British Water members report turnover and wellbeing hit by pandemic

British Water has reported the water sector supply chain has been hit hard by impacts of Covid, according to a survey of its members.

70% of the 178 respondents said their business turnover had decreased in the pandemic, with 29% saying the decrease has been significant. 77% had to furlough staff, and 27% had to make some redundancies. On average, respondents rated the severity of the impact of Covid-19 on their well being and that of colleagues as 8 or 9 out of 10.

More positively, 62% said they had not had cash-flow concerns (20% had), and 73% said they had not had any or had only limited problems with their own supply chains. 73% also rated the support provided by the UK government as good or excellent.

Looking ahead, 35% expected the impact of Covid on their business turnover to stay about the same over the next six to 12 months, while 32% felt it would decrease and just 9% felt it would increase. The rest were unsure.