Carillion collapse: More than 4,000 jobs saved on defence and prisons contracts

Thousands more jobs have been salvaged at the former industry giant Carillion after a series of contracts were transferred to other providers, it has been announced today.

The official receiver has provided 4,418 employees with the welcome news who were working in cleaning and catering for defence bases and prison facilities management. 

However, a further 59 employees that were working on construction projects have lost their jobs, which takes the total amount of redundancies to just under 1,000 following the firm’s liquidation. 

A spokesperson for the official receiver said: “Arrangements have now been finalised to transfer prison facilities management and defence bases catering and cleaning contracts to new providers and as a result we have been able to safeguard employment for a further 4,418 employees. Ongoing employment has been confirmed for more than a third of Carillion’s workforce so far as part of the liquidation. There is a lot of interest from potential purchasers in the contracts the company delivered which will see the number of jobs safeguarded continue to increase.

"Employment could not be secured for a further 59 employees working on paused construction projects and regrettably they will leave the business later this week. Those who have lost their jobs will be able to find support through Jobcentre Plus’ Rapid Response Service and are also entitled to make a claim for statutory redundancy payments.”

So far 6,668 jobs have been saved and 989 people have been made redundant through the liquidation of Carillion, which collapsed on 15 January. Around a third of Carillion's work was with the UK government and it looked after catering and cleaning at hundreds of defence sites across the country. The prisons services took over Carillion's work almost straight after the collapse was confirmed last month.

Carillion employed around 19,500 in the UK, meaning thousands more still await to hear their fate as construction projects around the country remain in limbo. 

“Most employees who have transferred so far have done so on existing or similar terms and I will continue to facilitate this wherever possible as we work to find new providers for Carillion’s other contracts," said the spokesperson. "The process to find new suppliers to deliver Carillion’s contracts continues, the spokesperson added. I am continuing to engage with staff, elected employee representatives and unions to keep them informed as these arrangements are confirmed.”