Top 10 stories of 2022: Number 3 – Venerable contractor goes under
Over the past week, we’ve been taking a look back over our top ten best-read stories of 2022.
Number 3 in the countdown involves the collapse of an East Midlands contractor founded over 75 years ago.
In mid-September, Robert Woodhead entered voluntary liquidation after Tyrone Courtman and Deviesh Raikundalia of RSM UK Restructuring Advisory were appointed to handle the company’s affairs.
Rumours that something was amiss at the Edwinstowe firm began circulating on social media the evening before the news officially broke. In one particularly revealing post, a member of staff at the company said that “lots of people [had] been hung out to dry” by its apparent collapse.
Woodhead cited well documented market conditions, the impact of rapid price increases throughout the supply chain and fixed price contracts as being the root causes of its downfall.
Managing director Teresa Westwood said the Board was “devastated” at having to make the decision as the vast majority of Woodhead’s 150-plus workforce lost their jobs.
In a statement, Westwood said the company had “worked tirelessly” to mitigate the issues it faced but that these had ultimately proved “insurmountable.”
It subsequently emerged that staff were given less than six hours to prepare themselves for redundancy, and it has also come to light that the firm’s creditors could miss out on over £9.5m owed to them.
