An increasing proportion of smaller businesses expect Brexit to have a negative impact on their business (29%, up from 22% in 2017). Over one in three (34%) expect access to finance to become more difficult after departure, with only 3% expecting finding finance to become easier.

Overall, the demand for external finance has continued to fall, with just 36% of smaller businesses using external finance in 2018 (versus 44% in 2012). Despite these concerns, however, just over half (50.4%) still aspire to grow over the next 12 months.