Nottingham software firm accused of making ‘unlawful’ job cuts

A Nottingham software firm has been accused of making “unlawful” redundancies after it emerged that it was set to swing the axe on 33 roles before Christmas.

Lockwood Publishing, which is based in the recently refurbished City Buildings on Carrington Street in Nottingham, has failed to conduct collective consultations on the redundancies, according to unions, and has “repeatedly flouting” employing law.

Lockwood Publishing produced the mobile game Avakin Life, which has over 200 million registered users and secured a $25m investment in 2020.

The IWGB union says the firm has tried to “railroad” redunancies through before Christmas.

One Lockwood employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “One day without any previous notice, HR called us into an agendaless meeting. We were told we were at risk of redundancy but not given any real explanation as to why. Some people had their work accounts deactivated within minutes and were told they couldn’t say goodbye to their co-workers.”

CEO Halli Bjornsson said: “The decision to make redundancies is never easy. I know it is incredibly hard for people to have to leave their jobs and I’m truly sorry that we have had to make this tough decision. We have had to refocus our strategy as our growth trajectory slowed through Covid.

“We have tried to safeguard the jobs of as many of our team as possible, and redeploy people where we can.

“So far, as part of our consultation process, we have accepted nine voluntary redundancy requests. Seven other people have been made redundant, and there is one more outstanding redundancy.

“We have redeployed five people whose roles were at risk to other roles in the business; and we have accepted two counter proposals, keeping those roles in the business.

“We have taken legal advice throughout, working closely with our legal team, and have been in discussion with the IWGB Union, and we believe we have followed a legal process.

“I am really sorry to see team members leave Lockwood, and I know this period will be hard for those leaving, and unsettling for those staying. The tough decisions we take are to safeguard the future of our business, and to secure the roles of as many people at Lockwood as possible.”

A statement from Kevin Agwaze, chair of the IWGB Gameworkers Branch, said: “We have been supporting our members at Lockwood as they have fought against the cruel and short-sighted decisions of their employer to sack their colleagues in a process deemed illegitimate and unlawful. Senior management complaining about financial difficulties – whilst paying themselves huge salaries – is not a good look. Gameworkers are realising that they have rights as workers and are coming together to organise through their union. This isn’t the wild west. Like workers at Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft, our members are taking action. We won’t take these redundancies lying down.”

In 2019 Lockwood was named in the 19th annual Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s private technology, media and telecoms (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales.