SCOTLAND'S night-time industry is "on the brink of collapse" with 24,000 jobs at risk in an "impending unemployment tsunsami" due to continuing restrictions as the Covid lockdown is eased.
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has claimed that the majority of night time businesses could permanently close within weeks after running out of money to pay furlough contributions and fixed costs.
Concern has come about rising debts and concerns over a lack of action to support bars, pubs, nightclubs, live music venues, festivals and businesses in their supply chain.
The NTIA said the Scottish Government's latest Strategic Framework update on Friday, confirmed businesses will be subject to the “commercially unviable levels system of restrictions” despite financial support being withdrawn by the end of April.
The 10pm curfew, was described by the NTIA as "devastating" for its members as most of the revenue is made after this time.
A survey by the NTIA members found that average debt from the pandemic was around £150,000 or more for each premises or business and that businesses were facing an "imminent cash flow crunch".
Their research also found that less than a quarter of the premises have licensed outdoor areas with the vast majority of businesses months behind in mortgage or rent payments.
NTIA said fewer than a third have been able to trade at sustainable level at any point in the last year and almost all cannot reopen or trade viably while social distancing remains.
It said that cash reserves have been depleted, and more borrowing is now impossible with no guaranteed opening dates.
"Businesses are rapidly running out of cash to pay their fixed costs and furlough contributions," said the NTIA.
" Business insolvencies and mass job losses are now inevitable within weeks unless the Scottish Government acts urgently.
The survey also found that around 85% of night time businesses say they will not survive if social distancing and activity restrictions continue for most of this year It also found that 98% of businesses in this sector say Scottish Government support has not been enough to ensure its survival.
The NTIA said it had written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon earlier this month highlighting the issues and requesting immediate crisis talks. But it said that it wsas "disappointing" that it was yet to have a response.
Gavin Stevenson spokesman for the NTIA said: “We were the first to close and will be last to open. No sector has suffered more. But Government have consistently taken our sector for granted and refused to engage meaningfully with our representatives.
“Many of our members have been closed for over a year now, and virtually all have suffered crippling financial losses. In short, the money going out every month has been far greater than the money coming in, and government support has typically covered less than a quarter of this deficit.
“To add insult to injury government support has now ended while there is no end date to forced closure and other restrictions. Scottish Government now only has two options, provide substantial and immediate additional support for as long as it is mandated that our businesses stay closed and/or operate under the restrictions that make them unviable, or provide a clear route map with target dates for the end of all legal restrictions on capacity, activity, and opening hours.
"If neither of those options are forthcoming then our First Minister is, in effect, asking thousands of small Scottish business owners to bankrupt themselves.”
In February MPs on the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Night Time Economy called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak to provide a sector-specific grant package and a roadmap to re-opening, warning that failure to act risks creating “ghost towns” around the country that would hinder the economic recovery from the pandemic.
The stark warning comes with the publication by APPG of the findings of its extensive inquiry into the impact of Covid-19 into the night-time economy, which has been largely shuttered since the first national lockdown was imposed in March last year.
Based on more than 20,000 responses from consumers, employers, employees and freelancers in the sector, it found 85 per cent of people working in the night-time economy are considering leaving the industry, with nearly four-fifths (78%) having been on furlough at some point.
Firms had on average made 37% of their total workforces redundant, while just 36% of self-employed nightlife workers have been able to claim the Self Employment Income Support Scheme, the survey reports.
It also found that, in the second half of 2020, businesses in the night-time economy had generated 28 per cent of their annualised pre-Covid levels, on average.
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