Two-in-five finance chiefs at UK businesses have said they plan to cut jobs in the next six months. The ICAEW survey of 800 senior finance executives also found one third had already cut jobs since the start of lockdown and 54% said their organisation had furloughed staff. Additionally, 28% of respondents said their organisations were hiring, while 27% said their firms had a recruitment freeze. The finance chiefs broadly backed government efforts to protect jobs so far, with 76% saying the policy response had been “very successful” or “fairly successful” in mitigating a rise in unemployment as a result of COVID-19.
Iain Wright, ICAEW director for business and industrial strategy, said: “What we need to see in the chancellor’s autumn budget is a social, education and industrial strategy which combines protection and re-training for displaced workers over the short and medium term, with intervention and investment to create jobs with a future – especially in the green and scientific sectors.”
Read more: City AM