Britishvolt avoids going into administration after securing short-term funding lifeline

Staff have also agreed to take a month-long pay cut to help prevent the start-up firm from going under.

Britishvolt is behind plans to build a £3.8bn gigafactory in Cambois, which is set to transform the fortunes of south east Northumberland and create thousands of new jobs.

But it has had a challenging few months due to ‘rampant’ inflation and the soaring cost of energy, which has led to production being pushed back to mid-2025.

On Monday it was reported the firm was on the brink of collapse, but it has since been approached by potential investors.

A spokesman said: “We are continuing to pursue positive ongoing discussions with potential investors.

"In addition, we have also received promising approaches from several more international investors in the past few days.

“The result is we have now secured the necessary near-term investment that we believe enables us to bridge over the coming weeks to a more secure funding position for the future.

"To further reduce our near-term costs, our dedicated employee team has also voluntarily agreed to a temporary salary reduction for the month of November.”

Britishvolt was promised £100m worth of government funding in January by the-then Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who labelled the development as “exactly what levelling up looks like”.

It has also received tens of millions of pounds of financial backing from FTSE 100 metals firm Glencore.

It is understood the firm wanted to draw down nearly a third of the funding early, but the government refused.

Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery said that he was relieved Britishvolt had secured some emergency funding “to keep them going for a short period of time”.

He added: “This project has the potential to transform the economic landscape of south east Northumberland, providing thousands of well-paid, local jobs in a long held back region.

"This project was hailed as a key development in the government’s levelling up plans, and if they were serious about improving long held back regions areas like south east Northumberland, then they should be throwing their full support and financial backing behind Britishvolt and this gigafactory.”