Legal claim launched by former Beaumont Morgan staff

Staff affected by the collapse of Manchester-based contractor Beaumont Morgan Developments are to take legal action over lack of consultation during the redundancy process.

Beaumont Morgan is the construction arm of Fortis Group and is based at Lancastrian Office Centre on Talbot Road in Stretford.

The £47m turnover company which was delivering the 900-home Fortis Quay at Salford Quays, collapsed three weeks ago blaming the pandemic and the inflationary cost pressures.

Manchester law firm Simpson Millar has been contacted by several former workers who claim they were not consulted over the job losses.

Its specialist employment team has now begun investigations into whether a protective award can be secured for those affected.

The firm has also urged those affected to take action if they too would like to be involved in the legal action, as ex-employees have just three months less one day from when they were made redundant to make a claim.

Anita North, an employment law expert at Simpson Millar, explains: “The huge pressure put upon the construction industry in recent months has been widely reported, but no doubt the recent news regarding the collapse of Beaumont Morgan Developments will have come as a huge shock to its many employees.

“Over the past few days we have spoken to a growing number of people who have been directly affected as a result of job losses, and are in the early stages of investigating whether more should have done to consult with staff.

“We are currently in touch with a handful of people, but if anyone else would also like to speak to us as about securing a protective award we would urge them to reach out soon as there is a limited window of opportunity to file a claim.”

Beaumont Morgan focused on residential projects in Manchester and the North West.

It had attempted to diversify in recent years and employed about 60 people, according to its last set of accounts.

It is one of many contractors to appoint administrators in recent years. Pochins, Bardsley Construction, Goodwins Construction Services Group, Harry Fairclough, Cruden Construction and Artez have all gone bust in recent years.