The economic impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the United Kingdom has been largely disruptive. It has adversely affected travel, financial markets, employment, a number of industries, and shipping.

Charity fundraising A number of charities reported significant drops in income as a funding hole of £4 billion was identified, as fund-raising events were cancelled.

Several individuals and groups began to raise funds for charitable organisations working to support those affected by the pandemic. 99-year-old Tom Moore raised over £28.2 million, the largest-ever amount raised by a JustGiving campaign.

The London Marathon, the world's biggest annual one-day fundraising event, was postponed from its April slot until October 2020. In 2019 £66.4m was raised for charities on the day of the Marathon. To compensate for the loss of income the Mass Participation Sports Organisers group organised The 2.6 Challenge.

On 18 April, several UK artists participated in Together at Home, a live music event in which artists performed in their own homes, in aid of the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. A version was broadcast on BBC One on 19 April.

Children in Need and Comic Relief announced their first joint initiative, The Big Night In, a telethon broadcast on 23 April. The event raised £27.4 million in just three hours. The UK Government promised to match the total.

Northern Ireland's Chief Charity Commissioner said that the public had been "very altruistic" in its support for Covid-response causes, such as the Big Night In, The 2.6 Challenge and Captain Tom Moore, and encouraged the public to consider all of the charities in existence.

The UK government announced a £750 million package of support for charities across the UK. £370 million of the money was set aside to support small, local charities working with vulnerable people, and was allocated to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the following breakdown £310 million for England £30 million for Scotland £20 million for Wales £10 million for Northern Ireland.

On 27 April Christian Aid advised that its annual fundraising week would go ahead through 10–16 May but without door-to-door envelope delivery and collection and the holding of associated face-to-face fundraising events in favour of encouraging online donations.Coronavirus guidance for Christian Aid Week events and activities christianaid.org.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2020

Clothing retail

Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM), which employs 24,000 people in its retail group that includes clothing brands like Harris Tweed, Peacocks and Jaeger, announced in October 2020 that it will restructure and may sell parts of the group.

Construction and property Many construction sites initially remained operational following the introduction of social distancing rules. Following government advice, contractors including Mace paused work on 24 March.Barratt and Taylor Wimpey shut all sites 24 March 2020 constructionnews.co.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2020 Confusion about what constituted essential work, along with contractors' enforcement of subcontractors' contractual obligations, meant some projects remained operational, and many site workers experienced highly variable application of social distancing precautions (some projects were temporarily halted after workers breached social distancing rules). In Scotland, work was ordered to be suspended on all non-essential construction projects from 6April. Major contractors including Mace, McAlpine, Laing O'Rourke, Wates and Morgan Sindall each put hundreds of workers on furlough. ONS data published in June 2020 showed over 80% of construction businesses had furloughed staff; on average, firms furloughed 42% of their employees. In total, the government funded wages for around 1.5m construction workers, at a total cost (to the end of June 2020) of £5.4 billion. Contractor Wates Group was among the first to announce redundancies (300, around 8% of its workforce) and others followed; in June, the Construction Leadership Council said around 10% of construction workers could lose their jobs by September 2020.

By 17 April, work had halted on 2,434 UK sites (according to a Glenigan survey of projects with a construction value of more than £250,000); approximately £58bn or 35% of total UK construction value had been paused. Glenigan later updated its estimate to say 43% of sites stopped work during the first six weeks of the COVID-19 crisis, with 3,636 sites closed, including 466 in Scotland; Barbour ABI said 4,500 projects, with a total value of £70.7bn, had been delayed.

Reduced construction activity affected materials suppliers: Kingspan reported its UK business had been halved, with global revenues down a third; Marshalls plc reported a 27% drop in sales and contemplated 400 staff redundancies; and on 21 May builders' merchants reported Q1 sales down by 6.7% amid continued shortages of building materials.

In early May: data firm Builders' Conference said construction tender opportunities fell from a monthly average of 664 projects in the 12 months to March 2020 to 220 in April 2020, with 217 available until July; the IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Total Activity Index reported the steepest decline in UK construction output since the survey began in 1997; 115 contracts were awarded in April 2020 compared to 180 in April 2019, while the total value plunged from £2.82bn to £1.25bn, with clients wary of signing off large contracts; and an Irwin Mitchell/Centre for Economics & Business Research report said construction, losing around £300m a day, was one of the three most badly affected economic sectors. The most optimistic of three scenarios in a late May Construction Products Association (CPA) forecast predicted UK construction output would fall 25% in 2020 before rebounding in 2021 (but still finish 6% lower than 2019) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ONS data showed construction output in Great Britain collapsed by a record 40.2% in April 2020; despite a rise in May, output was still down nearly 40% in February 2020 pre-pandemic levels. In August, after site working resumed more quickly than expected after lockdown, the CPA forecast construction output would fall by 20.6% in 2020.

