OFFICIALS in the UK Government were told about the plan to axe hundreds of staff at ferry firm P&O the day before workers, it has emerged.

The Prime Minister's Official spokesman confirmed that some officials in the Department for Transport (DfT) were informed of the plans on Wednesday night, but insisted Boris Johnson had no knowledge. 

He said the information was "kept tight" within the department for "commercial sensitivity" reasons, but was unable to say when the PM found out.

Asked if the DfT officials who were told informed any ministers on Wednesday night of the ferry firm's plans, he said: "Again, I don't believe so.

"But that's really a question for DfT as the standard practice for these sorts of things, it's very tight commercial sensitivity as to who's aware of this, but I'd have to refer to DfT for confirmation."

Asked if P&O may have to repay its furlough money it claimed during the pandemic, or if it will lost its freeport status in the Thames freeport, the spokesman said it was unclear.

He said: "We are establishing the facts of exactly what action this company took before deciding what action to take as a result of that.

"So I'm not going to speculate on what further action we may or may not take."

The spokesman was asked if the government accepted the trade unions' point that the travel firm should have informed Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng about their plans and if they did not it would constitue breaking the law.

He said: "We have asked, ministers have asked the insolvency service to look at the notification requirements in relation to the redundancies announced because there are rules around that. And again, we will consider if any further action is appropriate once has been concluded."

He said he did not know if P&O had informed the insolvency service of its plans prior to making the announcement yesterday. 

Downing Street also said ministers do not believe P&O explored all possible avenues to secure the future of their business before making staff redundant.

“We expect companies to treat employees fairly,” the spokesman said.

“It is only in extreme circumstances that employers need to make extreme decisions to secure the future of their business if all other avenues have failed, including negotiations between employer and employee.

“We don’t believe this was the case for P&O staff but we are looking into this very carefully.

“The actions this company took yesterday are deeply disappointing and will be causing deep upset amongst loyal staff.”