Nearly 20%of all UK firms have less than a month’s cash in reserve, and nearly half will furlough 50% of staff this week, a British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) study shows.
The BCC’s first Coronavirus Impact Tracker, which surveyed a representative sample of 600 British companies, painted a picture of the effects of the lockdown on cashflow, cash reserves and staff numbers.
While the study found that the majority of firms (62%) have three months’ cash in reserve, it also unearthed the following:
Almost half of respondents (44%) expect to furlough at least 50% of their staff in the next week.
Some 18% of firms reported less than a month’s worth of cash in reserve.
Nearly a third of businesses (32%) said they were planning to furlough between 75 and 100% of their workforce over the next week.
