P&O Ferries could face an unlimited fine if sackings unlawful
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has warned P&O Ferries it could face an unlimited fine, if its summary sacking of 800 British staff is found to have breached the law, as protests against the layoffs took place at ports across the country.
Writing to the company on Friday, Kwarteng said he wanted to express, “in the strongest possible terms, the UK government’s anger and disappointment”.
He highlighted the taxpayer support received by the firm, including through the furlough scheme, and suggested it did not appear to have followed the procedure required for large-scale redundancies.
“It cannot be right that the company feels tied closely enough to the UK to receive significant amounts of taxpayer money but does not appear willing to abide by the rules that we have put in place to protect British workers.”
In his letter, Kwarteng said failure to give sufficient notice of large-scale redundancies, via the Insolvency Service and the Redundancy Payment Service, “is a criminal offence and can lead to an unlimited fine”.
However, it quickly emerged that Robert Woods, to whom Kwarteng’s letter was addressed, resigned as P&O Ferries’ chair in December last year. BEIS officials blamed the error on the fact that parent company DP World’s website had not been updated.
Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said, “the behaviour of P&O Ferries is an absolute scandal and must not be allowed to stand.
“The government have taken a full 48 hours to wake up to how outrageous this act was and all they’ve done is manage to write a letter to the wrong person complaining about the failure to give sufficient notice. They are missing the point. Businesses must not be given free rein to operate in this country while treating British workers with such
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