Covid-19 Update

Good afternoon,

In light of the government and prime minister’s recent changes to advice and guidance, Blue Light Group has the following message for its clients outlining our position and strategy for the coming period of time,

Staff

Our greatest asset as a company is our workforce. Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak we have been disseminating up to date guidance and directions to our employees. This advice has varied from site to site but in general revolves around self protection and the protection of those around our staff. The nature of some of our deployments lends itself favourably to these measures, where lone workers find themselves suddenly in the most fortunate of working situations, not being exposed to large numbers of people, with little physical interaction. For small teams of staff, it has meant marginally different directives around activities such as greeting the public, interacting with each other and travel plans. In the most extreme of changes, we have declined to deploy staff to venues and sites we believe to be the most at risk of large-scale infections. As of now, this has been met with great understanding by our clients, and we thank them for that. 

On a separate note, we are offering varied support to a number of staff members who are concerned about the impact this pandemic is and will continue to have on their lives. We are researching all possible financial support available to our staff and working alongside them to do what we can in order to support their needs at this time.

Logistics

Travel to and from sites is always a huge hurdle for us, as we deploy hundreds of staff up and down the country each week. Currently, the lack of a travel ban lends itself favourably to us. A recent study conducted by us of staff travel habits indicated that over 50% of our workforce relied heavily on public transport to attend work. The remaining percentage is made up largely of those who are fortunate enough to live close by their regular places of work, and around 5% of our staff drive a vehicle to work. Our local resourcing policies have, unwittingly, alleviated many of our concerns regarding ability to attend their places of work. We have every confidence that in the apparent likelihood of a ban on all but pedestrian travel to essential work destinations, we will still have the resilience to provide support to all of our clients nationwide. 

Financial

As a relatively newly formed company, incorporating in May 2018 and beginning trading in November of that year, a small number of clients have enquired as to our ability to ‘ride the storm’, and continue to be able to provide our services once COVID-19 is no longer a national threat and this period of time is behind us. While we are by no means a national powerhouse with reserves alleviating all concerns, we have been financially astute throughout trading, and have made small provisions for a contingency situation such as this - albeit we had hoped we wouldn’t have to need this at such an early stage! As part of our overall corporate strategy, business continuity has, and continues to be, at the forefront of our priorities. Rest assured that Blue Light Group is equipped to deal with the economic turbulence we expect to see, provided our clients and partners continue to work alongside us in the relationships we have built. 

Support for businesses

As ever, please be reassured that we are on hand to assist with any business support during this time. In recent days we have provided a number of staff to sites to assist with day-to-day running and management of many different businesses. We have covered sickness absence and are continuing to support a number of sites with vacant possession. At this uncertain time, clients and land owners are understandably concerned about the safety and security of their assets. While civil unrest is not currently a relevant topic today, it’s not unreasonable to at least consider the options available to you. 

In closing, thank you for your support and understanding at this time, and our phones are always open for any questions, queries or concerns you have.

Luke Brice

Director

0800 999 1829