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Over 1.4 million jobs in the UK are at risk as hundreds of thousands of small businesses close within the next five years, according to a survey by business sale marketplace Bizdaq.
The survey showed that companies are closing at an “alarming rate”, with 363,000 small business owners planning to stop trading in the next five years.
Bizdaq suggests that with most small businesses having an average of four staff, this puts over a million jobs in jeopardy. Of those jobs believed to be under threat, 529,000 will be at risk in the next 12 months due to planned closures.
The survey also suggested that 510,000 business owners were planning to sell their companies within the next five years.
Sean Mallon, CEO of Bizdaq, said: “For too long, hard-working small business owners and their employees, who underpin the British economy, have been left without the support and advice they deserve from the government.
“Given the government’s continued campaign for job creation, it’s amazing so little is being done to preserve the number of existing jobs at risk within Britain’s small businesses.”
He added: “With 1.4 million jobs at risk, and a little awareness around the preservation of great businesses and the jobs they create, I would suggest the government should be driving this agenda.”
