Ellis Patents decided in a board meeting to pay back the full amount it has claimed since Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in March 2020.

The cable cleat manufacturer, whose products are used around the world, took advantage of the scheme between March and September 2020 in a bid to protect its workforce from the consequences of fluctuating demand caused by the pandemic.

Richard Shaw, who took over as chairman of Ellis Patents in late 2020 after 19 years at the helm, said: “This pandemic has created an unprecedented period of uncertainty for business, but the message from Government has been clear – they wanted to protect people, save lives and protect as much of the economy as possible to prevent a post-Covid catastrophe.

"We followed Government guidance and did not close.

"We used the furlough scheme as intended, to protect our workforce through the leanest period.

"At the peak we furloughed 44 per cent of our employees.”

Ellis Patents, which is based in Rillington, has come through 2020 in better shape than could have been conceived in March, but there have been sacrifices all round.

There was no annual pay review for employees at the engineering company, no returns have been delivered to shareholders and cash has been conserved by reducing capital expenditure to essential items only.

“In December we looked at the improving picture and paid a one off Covid bonus to our employees with a promise of a pay review in March,” added Richard.

“While we also knew that we should consider our shareholders, whose continued support has been unstinting, we noted the impact of the furlough scheme in artificially inflating our bottom line.

"It was the unanimous decision of the Board that the company had a social obligation to return this money to the Government before paying any dividend.”

The decision to repay the furlough funds follows a series of significant orders from Latin America during 2020.

Already this year Ellis Patents has announced a big order for its Cable Guide Clamps to be installed in the Sotra Connection – an infrastructure project in Norway that has been described as the biggest in a generation.

Richard took over as chairman of Ellis Patents following Chris Calvert's retirement as founding chairman.

Danny Macfarlane became the new managing director.