 On 30 March, Kier announced all 6,500 Kier employees would have their base salary reduced by between 7.5% and 25% for three months from 1 April; it stepped up its cost reduction programme, bringing forward the closure of Tempsford Hall to 30 April (head office functions were transferred to Manchester in mid April), and paused the sale of its housebuilding business, Kier Living.Kier also closed its Reading office with the loss of up to 40 jobs.On 1 July 2020, Kier announced it was considering a further rights issue to raise cash as average net debt had risen due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; average month-end net debt was up from £395m in December 2019 to £440m, and could rise to £485m.