Employees at UK battery firm Britishvolt have agreed to take a pay cut this month, due to fears that the business could run out of money, with executives not taking any pay at all.
A total of 300 members of staff will take a reduction in pay for the month of November, in order to reduce near-term costs for the business, although it did not state the specific terms of the pay cut.
The government previously committed £100 million in total to Britishvolt for its £3.8 billion factory in Blyth, Northumberland, which would build batteries for electric vehicles. The project was expected to create 3,000 jobs but was delayed several times due to a struggle in finding investors.
The firm wanted to draw down an early £30 million funding advance earlier this week from the government, but it rejected the request.
Since then, Britishvolt stated that it has raised enough money from an unnamed investor to keep going until early December, which it will use to bridge over the coming weeks for a more secure future funding position.
According to the business, it is important that the project is a success not only for the employees currently working for it, but also for the many thousands of jobs it intends to create in the UK as it progresses its plans.
A Britishvolt spokesperson said: “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.
“While the weakening economic situation is negatively impacting much business investment at present, at Britishvolt we are 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. We want to thank our employees, suppliers and investors, for their continuing belief in Britishvolt.”
