COVID-19: JCB extend UK shutdown

Company pledges to pay employees as production is suspended until at least the end of April

JCB are suspending UK production until at least the end of April as a result of the coronavirus crisis and will continue to pay employees unable to work, the company announced today.

The firm’s nine manufacturing plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham closed on 18 March as disruption resulting from the worldwide coronavirus pandemic caused an unprecedented reduction in global demand.

At that stage, only shop-floor employees were affected by the move and were paid in full during this period, while office staff continued to work a 39-hour week from home.

The news of today’s extended shutdown means that the vast majority of JCB’s 6,500 workforce will now be asked to stop working until at least the end of April. During this period, all affected JCB employees will be paid 80% of their basic pay. Senior JCB directors will not be taking a salary from the company until further notice.

JCB chief executive officer Graeme Macdonald said: ‘These are certainly unprecedented times and none of us expected to find ourselves in this situation.

‘In announcing that all those JCB colleagues asked not to work will receive 80% of their pay, we hope to remove any financial concerns that many people will undoubtedly have had.’

JCB also intend to make an application to the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help offset the cost of their support of employees during this challenging period.

The scheme is designed to support employers in continuing to pay part of employees’ salaries, for employees who would otherwise have been laid off. The Government scheme pays 80% of an employee’s salary up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.

In devising their own scheme, JCB have set no cap and will pay 80% of each affected employee’s pay.