK member survey reveals 7 in 10 respondents still believe a no deal exit on 31st October will have a negative impact on their business despite increased...

techUK has surveyed its members to gather their views on a no deal exit on October 31 2019. The survey conducted by research company IPSOS Mori asked techUK members views on the impact of a no deal exit on their business and how prepared members were for a no deal exit on 31 October. 

This survey follows a previous survey of members on Brexit in December 2018. 

The results of the survey showed that since the last survey techUK’s members have not changed their view on the impact of no deal with 7 in 10 (71%) saying that no deal will have a negative impact on their business in August 2019 compared with 69% in December 2018.

While more members had taken active steps to prepare for a no deal exit between December 2018 and August 2019 this did not translate to feeling more positive about the impact of a no deal Brexit on their business. 

The survey data revealed that 87% of large business (250+ staff) responding reported being fairly or very prepared for a no deal exit in October 2019 compared to only 43% for small business (under 50 staff) and 50% for medium sized business (50 – 249 staff).

The data also highlighted that by August 2019 over half (53%) of small businesses surveyed had still not taken any active steps to prepare for a no deal exit on October 31 dropping to 1 in 3 (33%) for medium sized business responding.

On the impacts of no deal 44% of members ranked their number one concern as the overall negative impact on the economy and a slowdown in business. With impacts on the ability to recruit and retain talent from the EU 27 and confusion and uncertainty over regulatory compliance and disruptions to the free flow of personal data between the EU and UK following in the ranking of number one concerns resulting from a no deal exit. 

Julian David, CEO of techUK said: 

“In the nine months that have passed since we last surveyed our members, sentiment has not changed about the impact of no deal with the majority of respondents saying it would have a negative impact on their business.”

"Even for those members we spoke to who have taken steps to prepare for No Deal, mainly larger members, it is clear that No Deal remains an unattractive outcome.” 

"A No Deal Brexit on the 31st October will not bring an end to uncertainty for business. The UK will have to return to the negotiating table on the 1st November to start talks on a Free Trade Agreement, with no Withdrawal Agreement to build on. This will only extend uncertainty and undermine confidence for UK tech businesses.”

Read techUK's breakdown of the findings here.

The full results of the survey can be found here.

Methodological note

To ensure the anonymity of those taking part and to provide support on the design of the questions, techUK commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct an online survey. It ran between 14thto 30thAugust 2019, with subsequent analysis and interpretation undertaken by techUK.  

A 23% per cent response rate was achieved, with 193 members responding out of 841 who received the invite to participate. Data is unweighted.

The profile of those responding by size of business was as follows:

• Small business (less than 50 staff): 60
• Medium sized business (50 to 250 staff): 52
• Large business (250 or more staff): 80
• Refused: 1