Prioritise help for workers plea

Nearly 1,000 workers have lost their jobs so far as a result of the Carillion disaster – with more feared to be on the way.

A further 101 redundancies announced today (February 8) by the Official Receiver takes the current total up to 930.

Around 30,000 jobs have been put at risk after the firm went into liquidation three weeks ago.

The news comes after it was revealed that as they steered the firm into the rocks, Carillion bosses paid more in shareholder dividends than staff pension contributions and handed themselves huge salaries and bonuses.

Jobs lost

The fresh round of job losses affected 101 workers who were directly employed by Carillion on public and private sector contracts.

A spokesman for the Official Receiver said it had managed to safeguard 2,000 jobs so far.

He said, “Regrettably, we are also announcing that 101 roles have been made redundant. These are a mix of back-office functions and engineering support roles that new suppliers no longer require.

“We continue to engage with staff, elected employee representatives and unions throughout.

“Those who have lost their jobs will be able to find support through Jobcentre Plus’ Rapid Response Service and are also entitled to make a claim for statutory redundancy payments.”

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said the union fears that there will be more redundancies over the coming days.

Critical

“It is critical that the Redundancy Payments Office is on the front foot and ensures that the Carillion workers who have lost their jobs are quickly compensated in order to make ends meet,” Cartmail said.

“The government’s taskforce into Carillion needs to prioritise providing assistance to workers who have been made redundant, to help ensure they can swiftly return to work, including job-matching activities.”

On Tuesday, Carillion bosses appearing before MPs issued apologies for the collapse but refused to take any direct responsibility for the disaster or return huge bonuses paid during the firm’s final months.

Following the appearance, Labour MPs and select committee chairs, Rachel Reeves and Frank Field, branded them “delusional”.

In joint statement, they said, “This morning a series of delusional characters maintained that everything was hunky dory until it all went suddenly and unforeseeably wrong.

“We heard variously that this was the fault of the Bank of England, the foreign exchange markets, advisers, Brexit, the snap election, investors, suppliers, the construction industry, the business culture of the Middle East and professional designers of concrete beams.

“Everything we have seen points the fingers in another direction – to the people who built a giant company on sand in a desperate dash for cash.”