The Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM) has welcomed Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) staged return to production and the launch of a funding stream to stabilise suppliers — but warned that serious liquidity problems continue to threaten smaller firms deeper in the UK automotive supply chain.
CBM President Stephen Morley said the carmaker’s payment scheme was a “welcome boost to liquidity” for top-tier suppliers but cautioned that the benefits were not reaching tier 2, 3 and 4 businesses.
“JLR is to be applauded for its hard work in getting funds in place and for producing a workable payment scheme,” Morley said. “However, there are still key issues, especially for smaller firms. Understanding what qualifies a supplier for support is paramount, and there is still reliance on the goodwill of tier one suppliers to pass payments down. In some cases, we know this hasn’t happened.”
In a call with CBM leadership, Industry Minister Chris McDonald confirmed that the government had convened major banks to discuss emergency support for firms affected by production delays and supply chain disruption.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
