{"id":7935,"date":"2026-10-06T00:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T23:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/?p=7935"},"modified":"2026-10-05T13:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T12:28:50","slug":"alexander-dennis-hits-back-over-unpaid-furlough-scheme-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/news\/7935-alexander-dennis-hits-back-over-unpaid-furlough-scheme-claims","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Dennis hits back over unpaid furlough scheme claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexander Dennis has called on the UK and Scottish governments to create “a stable, long-term pipeline of orders” for domestically-built buses in a response to criticisms of its decision to move production elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Last June, the company proposed closing both of its Scottish manufacturing sites – at Falkirk and Larbert – with up to 400 jobs at risk of redundancy. In September, a 26-week furlough scheme was agreed with the Scottish Government to protect jobs and long-term manufacturing capacity.<\/p>\n

However, the \u00a34.1m support package was unused, as Alexander Dennis failed to meet the conditions of the grant.<\/p>\n

A question in the Scottish Parliament at the end of September confirmed that the company accepted the terms of the grant offer, including the evidencing of contracts, before any payment from the government could be made.<\/p>\n

“The business has since changed its manufacturing plans for Scotland and consequently is unable to satisfy the agreed grant conditions, for this reason, the Scottish Government has not paid furlough support to Alexander Dennis,” was the response, adding: “We continue to work closely with the company to secure continuity of employment for the highly-skilled workers at Alexander Dennis, and the future of manufacturing in Scotland.”<\/p>\n

Scottish Labour’s Falkirk MP Euan Stainbank commented at the time: “The jobs at Alexander Dennis are vital to Falkirk\u2019s economy, and the people working them need to be able to rely on their government to back them.<\/p>\n

“We need the Scottish Government, the UK Government and the company to work together to support workers, commit to building buses in Scotland and secure a pathway back to bringing orders back to Scotland.”<\/p>\n

\"Some

Some of Alexander Dennis’ zero-emissions vehicles<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Alexander Dennis has now responded, pointing out that the furlough scheme was contingent on the government’s announcement of an additional \u00a340m in ScotZEB2 funding, which it expected would deliver a significant volume of new bus orders.<\/p>\n

However, this funding extension was cancelled by Scottish ministers and was replaced by a new funding competition, ScotZEB3, which “materially changed the expected order pipeline on which the original furlough scheme had been based”.<\/p>\n

As it became clear that the expected order volumes from the new process would be lower than previously anticipated, Alexander Dennis “began considering options to maintain viable bus production in Scotland, including the in-sourcing of chassis production”.<\/p>\n

At the end of March, Alexander Dennis proposed converting its Larbert facility to a chassis manufacturing site<\/a>, supporting all of its low-emission and zero-emission buses, while the legacy Falkirk factory would still close. This proposal would save approximately 200 manufacturing and support jobs previously at risk of redundancy, while retaining approximately 350 roles within Scotland.<\/p>\n

Up to 115 roles would be placed at risk of potential redundancy, although Alexander Dennis stated that it would retain the flexibility to reintroduce bus body manufacturing to its Larbert facility at a later date.<\/p>\n

“When the ScotZEB3 outcome was announced, more than half of the buses were awarded to overseas manufacturers, thus reinforcing the company’s proposed course of action,” the company stated. “To date, Alexander Dennis has yet to receive any new bus orders from ScotZEB3.”<\/p>\n

Since March, the company has invested millions of pounds into the Larbert factory, which it said demonstrates a focus on the long-term viability of Scottish operations “and any inference that there was a pre-determined plan to close operations is totally incorrect”.<\/p>\n

Its statement continued: “The costs borne by the company to protect jobs and skills significantly exceed the \u00a34.1m of furlough support originally on offer.”<\/p>\n

Alexander Dennis is now calling for a partnership across the industry, supported by government policy, to provide the long-term visibility manufacturers need to invest.<\/p>\n

Paul Davies, president and managing director at Alexander Dennis, said: “The suggestion that the furlough scheme failed because Alexander Dennis did not meet the agreed conditions tells only part of the story.<\/p>\n

“Any fair assessment of the situation will recognise that the withdrawal of the additional ScotZEB2 funding created an orderbook shortfall that ultimately led to our move to adapt Larbert to a chassis manufacturing facility.”<\/p>\n

Davies added that Alexander Dennis is Scotland’s only domestic bus manufacturer – and has spare capacity – while Scottish taxpayers’ money continues to subsidise buses built overseas.<\/p>\n

“If the UK and Scottish governments create a stable, long-term pipeline of orders for domestically built zero-emission buses, Alexander Dennis is ready to invest, grow and reinstate bus body manufacturing in the region.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bus builder has called on government to prioritise domestic manufacturing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278857,"featured_media":3146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782,47996],"coauthors":[137126],"class_list":["post-7935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-transport","tag-featured-story","tag-tayside-fife","tag-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\nAlexander Dennis hits back over unpaid furlough scheme claims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The bus builder has called on government to prioritise domestic manufacturing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/scotland\/news\/7935-alexander-dennis-hits-back-over-unpaid-furlough-scheme-claims\" 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