Deal could secure Merseyside Connaught jobs
AROUND 200 Connaught workers in Merseyside could get their jobs back after a contract with Sefton Council was sold to the housing and mainenance provider Mears.
Yesterday a further 700 staff were made redundant at Connaught Partnerships, the social housing division of Connaught, despite eight contracts being transferred to Mears.
Administrators at the Manchester office of accountancy firm KPMG are hopeful the Mears transfer will lead to jobs for some of the 600 staff made redundant from those contracts it has taken on.
The latest round of cuts takes the total to 1,400, or a third of the 4,200 people employed at Connaught Partnerships when it went into administration.
Leeds-based Connaught Partnerships, provides maintenance services to social housing associations across the UK and went into administration alongside the building services group’s parent company, Connaught, which is based in Exeter, last week.
Some 700 redundancies were also made last Friday despite Morgan Sindall completing a £28m deal to acquire the majority of Connaught Partnerships’ contracts and transferring around 2,800 staff to its business.
Joint administrator Brian Green said: “We have now transferred the vast majority of Connaught Partnerships’ contracts to new providers, safeguarding the majority of jobs and ensuring continuity of service for tenants. To do this within days of the company going into administration is remarkable, and is a testament to the commitment of everyone involved in securing the future of these contracts in a very difficult situation.”
