The downturn could result in the loss of nearly one in five jobs in small and medium sized civil engineering businesses in north-east England that are carrying out essential infrastructure work, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association warned yesterday.

About 1,600 jobs, or 11 per cent, have gone in less than a year and another 1,100 could be shed by companies working on activities such as foundation laying for roads, pavements and housing, and on pipelines, buildings, bridges and other infrastructure.

The CECA in the north-east said six months of “half-hearted” government attempts at support had left its SMEs facing a bleak future, with workloads down for around 87 per cent of companies and four out of 10 reporting significant drops. While around half the CECA’s 85 member companies in the region reported being aware of the government’s schemes to help business access funding during the recession, none surveyed had tried to “tackle the complexities” of taking up these initiatives.

This was even though nearly half had met difficulty in getting financial support from banks, 39 per cent had seen a significant rise in banking costs, average payment periods had stretched by a further eight days, disputed bills had risen and 60 per cent of businesses had been asked by clients to accept reduced payment for work fulfilled.

Of the companies, 40 per cent were struggling to secure credit insurance necessary to do their work, 60 per cent had been hit by the business failure of a supplier or client during the past year and 53 per cent were having difficult securing retention money due to them from clients.

CECA regional director Douglas Kell said few companies had benefited from government proposals to speed up public sector work. “We urgently need an easing of financial and bureaucratic shackles holding back vital projects,” he said.
Source:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/62f6c294-3b20-11de-ba91-00144feabdc0.html