Members Furlough and Materials Survey Findings

The Furniture Industry Research Association recently conducted a survey of its membership and offer the opportunity of raising industry concerns.

Following is a summary of responses classified into one of three categories:

96% utilised the UK Government Furlough Scheme, with 4% being unsure.

Of those business that did use the Furlough Scheme, 46% are still using it, all of whom are manufacturers (as of 2 July 2021)

The majority of respondents didn’t feel the scheme was hindering recruitment into their business and felt that the scheme helped their organisation through the pandemic.

Respondents who’s business had used the scheme were given the opportunity to comment, 7 comments were received:

Questions then focused on supply chain issues, this showed that 100% of responders have had or are having issues in sourcing materials & experienced a rise in supply chain costs. This has directly impacted business delivery for 80% of them.

Responders were then given the opportunity to feedback any other comments:

• 27% of the responses reference rising supply chain costs as a concern
• 23% of the responses reference shipping costs as a concern
• 15% of the responses reference sourcing of supplies as a concern