House repair firms poised to shed more than 40 jobs

Twenty-five compulsory redundancies are being made at Connaught Partnerships, with a further 16 going at Kingston Works Ltd (KWL).

As well as operating repairs and maintenance contracts on behalf of the council, both firms are working on a programme of improvements across the city to bring properties up to the Government's Decent Homes standard.

Workers' representatives at the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Ucatt) said they had not being consulted over the

losses at KWL and called for "urgent" talks.

Dave Oglesby, East Yorkshire spokesman for Ucatt, said: "There has been no consultation with us at all.

"We have written to them asking them to stop the process to meet and have a meaningful consultation. We want to know the reasons behind these redundancies."

KWL said it was working with those affected to try to find new jobs.

It said in a statement: "Due to the contraction of work and budgets combined with having to maintain best value to its customers, the company regrettably finds it necessary to make a number of redundancies across specific areas of the business.

"After careful consideration, KWL is making every effort to keep to a minimum the numbers of redundancies involved, which is expected to be approximately 16 staff."

A council spokeswoman said: "Redundancies are always regrettable, and we appreciate that KWL has looked at all opportunities available through other contract partners and explored every avenue possible to avoid them."

A spokesman for Connaught Partnerships said the company expected to complete its Decent Homes contract at the end of August, and had also

tried to find other work for its staff.

He added: "Unfortunately, none of these routes has offered a solution and it is therefore with great regret that we have recently completed the redundancy consultation process, and the 25 members of staff

affected have received notice of redundancy."

In 2007 the council said more than 200m would be spent over the next five years carrying out improvements to about 28,000 properties.