Some contractors, including Mace and McAlpine, later reopened some sites in April. While some larger sites—for example, the £9bn Battersea Power Station redevelopment which had 4,000 workers prior to the lock-down—remained closed, almost 70% of sites in England and Wales operated by 36 Build UK major contractor members were working in late April, rising to 86% on 20 May. Trade union Unite called for the Health and Safety Executive to increase visits to police social distancing on sites. Construction workers became eligible for targeted COVID-19 testing on 28 April. On 10 May, Boris Johnson said construction workers should be "actively encouraged" to return to sites in England and Wales, but the Scottish Government said non-essential construction sites should remain closed. The following day, ONS data showed male construction workers were among those in low-skilled jobs most likely to die after contracting COVID-19 (between 9 March and 25 May, over 360 construction workers died). On 20 May 19% of projects in Scotland were running; on 21 May, Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a gradual lifting of the lockdown in Scotland, with contractors cleared to start site preparations for a phased return to work from 28 May. In early June, Build UK members were operating 97% of sites in England and Wales; 21% of sites in Scotland were running.

Despite the return to site working, programme delays, rising costs, uncertainty about labour availability, social distancing measures, and material delays caused an estimated 35% drop in productivity.

Housebuilding and house sales Following government advice, housebuilders including Barratt and Taylor Wimpey paused work on 24 March. By 8April, work at 80% of UK housebuilding sites had stopped; Barratt put 5,000 of its 6,000 workers on furlough. By 17 April, around 44% of private housing and 32% of social housing schemes were suspended. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, where stricter lockdowns were enforced, 79% and 78% of schemes were suspended respectively. In May, the CPA estimated housebuilding activity had slumped 85% during the lockdown. Housebuilders including Barratt, Taylor Wimpey, Vistry, Persimmon, Redrow and Bellway planned to deploy safe working procedures and reopen sites in late April and early May. Bellway reported in June that sales had fallen by more than two-thirds since the introduction of lockdown, and expected "year-on-year sales activity to be severely constrained until a time when lockdown restrictions are further lifted." Redrow said site closures had pushed house sales down by a third.

An April analysis by estate agent Knight Frank forecast a 38% drop in house sales, equivalent to over half a million transactions, due to the effects of the coronavirus lockdown, reducing government revenues through a £4.4bn fall in stamp duty and a £1.6bn cut in VAT revenue. On 2 June, Nationwide reported house prices fell 1.7% in May from the previous month, the largest monthly fall for 11 years; HMRC data showed residential property transactions down 53% in April compared with 2019; Pantheon Macroeconomics predicted a 5% fall in prices by the end of the third quarter of 2020. On 1 July 2020, new Nationwide data showed a further monthly price fall, of 1.4%, and recorded the first year-on-year fall (0.1%) for eight years.

Food retail

In early March, The Guardian reported that British supermarkets and their suppliers had developed plans to ensure adequate food supplies in case of panic buying. There were reports of hand sanitiser and anti-bacterial products selling out at some supermarkets. Online retailers reported consumers placing unusually large orders while the managing director of the frozen food chain Iceland reported increased sales of "multibuy deals and larger packs".

Some supermarkets and other shops responded by limiting the quantity of popular items that each customer could buy, while others had a limit across their entire range. Sainsbury's introduced a dedicated shopping hour for elderly and disabled customers, as well as giving them priority for online deliveries. Other supermarkets such as Iceland and Morrisons also introduced measures, with Morrisons introducing a range of basic food boxes, to feed two adults for one week. Sainsbury's further announced on 21 March that they would give healthcare workers allocated shopping hours on three mornings a week.

Amazon stopped sellers from sending non-essential products to their warehouses. Selfridges closed all its stores and sold only online.

In response to panic buying, Professor Stephen Powis, medical director at NHS England, said on 21 March that NHS staff were being deprived of food supplies because of the activities of some consumers, and urged people to shop responsibly. Helen Dickinson, head of the British Retail Consortium said that sufficient food was available. She added that an extra £1bn had been spent on food in the preceding three weeks. Environment Secretary George Eustice also urged shoppers to stop panic buying. On the same day several supermarkets began to recruit additional staff.

On 21 March, the government announced that the 5p charge for carrier bags would be waived for online deliveries.

Sainsbury's removed purchasing limits on most items from 5April. On 8April Tesco said it could not meet the increased demand for online shopping despite expanding its home delivery service, and 85–90% of food would need to be bought in store.Coronavirus: Tesco tells people to visit stores to get food 8 April 2020, BBC News. Retrieved 9 April 2020

Finance and the economy