While the decrease had been slight for 41% of supply chain respondents, for nearly 30% it had been significant, with a third of businesses furloughing “many” employees. Looking ahead, 32% of companies expected turnover to decrease over the next six to twelve months, although 35% expected it to stay the same.
British Water undertook the survey in October 2020 to assess the impact Covid-19 had had on individual companies to date, and their future expectations and concerns. As lead representative body for the UK water industry supply chain, it reached out to members and non-members to establish a complete picture of how companies across all levels had been affected.
Other insights included:
- 20% of companies that responded had experienced cashflow concerns, although 62% had not (the remainder preferred not to say)
- 27% had made staff redundancies, 65% had not
- To help maintain cashflow, 10% of respondents stopped new strategic investments
- The crisis had had a significant impact on the wellbeing of respondents and their colleagues
- Just over 70% felt the support offered by British Water throughout the crisis had been good or excellent.
178 individuals responded the survey. Its full findings are available here.
