BT Group contributes nearly £1bn to North East economy
BT Group is responsible for generating £1 in every £50 produced in the North East’s economy, according to an independent report published today.
‘The Economic Impact of BT Group plc in the UK’ report, by Hatch Regeneris, shows that the communications company generated a £973 million contribution – expressed as “Gross Value Added” (GVA)* – to the North East economy during the 2017/18 financial year.
The report estimates that the equivalent of 13,700 full-time jobs in the North East are supported through BT’s direct employment, its spending with contractors and suppliers and the spending of its employees.
BT Group directly employs 8,130 people in the North East, with a further 1,130 employed as contractors. It’s estimated that BT Group supports one in every 50 employees working in the North East’s private sector, reinforcing its position as one of the region’s leading employers.
The Group also spent nearly £39 million with suppliers based in the North East.
Across the UK, BT Group directly employed 94,800 people (FTE) and supported an estimated total of 290,000 full-time jobs. It also generated, in total, almost £23bn (£22.8bn) to the UK economy.
BT’s Consumer division and EE employ around 6,000 people at their six major customer service centres in the region. BT Group and EE are making major investments in the North East, bringing 5G to Newcastle and Gateshead in 2019 building on major full fibre infrastructure already underway.
Tim Fanning, Director at Hatch Regeneris, said: “Our analysis underlines how vast BT Group’s contribution is to the UK economy, particularly across the nations and regions.
“BT Group is almost unique in contributing to the economies of virtually every community across the UK, supporting significant levels of GVA spend and employment opportunities per region.”
The report from Hatch Regeneris comes in addition to a recent report by PWC1 which highlighted that BT Group is the 5th highest tax contributor in the UK among FTSE 100 companies, and the highest contributor among non-financial companies. The PWC report also identified BT as the largest capital expenditure investor in the UK.
Kieran Charleson, BT Group Regional Director, North of England, said: ““Few companies play as important a role in the North East as BT Group. Not only does BT connect friends, families and businesses across the UK, but we also make a significant contribution to the region’s economy.
“We’re proud to be one of the region’s largest private sector employers and investors. Our investments, including the latest 5G mobile technology through our mobile network EE, will ensure the UK continues to be one of the world’s best-connected economies.
“With 9,250 people directly employed in the region, spending their salaries in local businesses, as well as regularly volunteering on activities such as our Barefoot tech literacy programme in schools, our people are at the heart of the community.”
The report includes the contribution of all parts of BT Group, including Openreach, mobile network provider EE and BT’s Consumer and Enterprise divisions.
The report highlights that, across the North East in 2017/18, BT Group:
Directly employed a total of 9,250 people (FTE, including contractors) and supported an estimated 13,700 full-time jobs
Spent £39 million with suppliers based in the North East
Generated £973 million total GVA impact (including indirect and induced effects)
Directly employed 1 in every 100 employees in the private sector across the North East, and 1 in every 4 in the IT and Communications sectors
Supported £1 in every £50 of GVA in the North East’s economy and 1 in every 50 employees working in the region’s private sector.
Across the UK in 2017/18, BT Group:
Directly employed 94,800 people (FTE) and supported an estimated total of 290,000 full-time jobs
Employees committed more than 37,000 volunteering days to worthy causes
Spent £510 million on research and development, making it one of the UK’s top investors in innovation
The full report is available at: www.bt.com/reports
ENDS
Notes to Editors
*Gross Value Added (GVA) measures the value of all goods and services produced in an economy. GVA combines wages and operating profits from companies and other organisations. Growing GVA can reflect improvements in workforce skills, productivity, R&D and innovation. The figures for BT show the value added directly through BT's services and additional value generated through BT's suppliers across the nations and regions.
1 PWC Total Tax Contribution of UK FTSE100 companies 2018. BT is:
5th highest contributor (amongst FTSE100 respondents) of UK taxes (borne and collected) – with the 4 slots above BT occupied by banks (HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, RBS);
4th highest payer of UK wages and salaries;
2nd highest overall distributor of “value” into the UK, where value is the sum of taxes borne, taxes collected, wages and salaries paid, interest paid, and equity returns (which are available for reinvestment, dividends and pension deficit payments) ;
Highest capex investor.
