Jobs fear as housing company collapses

YORKSHIRE workers for social housing giant Connaught are among those warned of job losses following its collapse.

But KPMG – appointed as administrators for the main company, its subsidiary Connaught Partnerships and Connaught Technical Solutions – said it hopes to transfer most staff to other providers along with continuing contracts.

Exeter-based repair and maintenance specialist Connaught employs around 4,400 staff at the social housing arm, which is the largest division placed in administration.

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Regional bases affected include those in Leeds, where Connaught Partnerships is based, Glasgow, Bromsgrove, Crawley and Essex.

More than 4,500 staff work at its other subsidiaries that have not been placed in administration – Connaught Compliance and Connaught Environment.

The administration of its main division has left around 280 contracts for councils and public sector bodies up in the air, as well as causing uncertainty for suppliers and contractors.

Local authorities in the region said they had contingency plans in place ahead of the decision by the firm to call in the administrators following talks with the group over the past month.

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KPMG said it was seeking to transfer contracts and was working with councils and housing associations to "minimise disruption".

It added: "The administrators are hopeful that the majority of staff will be transferred to alternative providers. However, to the extent that alternative providers do not take on employees then redundancies will need to be made.

"Decisions regarding redundancies will be announced as soon as possible."

It is also reviewing staff requirements at the head office and will announce any job losses as soon as possible.

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Connaught was thrown into turmoil after warning in June that Government spending cuts could blow a 200m hole in revenues over this year and next.

Bosses at Connaught held crunch talks with its lenders, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, and other potential financiers in efforts to keep the company afloat but it told investors late on Tuesday it was left with no option other than to start the process of administration after failing to secure financing.

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