-
17% say it will take over a year to
recover
Stark statistics from the Office for Budget Responsibility
(OBR) warn that Britain’s manufacturing sector will take one of
the biggest COVID-19 hits financially across UK industry with
output expected to fall by 55% in the second quarter of this
year
Previous levels of output can only return with the creation
of demand from the reopening of all retail outlets including
vehicle facilities to boost automotive, and for nervous consumers
to get back to normal spending patterns to provide a market for
the goods produced right down the manufacturing supply
chain.
Today as we publish our 3 point plan
– Manufacturing our road to recovery – we call
on Government to allow manufacturers the time to scale up
operations and recover by extending the Coronavirus Job Retention
Scheme in a more flexible form - utilising part time or
short time working patterns - during the critical rebuilding
phase.
This would work in tandem with a series of other measures
to stimulate demand to truly get manufacturing and the UK’s
economy back on track.
1. Boost
economic support:
· Introducing
a scheme for old IT, plant and machinery equipment to incentivise
firms to invest in new technologies that will increase
automation, productivity, output and exports.
· A
wheels to work scheme to support the rent/purchase of bicycles,
mopeds etc. for rural commuters if there are few public transport
alternatives or if social distancing prevents public transport
provision.
· Retail
Online Vouchers - to help small and micro enterprises get
online. The vouchers would help
companies to sell their goods and services online during this
difficult period alongside a package of incentives and regulatory
reforms to encourage greater use of delivery robots and drones to
help SMEs meet demand for their goods in a safe way.
2. Ensure
a safe return to work:
· Access
to PPE for employees without in any way denying supply to the
NHS, care sector and other essential service.
· Greater
flexibility of the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) to allow workers
with health and safety skills that are vital to re-starting
production, to be returned to the workplace in a staggered way
and help prevent a delays to manufacturers’ production
cycles.
· HSE
review into wider workplace regulations to see what might be
sensibly amended so as to allow differential operation during
this unusual period.
3. Build
resilience
· A
comprehensive supply chain mapping project: to ensure we have a
greater understanding of their vulnerabilities, including
transport/logistics.
· Additional
fiscal incentives to ensuring critical industrial R&D
capacity and spend is safeguarded.
· A
Global Supply Chain resilience programme: which keeps markets
open and predictable.
Make UK Chief Executive, Stephen Phipson, said:
“Industry welcomed the initial critical financial support
from Government but now as we move into the recovery stage the
right response is to focus on supporting the
business sector with measures designed to stimulate demand and
ensure manufacturers can get back to supplying the goods
consumers want and our country needs.
“We are calling for a flexible recalibration rather than a
cliff edge shock by allowing the Job Retention Scheme to continue
its support but in a way that enables manufacturers to get back
to work in a way that lets them recover as they bring staff back
as order books grow and production levels and supply chains to
return to normal.
“It is likely that an immediate end to the JRS for
manufacturers, timed simply to coincide with the easing of
lockdown arrangements, would be highly premature and could have
devastating effects on employment levels within manufacturing. A
more sophisticated, flexible and tapered approach to this funding
would have a huge positive impact on confidence and help ensure
that the sizeable national investment already made in the JRS was
maximised and not wasted.”
https://www.makeuk.org/insights/publications/manufacturing-our-road-to-recovery
