One of the long standing problems in the UK is its press and its bias to which side of the fence they sit, rather than telling the “whole truth and nothing but the truth”. I always try to find the facts from industry sources if possible.
According to a report by Indeed (2022), the exodus of EU workers mainly affected the south of the country, however there has been a steady rise from non-EU countries, led by Commonwealth nations such as India and the former British territory of Hong Kong, although not entirely in the lower paid sector. The farming industry is still reporting shortages of crop pickers. (perhaps the boat people should be made to earn there keep whils’t here ?)
I found this an interesting read: Nearly half of care homes have closed their doors to new residents and two-thirds of home care providers are turning down requests for home care, due to staff shortages caused by Covid and the mandatory vaccine, according to the National Care Forum…
https://www.carehome.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1663313/staff-shortages-care-homes-close
Of cause may smaller businesses ceased such as yoursunfortunately, due the mountainous of paper work and high costs involved trading with the EU. The divorce was somewhat more bitter than it should of been and the EU’s intention to punish the UK didn’t help. However relations seem to be on the up recently and I only hope you and other small businesses will beable to start back up and trade again in the somewhat near future. For me, I never though thought leaving would be an over night success story, just like Rome wasn’t built in a day – nor could it have come at a worse time, with Covid and the cost of living crisis upon us.