300 NW jobs go as Rok lays off 1,800 staff
ADMINISTRATORS acting for stricken housing maintenance firm Rok have made 1,800 staff redundant with 302 jobs cut from the firm’s North West operations.
Rok’s Bolton site bore the brunt with 221 redundancies while 46 jobs have gone in Chester and 35 in Liverpool. The losses represent around half of Rok’s workforce in the region.
PwC said that after reviewing “the ongoing requirements of the business in light of dialogue with interested parties approximately 1,800 redundancies have been announced” from Rok’s 3,800-strong workforce.
The redundancies have been made in the maintenance and improvements division throughout the UK and also in the construction business in Scotland. Rok’s construction and social housing division in England remains unaffected as PwC looks to sell it.
Rob Hunt, partner and joint administrator at PwC, said: “Regrettably, the redundancies made today were necessary as it became clear in the last 24 hours that we were not going to be able to find a purchaser for these parts of the group.
“Operations cannot continue and hence we have had to take steps to close both the maintenance and improvements division as well as the Scottish construction division. We have retained a small workforce to assist us in this process.”
He added: “We continue to maintain a dialogue with parties interested in the construction and social housing business in England. This division employs approximately 500 people and we expect to have further updates during this week.”
