Talk of London being placed into Tier 3 restrictions and ongoing dissent around Brexit may come as unwelcome news for the city. Brexit has been looming over the city’s skyscrapers since 2016, and the double whammy with Coronavirus has forced London’s residents to adapt.
Recent research from Theta Global Advisors has shown that 51% of Brits do not expect to return to the office until at least 2021, and 57% of people do not want to go back to a normal way of working in an office environment with normal office hours post-pandemic. Research from The Future Strategy Club has revealed that 29% of business leaders have already streamlined their teams; with thousands of businesses giving up office spaces as employees work effectively from home.
The last month of 2020 poses additional issues, with Brexit laws still uncertain and Tier 3 restrictions further reducing footfall in the city – even in Tier 2 restrictions, Google Mobility Report revealed that public transport use in the City was only 17% of pre-COVID levels on Dec 4th, and office visits were down by 54%.
Thousands of businesses will need to adapt to London post-Covid, post-Brexit, and many will be reliant on professional services as they get to grips with the new normal.
Justin Small, Founder of The Future Strategy Club, commented on how business can adapt through the transition period:
“The pandemic has definitely impacted the way that businesses work and adapt, and the new Brexit worries are no different. Previously, businesses would have turned to consultancy firms with city offices to help them adapt, but this year we’ve seen SMEs hire freelance and transparent talent to overhaul their businesses. It’s no longer necessary for companies to employ large firms and teams of people, instead preferring to go directly to the source of knowledge, paying for the talent and the work being done, as opposed to paying another business’s massive overhead costs.
The way that companies work is different, and this agility and flexibility will allow small businesses to adapt to the new Brexit rules in a way they wouldn’t have been able to before.”
Chris Biggs, Partner at Theta Global Advisors, commented on the role that professional services have in the Brexit process and what they could look like come January:
“With businesses having to prepare for a new supranational trading environment in a matter of weeks, there is still a huge amount of speculation of what it could mean for a number of sectors that trade nationally and globally. In the professional services space, many clients will be impacted heavily by Brexit, so they are trying to understand their new working rules and regulations as quickly as possible.
Legal and consulting firms hold an important role in deciphering a deal if it comes, and the framework and intricacies that it entails, or what the rules will be around a no-deal and future trade. Many firms will have used this time to try and prepare the best they can for 2021, but when the new rules are in practice, many will call on the professional services market to ensure that there are adhering to both the UK and European rules of the future.
One large area that is bound to be heavily impacted by Brexit is systems and data. Questions have already been asked about the adequacies of the UK’s data laws, so firms may be looking to implement new systems to deal with both EU and UK law if a compromise isn’t agreed. Therefore, consulting firms that can help businesses with this will be in demand in the coming weeks, and while the House of Lords’ EU sub-committee raised potential concerns in the sectors, businesses will be relying on these firms to help them get through this period. If firms correctly pivot and provide support to their clients in a timely fashion, the sector could find itself in a new business area, helping to secure the next generation of clients both at home and on the continent.”
