Responding to the UK business impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19)

As well as serious implications for people's health and the healthcare services, coronavirus (COVID-19) is having a significant impact on businesses and the economy. We are working closely with organisations both in the UK and globally to help them prepare and respond.

To support organisations with their response to the ongoing impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) we’ve gathered our practical insights and guides together in one place. From updates on what the latest Government response will mean for your business, to podcasts and more on where to focus your strategy over the coming weeks and months, we are here to help.

Common issues that many organisations are facing

Our teams brings expertise from across our global network to support you with your COVID-19 response and help you get clarity, control and confidence.

Crisis scenario planning and management

We are supporting clients to:

  • lead their crisis response
  • provide additional strategic and operational capacity to manage the crisis
  • stand up and run a crisis PMO / war room
  • produce detailed scenarios including ‘reasonable worst case scenario’ and assessing business impact
  • use these insights as part of the replanning and modelling process

Cashflow management and rapid cost reduction

We are supporting clients to:

  • produce and review cashflow forecasts
  • apply for Government funding
  • identify the cost reduction levers available to the business to improve the liquidity position (e.g. cancel non essential orders, rationalise shifts or implement changes to working weeks)
  • modelling changing customer needs and behaviours

Workforce

We are supporting clients to:

  • understand, model and apply for Government schemes (e.g. CCFF, CLBILS, CBILS and CJRS in the UK)
  • tackle complex immigration, pensions and employment tax matters
  • plan and project manage key COVID-19 response workstreams (e.g. engagement, communications and remote working)
  • rapidly redeploy their employees to emerging needs, based on a fuller understanding of roles, skills and availability

Employment and tax

We are supporting clients to:

  • make critical decisions and communicate what this means to their employees
  • consider their options for employees, including local Government funding (e.g. Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in the UK)
  • access tax reliefs and grants
  • consider deferring pension contributions in order to preserve cash

Business, technology resilience and cyber security

We are supporting clients to:

  • develop their approach to risk and controls (e.g. supervision and management)
  • test the resilience and cyber security risks of their enhanced IT infrastructure
  • secure newly implemented or scaled remote working practices and ensure the continuity of critical security functions
  • counter opportunistic threat actors
  • assess and implement controls to mitigate against new risks created by the new working environment
  • investigate fraud and misconduct

Supply chain management

We are supporting clients to:

  • reassess lead time and volatility to manage stock levels
  • assess financial viability and other measures for critical suppliers
  • manage risks of onboarding new suppliers
  • assess surety of supply and substitution options
  • support in implementing contingency replenishment process and controlled intake

Execution services and surge capacity

We are supporting clients to:

  • deliver operations, including shared service centres, call centres and payments processing
  • manage resource capacity issues as they deal with a peak in demand or fill resource gaps (e.g. providing additional call centre support for customers)
  • provide additional resource to bridge resourcing gaps (e.g. critical roles)

Regulatory, compliance and claims

We are supporting clients to:

  • tracking new regulatory changes (deadline changes as well as new rules), assessing impact and replanning
  • assessing regulatory permissions and policy exceptions
  • run contract reviews, including; assessing impacts of Force Majeure or Pandemic clauses and supporting commercial discussions and claims
  • track and quantify the financial impact of COVID-19 using business interruption principles (e.g. relating to claims, contracts)

Contact us

Umang Paw

Umang Paw

Deals Chief Technology Officer & Innovation Leader, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)7931 304666

Melanie Butler

Melanie Butler

Partner, Digital & Forensic Investigations, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)7801 216737

Nicola Shield

Nicola Shield

Ethics Partner, PwC United Kingdom

Suwei Jiang

Suwei Jiang

Lead Partner of China & Southeast Asia Business Group, Strategic International Markets, PwC United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)7932 007128

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