Recent talk of the 'green shoots' of recovery are being treated cautiously by small business insurance holders, it has been claimed.
The Nottingham University Business School Barometer found that 34 per cent of small business insurance customers have experienced static growth since January, while 44 per cent could not decide whether conditions are improving.
Additionally, the research found that access to finance is still small business insurance holders' most significant barrier to recovery, with 67 per cent reporting that funding has not improved in the last three months.
A further 24 per cent said that funding availability has worsened, while only eight per cent have experienced an improvement.
"Banks are being particularly difficult to deal with and not helping the situation," one survey respondent commented.
Recent research from the Federation of Small Businesses found 23 per cent of respondents have seen an increase in trade since the beginning of the year, an improvement on the 16 per cent which reported this in February.
