Another 700 staff axed at Connaught: KPMG

KPMG administrators have announced a further 700 job cuts at Connaught,
bringing the redundancy tally at the stricken housing group to 1400.

Urgent negotiations with Norwich City Council fell through last night, which
meant that a further 300 staff lost their jobs in addition to 400 announced
earlier.

Before Connaught collapsed it employed 4,200 staff.

Although 1400 jobs have been cut, 2800 staff are still working after the KPMG
administrators transferred them to Lovell Partnerships.

KPMG also confirmed the transfer of contracts for eight Connaught customers
to Mears Limited, the social housing and maintenance provider.

The administrators are hopeful that Mears will take on some of the 600 staff
made who previously handled those contracts for Connaught.

Joint administrator Brian Green said: “We have now transferred the vast
majority of Connaught Partnerships’ contracts to new providers, safeguarding the
majority of jobs and ensuring continuity of service for tenants.

“To do this within days of the company going into administration is
remarkable, and is a testament to the commitment of everyone involved in
securing the future of these contracts in a very difficult situation.”

Unfortunately around a quarter of staff were made redundant as part of the
administration but we are hopeful that some of these staff will be re-employed
by Mears.”

Further reading:

Social
housing firm Connaught in ‘shock’ collapse

Connaught
accounting issues may dent sell-off plans