Britishvolt staff take pay cut as it works towards ‘more secure funding position’
Staff at Britishvolt, the government-backed battery manufacturer which earlier this year announced a £200m plan to base its UK battery scale-up facilities at Hams Hall, have agreed a temporary pay cut as it works towards a “more secure funding position.”
The news comes following recent media speculation on the viability of the company after reports earlier this week said it had avoided administration after securing enough backing to stay afloat the “short- to medium-term”.
A statement today from Britishvolt said: “Given the recent speculation concerning the future of Britishvolt, we want to make our situation clear for all our stakeholders.
“We have previously spoken about the need to evolve our business strategy in response to challenging external factors and continue to explore both short- and long-term funding streams that will enable us to deliver on our plans to build a thriving localised, sustainable battery ecosystem based on next-generation cell technology.”
It added that while the weakening economic situation is negatively impacting much business investment at present, it said it is continuing to pursue positive ongoing discussions with potential investors.
“In addition, we have also received promising approaches from several more international investors in the past few days,” it added.
“The result is we have now secured the necessary near-term investment that we believe enables us to bridge over the coming weeks to a more secure funding position for the future. To further reduce our near-term costs, our dedicated employee team has also voluntarily agreed to a temporary salary reduction for the month of November.”
The statement concluded: “We want to thank our employees, suppliers and investors, for their continuing belief in Britishvolt. It is important that Britishvolt is a success not only for the close to 300 employees currently working for the company, but also for the many thousands of jobs we intend to create in the UK as we progress our plans.”