Make UK report in association with Santander

Our managing director Gary Stevens recently contributed to a major Make UK report published in association with Santander. This first detailed analysis of the Covid-19 impact on UK manufacturers sets out a new industrial vision for the economy, making strong recommendations to the Government.

Make UK’s Responding Resetting and Reinventing UK Manufacturing Post Covid-19 report highlights that one in five manufacturers are operating between 25 and 50% of their full capacity. Gary recounts how Focus SB has been coping with reduced staffing levels throughout the lockdown period, with approximately 70% of the company’s employees furloughed, and how the closure of construction sites has impacted the business.

Highlighted by the report, our management’s focus has been to preserve jobs and shares how we have continued to function via negotiation of payment holidays on premises rents and some capital finance, deferred VAT payment in April plus accessing a loan via the Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), plus business support from Make UK and local organisation Locate East Sussex to help us through this challenging time.

Gary Stevens says: “All the above actions were taken because at the time we had no idea how long this lockdown period was going to last, so we took the view that we would be better off securing as much cash within the business as possible so that we could ride out any storm and preserve jobs.”

Visit Make UK to read Responding Resetting and Reinventing UK Manufacturing Post Covid-19 report in full.