Dozens of disabled workers at factory in Stirlingshire face losing their jobs if the Scottish Government doesn’t renew a contract, company bosses say.
Managers at Haven Products say the Scottish Government risks putting 60 people out of work, if it doesn’t act now to renew contracts they’ve had for years to make NHS nurses’ uniforms and digitally archive documents.
Haven Product’s factory in Larbert Stirlingshire say the company has been told that the number of tunics and trousers they make for NHS staff in Scotland will be drastically reduced in the last four months of their annual contract.
It means that there will be an annual revenue gap of around £1.1 million, according to Head of Haven Products, Karen Motherwell.
She said: “This double-whammy will destroy our business and immediately make 47 disabled workers redundant.
“When this happens, the factory at Larbert will not be economically sustainable and we'll have to close, making the remaining 13 staff redundant as well.
“The Scottish Government want to do the digitising work themselves at their records department in Saughton House, in Edinburgh.”
"Almost all of our staff are either disadvantaged or vulnerable, and unless the Scottish Government move to have the contracts re-instated, their decisions will have a devastating effect on our disabled workers."
READ MORE:
- Former CalMac chief makes switch to bus firm McGill's
- North Coast 500 is 'favourite scenic driving route in UK'
- Ian Murray tells SNP they are 'completely wrong' over financial issues
Now that the factory in Larbert faces the ‘agonising’ prospect of closing, employees with various disabilities fear it will ‘ruin’ their lives, as many have bills and mortgages to pay and have no other prospects of work.
One worker at Haven Products, Calum Stewart has Asperger’s Syndrome and fears he may lose the house he bought with his fiancé only two months ago if he’s made redundant.
The 28-year-old from Bo’ness said: “If we lose these contracts and this place is forced to close, the Scottish Government will be condemning the workforce here, who have many different kinds of disabilities, to life on the dole and their lives will be ruined.
“The people who work here will have the security, self-respect, and dignity of having a job and earning a living taken away from them.”
Calum has worked in the Larbert factory since he was 18 years old. Since starting 10 years ago, he has worked his way up from being on the production line to being promoted to the role of supervisor.
He added: “I wouldn't have been able to save enough money to pay the deposit on the house, nor get a mortgage in the first place if I didn't have this job at Haven. If I'm made redundant and can't quickly find another job, I could well lose my house, as I wouldn't have a wage to pay the mortgage.
"If this place closes a lot of my colleagues will struggle and find it difficult to get another job.
"Colleagues have told me they are petrified that this place will shut down. This is the only workplace locally that gives full-time work to people with disabilities."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Haven Products Ltd have done so much to provide employment for disabled and disadvantaged adults in Scotland.
“Scottish Enterprise have offered the firm advice and support with their current and future business model, and we strongly encourage Haven to engage with them.
“All new contracts will be considered carefully, in line with subsidy control measures, to ensure value for money for taxpayers in Scotland.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel