The UK Construction Equipment Association (CEA) has released the results of a "snapshot survey" it has just conducted among its members on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their production and employment activities.
The survey found that just 10% of CEA members reported that their production had not yet been affected by the pandemic and it was ‘business as usual’, while the majority (72%) were working at reduced levels, and 18% had temporarily closed their businesses.
The percentages of office staffing levels were slightly different, with 14% of participants stating that they were as they were before the crisis. In comparison, 80% of companies had a reduced level of staff, and 6% reported that they had no staff working at all.
Companies were also asked at what levels their facilities were working compared’ with ‘normal’ – the overall percentage was 35% of normal production. Staffing levels were 52% compared to ‘normal’.
The poll also revealed that the percentage of the total workforce that has been furloughed and placed on the HMRC Job Retention Scheme was an average of 48% across all respondents.
On Monday 20 April, more than 140,000 firms applied for the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which pays 80% of a worker’s salary up to a cap of £2,500 a month to stay at home.
43% of companies said they had claimed successfully for staff wages under the JRS scheme on the HMRC portal and 4% had tried unsuccessfully. 53% of companies said they had not claimed, but additional comments in the survey suggested some companies were ‘planning’ to make a claim, which would potentially increase the 43% to over 55%.
Since the crisis, members of the CEA team have spoken to more than 150 of its members who serve a cross-section of industry sectors. The association says that feedback from ‘niche’ market members, such as component manufacturers, indicates that sales for this sector are holding up with steady exports to the USA and China. However, air and sea freight is hard to source and is unreliable and subject to cancellations. The companies are also picking up unfulfilled UK orders from Italy, France, and China.
Component manufacturers think that the crisis ‘should’ trigger a UK-wide reshoring strategy and are expecting a post-COVID-19 reshoring of the supply chain.
Reports from SMEs (small & medium-sized enterprises) indicate that they appear to be better prepared to face business disruption. They are more flexible and have increased their inventory. However, not unexpectedly, these firms report that some are struggling from delayed customer payments.
The CEA commented: “Encouragingly, not all reports were negative – some of the members were pretty bullish about continuing business and orders still coming in.”
The association is planning to continue circulating its COVID-19 bulletins to its members and also has a dedicated COVID-19 portal on the CEA website. It is also in regular contact with the government and is providing daily briefings for Ministers.
