Surveys

June 2018: Two years on from the Brexit referendum Survey

This year’s survey – for which we had nearly 300 respondents – indicates that little has changed in the past year in terms of what exporters want from Brexit with the percentage saying that continued access to the single market was important to them actually increasing from last year. Several respondents expressed their frustration at the continued lack of clarity about what the final deal will look like as the deadline for UK withdrawal gets ever closer.

For those who are looking at the positives they can take from Brexit there was hope that there would be less bureaucracy involved in doing trade, more opportunity to trade outside the confinements of the EU, greater capacity to negotiate trade deals with non-EU markets, greater democratic control over our trade policies, and greater control over tariffs.

June 2017: 'Brexit One Year On' Survey

One year on from the UK’s referendum vote to leave the EU, plenty has happened. We’ve gone back to our members and fellow exporters to track their views, attitudes and desires around Brexit in another survey.

The key points from last year’s survey – held in the weeks following the referendum – included the desire from the export community for continued access to the single market and concerns about changes to tariffs, duties and customs. This year’s survey – for which we had over 200 respondents – indicates that little has changed in terms of what exporters want from Brexit and what they are most concerned about.

March 2017: Engineering Industries Association survey

Sir Ronald Halstead, President of the Engineering Industries Association (EIA), attended the Bank of England meeting on 23 March 2017 and presented the results of their recent survey among SMEs in Engineering.

The SME survey from IOE&IT Trade Association member, the EIA, is distributed twice yearly to EIA and IOE&IT members, and forms part of a larger Bank of England survey into the current economic and financial prospects for SME’s.

This survey is influenced by the Brexit referendum result and the structural changes in Whitehall. In comparison with the last survey of 16 September 2016 the following trends are apparent:

• Business Confidence is higher
• Overall Growth is higher
• UK Demand is stronger although 60% is still flat
• Export demand is very much stronger
• The number of people employed is mostly static
• The average increase in pay per employee is mainly 0-2% although the 2-4% is increasing
• There are still skill shortages
• 60% of survey will increase prices compared with 23% last time
• Investment intentions are about the same as previously