More than half of construction professionals are worried about managing their personal finances beyond the next three months, with some already facing serious financial worries as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.
A survey of nearly 1,700 people in the sector by Construction Manager found that 47% were worried about managing beyond July, while 7.5% already had serious short-term concerns.
Although some 56% of respondents said their organisations are keeping some or all sites open, financial cut-backs have been widespread.
Already, 38% of respondents reported staff being furloughed within their organisation, with 8% asked to take pay cuts and 7% seeing staff laid off. Another 42% reported staff being paid as normal, with 1% seeing staff being asked to have wages deferred and 3.5% witnessing staff being asked to take voluntary unpaid leave.
Surprisingly, however, 80% of respondents reported suppliers being paid as normal, with 4% saying suppliers were being asked to take reduced payments and 11.6% reporting suppliers being asked to take deferred payments. Another 4% said suppliers have had contracts cancelled.
When it came to the financial support measures on offer from the UK government, 57% of respondents said their organisation would be using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and 24% said their organisation would be reclaiming Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). A total of 19% said their company would be using the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and 12% the Covid-19 Corporate Financing Facility. Another 16% said they would take advantage of the Self-employed Income Support Scheme.
