Supply chain problems have caused disruption to three-quarters (75%) of businesses in the South East in the past 12 months, according to the latest research.

Risk management firm and insurance broker Gallagher says its survey revealed businesses in the region experienced serious supply chain disruption six times, on average.

And it says the impact was so severe 35% of companies shut down elements of their business as a consequence.

Other findings revealed 30% were left out of pocket after having to turn down customer orders, while 22% had to absorb increased costs as scarcity of some good saw prices rise.

Covid-19 was the leading cause of supply chain disruption in the region affecting the ability of finished goods and raw materials to get into the country (33% and 30% respectively). Brexit regulations on borders (29%) and access to labour (25%) also had an impact, while a lack of drivers hit more than one in ten businesses (12%).

And the outlook isn't good.

The vast majority of South East business leaders (79%) expect supply chain issues to continue in 2022 - with 69% of bosses concerned about the potential negative impact they could have on their company.

Businesses predict that Covid legacy issues (48%), Brexit fallout (38%), plus changes to regulations (32%) and labour issues (27%) will cause continued disruption.

Gary Fletcher, managing director of the South at Gallagher, said: “Often operating behind the scenes, supply chains have been unusually visible to the public in the past year. In the South East, queues at the Port of Dover in December 2020 were a very noticeable consequence of disruption caused to supply chains during the pandemic and we’ve seen further issues unfold in recent months, such as petrol shortages, which significantly impacted the movement of goods.

“Though there is no ‘silver bullet’ to resolve these problems, recent disruption has highlighted the importance of firms in the region taking steps to increase the resilience of their supply chains."

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