Crossrail experienced a downturn in productivity during the Covid-19 lockdown due to its supply chain partners furloughing workers, it has emerged.
Board minutes from the end of May (but just made public), reveal that Crossrail board members were concerned by the speed at which suppliers could remobilise their staff following site closures.
In particular, the minutes attribute this to suppliers using the government’s furlough scheme.
“‘Furlough’ seemed to be having an impact on productivity and how quickly the supply chain could remobilise their staff. The Board REQUESTED for clarity on the issue of the impact of furlough on smaller suppliers’ availability,” the minutes state.
Consequently, Crossrail chief programme officer Jim Crawford was instructed to include “statistics on the productivity of niche working […] on the weekly dashboard”.
The minutes also reveal that Crossrail began “monitoring” the liquidity of its supply chain partners at this time.
A Crossrail spokesperson added that “critical suppliers” were identified prior to lockdown, and “bench agreements” were put in place with nine suppliers. “This meant that CRL took the risk of supply chain employees not being fully productive in return for ensuring they were available, rather than the critical supplier carrying the risks and furloughing key staff,” the spokesperson said.
The construction sector is estimated to have furloughed 680,000 workers, according to HMRC statistics. An analysis carried out by NCE found that more than 7,000 workers have subsequently been laid off in the UK alone.
Published earlier this month, Crossrail board minutes from April revealed that a “lack of urgency” to get Crossrail completed on time and budget emerged in the month before the country went into lockdown.
The board minutes from the end of April reveal that “poor performance” was recorded in March, in the weeks leading up to the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.
Last month, Crossrail Ltd board revealed that the planned opening of the Elizabeth Line next summer will not be achieved, citing the impact of Covid-19 as cause for the delay.
A revised cost and schedule for Crossrail is due to be published this month.
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