Financial results for 2020

Impact of Covid-19

The results demonstrate the impact of Covid-19 and strategic decisions to exit non-core business areas, including the Group’s medical reporting and rehabilitation business which accounted for approximately £20m of the fall in 2020 revenue. Our ongoing investment in areas of strategic importance such as technology, are also reflected in these results.

Operational highlights

Other highlights of the period of 2020 include:

• 6.8% higher caseload than 2019 with 46,000 new cases
• The signing of a new partnership with ExamWorks and the acquisition of Jigsaw Law
• Rapid implementation of connected working (our hybrid working approach) with 97% of our 1,700 staff successfully working from home within a week of the first UK national lockdown
• 11% reduction in cost base including the closure of several smaller office locations as colleagues transitioned to connected working
• £7m investment in technology during the year (£22m over 3 years)
• Over 87,000 hours of training delivered to our people
• Strong balance sheet position with net assets of £107.9m and cash of £13.8m.

CEO's statement

David Whitmore, CEO of Slater and Gordon said:

“Our business responded phenomenally well to the challenges we faced as the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020. Although Covid had a significant impact on our business due to the way in which lockdowns and widespread working from home led to a reduction in road usage and therefore in personal injury claims, we acted quickly to adapt and embrace change.

As well as accelerating our move to Connected Working, which was already in train before the pandemic, we reduced overhead costs where possible and made strategic decisions to exit non-Core areas.

We remain committed to investing in technology, particularly in initiatives which we know will improve the customer experience such as our micase RTA platform, as well as enabling our people to work flexibly and dynamically from any location.

We have a strong and committed team in place and we continue to build many successful and mutually beneficial partnerships with other organisations – from commercial partners to charities – across all our practice areas.

While we expect that our 2021 numbers will continue to demonstrate a Covid impact, we entered 2021 well-placed to take advantage of many opportunities offered by regulatory reform, such as the CLA changes, as well market consolidation. We have made strong strides to position the business strategically for the future and we move into 2022 confident in our market position.”

Future information

The 2020 results were published later than usual due to the extension in reporting deadlines as a result of the pandemic.

Our 2021 results can be found here.

Slater and Gordon’s Strategic Report for 2020 can be viewed here.

For more information, call Slater and Gordon on 0330 107 6501 or contact us online and we'll be happy to help you.

All information was correct at the time of publication.